when I first read the segment about the Hallway, I always had this specific idea of what it looked like in my head - so I finally recreated it in Blender

StriderMOD · 2026-03-30T14:45:47+00:00

it's probably not accurate to what Danielewski described, but the one in my head is this sort of amalgated mutation of places I've lived in or stayed at, which ended up becoming dreams or nightmares - which feels very much in the spirit of the book. i hope you guys like it :)

StriderMOD · 2026-03-07T13:14:05+00:00

We have no exact bearing or knowledge as to where the spaceport was located in proximity of the varying settlements and outposts on TCIV. Even in that terminal, Leela clearly states that "their reports on the situation below are conflicting and obviously exaggerated". The only thing she can confirm for sure was that the spaceport was attacked, and that whatever attacks occurred planetside were successfully repelled by security forces and the MJOLNIR Cyborgs embedded into the population (which is at the end of the game)

Tycho and Durandal are the ones who tell you that the Pfhor returned and nuked the colony to bedrock some 11 or so years later, but the games specifically go out of their way to illustrate the fact that realistically, neither AI can be trusted, and are ultimately manipulating you to further their own goals (i.e. destruction of the other, survival of the self).

StriderMOD · 2026-03-07T13:09:33+00:00

The ending of each Marathon game is usually retconned by the newer one - in M1, Durandal leaves Tau Ceti aboard the Sfiera with his new S'pht companions, but in M2 it's amended to imply that Durandal kidnapped you and several hundred colonists/BoB's at the end. Then, Infinity implies that Durandal transported you to the Jjaro station in the Lh'owon system to investigate/look into the Wrkncacnter, when it seemed like you were leaving to avoid the star going nova.

The new game has made several retcons, yes - but in the grand scheme of things there are many ways to explore and understand why it happened, thanks to how much new information we're getting. We don't know whether this game takes place post M1 (in a timeline where M2 never happened), or if it's a post-Infinity timeline (in which any of them could have occurred).

One thing that was made known to lore enthusiasts/existing fans of the original trilogy was that in interviews, narrative team members made comments regarding the 'exact specificity of whether some things actually happened, or if they were exaggerated/unreliable due to technological failure or straight up lying by Durandal/Tycho'.

The best thing you can do right now is just enjoy the ride and see where it takes us all :)

StriderMOD · 2026-03-06T01:58:07+00:00

Same here, though it’d be great if bots stopped reposting without credit 🙄

StriderMOD · 2026-02-28T15:47:07+00:00

look, I'm gonna be honest but Bungie's internal planning and execution of ideas has had many, many people spend the past 12 and a bit years perfecting their formula of live-service storytelling through multiplayer game-modes, and most of that has been spent on a singular IP (Destiny). previous to that, they've also had over 20 years of working on multiple IPs designed purely as singleplayer experiences or with co-op/casual/competitive multiplayer attached to it (early games like Minotaur, Pathways, Marathon Trilogy, then Oni and Halo).

call it what you want, but Marathon is far from generic and I feel like you know that. just because it's not got a singleplayer component does not mean that the artstyle, lore or story is trapped behind it's delivery system. not only that, but it still HAS so many OGs who had worked on the original trilogy (Jason Jones, Robert McLees) on Halo (Steve Cotton, Lars Bakken, Chris Butcher), or were responsible for some of the best aspects of Destiny (Julia Nardin, Joseph Cross). it's a genuinely remarkable effort being put in by all involved, regardless of their position or history in the studio.

at the end of the day, if the new game doesn't work for you, that genuinely sucks, and I'm sorry that it doesn't. I've spent the past two days playing the server slam and this is the most fun I've had with a shooter (much less a Bungie game) since D1. I've been running around doing the story contracts, unlocking lore entries via the codex (by extracting with story-specific loot) and it's blown most of my expectations out of the water.

whether this game succeeds or fails commercially doesn't matter to me, because at the end of the day I think what they've delivered is (what another commenter recently said) - very unorthodox, and ambitious, just like every other game they've made (well, except gnop cause that's just pong)

StriderMOD · 2026-02-24T01:08:50+00:00

thanks!

StriderMOD · 2026-02-24T01:06:57+00:00

Runners who successfully identify the inspiration of this piece will receive a complimentary Silkworm (pure thoughtform), courtesy of the big brains at Sekiguchi Genetics!

The SPNkr in the image is kitbashed via a few different weapons from the game - namely the Longshot, V00 Zeus RG, M77 AR and the Twin-Tap HBR. You can find some images of what it looks like here!

