Yikes. It looks like gameplay from the Marathon closed beta was just leaked, unveiling new details about the game’s reworked UI, gameplay and the complete removal of its plagiarized art.
A Bilibili account shared nine different videos, totaling more than 130 minutes of gameplay footage. The video are all in Chinese, so without a translator, you'll have no clue what they're saying in them. Essentially, they're having your standard extraction shooter talk you hear in every gameplay reveal: “go there,” “do this,” and “take that!”
In the two hours of gameplay footage, we see snippets of the game’s unreleased maps: Dire Marsh and Outpost. The marshlands are exactly what you’d expect, filled with tricky terrain and wilted trees. The Outpost, on the other hand, seems to be the game’s version of Arc Raiders’ Stella Montis, where tight hallways and claustrophobic corners encourage indoor combat. While there are still the standard AI enemies, it’s likely built to be PvP-centric.
There’s still one other map that’s missing from the leaked footage: the UESC Marathon. It’s confirmed to be the game’s fourth major map, and it will likely be the game’s version of a Destiny 2 raid. Players would need to work together, fighting AI enemies and keeping other players at bay. No one knows what the mechanics are yet, but I’m already excited to see what Bungie is cooking.
There’s a lot to unpack from the leaked videos, and it would likely take an entire day or two to digest everything from Marathon’s fresh state. What’s more interesting from the leaks, however, is the complete absence of its plagiarized art. Judging from the gameplay footage, it didn’t really change much about the game, but when you stop and stare at its level design, you can tell that something is missing.
In a previous piece I’ve written, I talked about how I’m looking forward to Marathon’s utilitarian art direction. It was one of the biggest reasons why I wanted to play the game. I was completely heartbroken when I found out none of that was even Bungie’s idea. An upcoming ViDoc is rumored to release soon, which highlights the new changes in its gameplay and direction.
You can still check out the 2 hours' worth of Marathon leaked footage on the Bilibili account, but don’t expect it to stay forever, as Bungie is actively squashing these NDA violators.
For those interested in joining in on the Marathon fun, Bungie is already working on another playtest this December 12 to 16. Obviously, there will be strict NDAs, and slots are limited.
Marathon has no release date yet. If it weren’t for the unfortunate delay, we’d all be playing the game now, but it won’t be pretty, considering that ARC Raiders has taken over the extraction shooter genre this year.
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