When The marathon runners The second season will begin on June 2, Bungie will offer new players the opportunity to try the game for free for a full week. In a blog post published today, the studio said that the preview, which is scheduled to run until June 9, will be available on Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, and that any progress players make will carry over to the full game if they decide to purchase it afterward.
As previously announced, existing players will have their Item Vault and Armory reset at the end of the current season, making this the perfect time to try out the game since everyone will be on equal footing when it comes to weapons and upgrades. In Wednesday’s blog post, Bungie also shared new information on Season Two’s biggest additions: the new Sentinel class, the Dire Marsh night map, and the Cradle customization system. The reinvented zone will see Marathon delve into more of its cosmic horror inspirations.
“This new zone introduces new mechanics, new fighters and locations to explore on Dire Marsh,” explains Bungie. “It’s designed to be slower than Day Marsh and plays more like a survival horror experience, with slightly fewer players and additional environmental challenges to navigate the darkness and the threats that lie within it.”
As for the Sentinel shell, Bungie describes it as a defensive specialist, with a kit built around space control. Her primary ability, Defender System, allows her to deploy a point defense drone that can briefly protect you and your crew from grenades and missiles. If I had to guess, the new shell will be popular at high levels of play where grenades of all types fly quickly and en masse. In a callback to the Halo series, one of the Sentinel’s other abilities allows him to activate a short-range motion tracking system. “Use it to gather a little more information about who or what is moving around you, and configure your defenses accordingly,” suggests Bungie.
Finally, there is the Cradle, which will allow players to convert additional weapons and other equipment into experience that they can use to improve their stats and perks. Bungie says this system is designed to give players a way to level up their character independent of the game’s faction system, which can become tedious when you have to find (and exfiltrate) a specific high-level salvage to purchase a single upgrade. The studio also notes that players can modify their Cradle builds at any time to encourage experimentation.
Earlier this month, Bungie outlined its plan for The marathon runners in the future, saying it would improve the game’s onboarding experience for new players and that new PvE modes would arrive during season two. Less than a week later, the studio announced that it was ending development of the Destiny 2. SO one day later Bloomberg Jason Schreier has released a report claiming that Sony is planning “significant” layoffs at the developer. It’s probably fair to say that a successful preview week would do a lot to boost morale at Bungie.
