Marathon Gets New Experimental Mode

A new experimental mode coming to Marathon next week hopes to make the experience a little easier for new players by forcing all participants to load up with only the basic free sponsored kits.

The experimental mode, called Dire Marsh Sponsored, goes live tomorrow (April 15) and runs for around two weeks. Players can only enter if they're using a white-tier free sponsored kit, giving developer Bungie a chance to see "how the game plays out with low-fixed set gear conditions and caps, and how the zero to hero play works in low starting set gear conditions and caps."

"What happens when you bring a knife… to a knife fight?" game director Joe Ziegler asked on X/Twitter, introducing the experimental new mode. "This is a new experimental queue that is focused on learning a bit more about our early gear ecosystem. In this queue, all players will enter with a free sponsored kit and be challenged to use what they find on Dire Marsh to upgrade themselves and get out!"

As Ziegler explained, the experimental [mode] is a time-limited queue that allows Bungie to preview features in development with players, often with a less-than-complete feature set. Limited to Dire Marsh Zone for now, the new mode lets players enter either as a duo or a trio (premade or via matchmaking).

"This queue allows the Marathon development team to learn and obtain feedback that helps us deliver a more completed feature set down the line," he added. "For the sake of queue health and focus we only run one experimental queue at a time. Once we have learned enough to understand our next steps for this feature, we start work on finalizing the feature and move on to the next experiment. Your participation in any experiment is greatly appreciated and is very helpful to us in developing features down the line."

That's not all, either. Ziegler also confirmed that Bungie is now "working on making duos a real feature in Season 2" after also recently testing duo teams in this same way.

Bungie has repeatedly said that while Marathon has a steep learning curve, over time, recovering from a bad loss gets easier. Part of the challenge comes from the very nature of Marathon as an extraction shooter. If you die, you lose all your gear. And not just what you looted while out on the battlefield, but what you brought in. And given how easy it is to die in Marathon, it can feel like a brutally punishing video game.

A new report recently claimed Marathon’s budget is over $200 million, and while player numbers have fallen significantly since launch, Bungie’s extraction shooter is allegedly not facing an imminent shutdown. Still, it's no surprise to see Bungie experiment with ways to make the game easier for casual players to contend with.

Finding Marathon overwhelming? We're here to help break the game down and help you get started with this Marathon guide for beginners.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.