Seasonal wipes are coming to Marathon, but Bungie promises players will keep their achievements, cosmetics, and titles.
Bungie has released details regarding the launch and ongoing structure of its upcoming extraction shooter, Marathon, along with specific content plans for its first two seasons. The game is set to launch on March 5, with Season 2 following on June 2.
Seasonal Progression Resets
Marathon will implement seasonal progression resets. According to Bungie, this will result in all players losing their gear, contract progression, faction progression, and player level at the beginning of each new season.
Players will retain their achievements, cosmetics, titles, and other milestone rewards, along with Codex progression. Liaison contract progression will also carry over, eliminating the need to re-unlock factions each season. Bungie stated that these seasonal resets are intended to maintain game danger, ensure loot remains meaningful, and facilitate entry for new or returning players.
Launch Content (Season 1: First Step)
Marathon launches on March 5 with Season 1, titled 'First Step'. This season includes:
- All six factions, including Sekiguchi Genetics.
- All six launch Runner shells, such as Thief.
- Three zones, with the Outpost zone becoming available the day after launch, requiring Runner Level 12.
- 28 weapons, accompanied by mods, implants, and cores for crafting builds.
- Earnable cosmetics, achievements, and storytelling elements through the Codex.
Season 1 will also feature a community objective to unlock access to orbit and a fourth zone, Cryo Archive. Ranked mode is scheduled to unlock during the second half of March, offering exclusive rewards.
Upcoming Content (Season 2: Nightfall)
Season 2, titled 'Nightfall', is scheduled to launch on June 2, alongside an Open Play Week from June 2 to June 9. Bungie has announced the following additions for this season:
- A nighttime variant of the Dire Marsh zone, featuring reduced visibility and blocked sight lines.
- A new Runner shell called Sentinel, a class focused on area control. It features a Defender System that destroys incoming grenades and missiles while boosting nearby allies, a snare mine tactical ability that immobilizes enemy runners, and passives granting splash damage resistance, faster close-range weapon handling, and motion tracking of nearby moving targets.
- New equipment, including flashlights, vector rounds, grenades, darksight scopes, and flares.
- Two new weapons: the KKV-9SD SMG (high rate of fire) and the D54 Battle Pistol (three-round burst).
- The 'Cradle' system, a new progression system where players earn experience by converting unwanted loot via the Matter Converter. This experience improves six Runner shell stats and unlocks perks, and can be reallocated without penalty across all shells.
- A Duos Queue for ranked play, beginning June 14.
- The Cryo Archive zone returning on June 11.
Experimental Modes (Season 2 and Beyond)
In a blog post, Marathon director Joe Ziegler detailed upcoming changes and experiments for the game. Season 2 will include two experimental playlists:
- A mode at the start of the season with a focus on PvE and a "light touch of PvP."
- A second mode later in the season that is PvE-only, where crews complete objectives and make progress across matches.
Bungie indicated a pure PvP mode may be tested in the future, though no details were provided. Season 5 aims to integrate the full ecosystem of PvPvE, PvE, and PvP modes.
Open Play Week
The full game will be free to play on Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S from June 2 to June 9. Progress made during this period will carry into Season 2, and all players will start with a clean slate.