Bungie re-reveals Marathon with short film and September release date

Bungie re-revealed its extraction shooter Marathon by way of livestream on Saturday. Marathon was formally revealed in Might of 2023, and Bungie has been comparatively quiet since its announcement. However because the studio gears up for the sport’s Sept. 23 launch date, it’s opening the floodgates on all issues Marathon.

The studio began the occasion with a fast intro and a flashy trailer, which you’ll see above, adopted by a few of its builders discussing the sport in additional element. This led right into a considerably longer trailer (narrated by Ben Starr of Ultimate Fantasy 16 and Balatro fame) explaining how Marathon works.

The thought is that every participant inhabits the shell of a Runner, a bio-cybernetic mercenary physique. Gamers will then group up in groups of three to drop into a wide range of maps on the colony of Tau Ceti IV.

As soon as they arrive, gamers will search across the setting to search out loot and full contracts for his or her factions again dwelling. They’ll additionally encounter different gamers and be capable to kill them to steal their loot. Gamers who’re capable of safely extract from Tau Ceti IV will preserve any and all gear they discovered whereas exploring and looking. Dying, nevertheless, will trigger gamers to drop the whole lot of their stock — together with any objects they introduced with them into the foyer.

After extra dialogue, the occasion ended with a brief movie set within the Marathon universe, created by Alberto Mielgo, the 2022 Oscar winner for finest animated brief movie (The Windshield Wiper). Mielgo has additionally labored on Love, Dying & Robots and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The brief movie showcases the lifetime of the Runners, that includes their our bodies getting shredded by enemies, intercut with one thing harking back to the Voight-Kampff check from Blade Runner.

Marathon will come to PlayStation 5, Home windows PC, and Xbox Sequence X — even though Bungie was bought by Sony in early 2022. gamers may signal as much as take part within the Marathon alpha check, which begins April 23.

The studio didn’t talk about Marathon’s value throughout the stream, however a consultant from Bungie confirmed to Polygon that Marathon won’t be free-to-play, and may have an upfront value. It’s at present unclear what that value might be, or how the studio might select to monetize the sport post-launch.