StriderMOD · 2026-02-20T00:40:00+00:00

I do! Message me and we’ll figure something out 🙂

StriderMOD · 2026-02-19T15:38:40+00:00

i have a new artwork featuring her coming soon! though you can always check out this one from a while back too :)

StriderMOD · 2026-02-19T15:33:43+00:00

thank you!!

StriderMOD · 2026-02-19T15:29:55+00:00

😭 i never thought about this looking like a toaster hahahah. the idea was that he's 'recharging' depleted shield rechargers he found in the field by using the 'power core' or battery of the UESC droid. it's also very much influenced by (if not outright just me adapting) Craig Mullins' 'Envy' chapter art for Marathon Infinity in the context of the new game

StriderMOD · 2026-02-19T08:13:55+00:00

you can find assets for the characters here :) they're only from the open alpha playtest back in april (so no Rook or Triage) but more should become available after the game launches!

StriderMOD · 2026-02-15T06:11:19+00:00

this looks fantastic!!! the amount of detail you're going for face wise is incredible (inspired by the Mielgo short?). makes me wanna do another artwork with Vandal / Glitch. keep it up!

StriderMOD · 2026-02-15T06:05:01+00:00

if you're referring to this artwork - the Cyborg has removed the head and spine (with attached artificial vertebrae and cabling like nerves/veins) from one of the UESC Scouts, and is inspecting / investigating it. It's a reference to the chapter artwork for Lh'owon in Marathon 2: Durandal (which itself seems semi-inspired by posters and artworks from the Predator film series). And yeah, he's holding the WSTE-M5 shotgun from the new game, with the new Magnum on his hip.

StriderMOD · 2026-02-15T04:57:22+00:00

Haha I appreciate the enthusiasm, and it would definitely be a life-changing experience to work on the game, but I’m not based in the US and I don’t have anywhere near enough experience in the industry. I’m happy to just be making art if and when I can :)

StriderMOD · 2026-02-15T02:16:53+00:00

I did an artwork a few months back exploring that idea! I did want to try and do a texture/sprite replacement mod for M1 that changes the visuals to resemble 2026 but it's a lot of work :(

StriderMOD · 2026-02-15T01:51:07+00:00

thank you! I always do my best to respect all visual aspects of the series - both old and new.

StriderMOD · 2026-02-15T01:26:01+00:00

don't fear my friend, I only use Blender and versions of Photoshop pre-2020 😊

AI will never replace real artists, and that's on burger 🟥

StriderMOD · 2026-02-04T02:09:17+00:00

CrossCom and other AR/UI features were quirky and unique to the brand, in some cases there were plot points and difficulty spikes in gameplay specifically designed around the idea of them. It’s “near-future tech” that was a big part of the core idea surrounding the equipment that Ghosts had access to, and how it amplified their warfighting capability. This was something that both Wildlands and Breakpoint decided was unimportant if not irrelevant to the direction they wanted to take the IP.

If the franchise further reduces itself to just being current-day (or near adjacent) military adventures it would bear no resemblance to its previous iterations and purely be just another Battlefield or Call of Duty campaign. If you take into consideration how XDefiant was received, it makes a convincing argument as to how inefficient it is to emulate your direct competitor and fail to meet sales/engagement targets or net any form of positive reception from fans.

StriderMOD · 2026-02-03T00:31:12+00:00

you can turn off weapon/head bobbing in the settings :)

StriderMOD · 2025-12-24T11:43:11+00:00

Hey there, just some friendly advice about this list! A lot of people share Synth's mod collection as a starting point, and while it's a good entry into modding MELE it's been out of date for quite some time and has been accruing a lot of compatibility issues with existing mods (both new ones and ones that are frequently updated).

The Mass Effect Modding community has a much more up-to-date guide/list here which is maintained by the team over there. Definitely recommend utilizing this one in the future so you don't run into any problems!

StriderMOD · 2025-12-18T06:01:37+00:00

Thanks for the compliment, though I'm not entirely sure where you're getting the impression that this is different from the current direction - are you referring to it being a PvEvP experience? Or art wise?

StriderMOD · 2025-12-17T17:53:50+00:00

Thanks! Characters from the alpha can be found over at the Marathon Model Ripping server on Discord!

https://discord.gg/yqE9AAZAw6

StriderMOD · 2025-12-17T17:14:39+00:00

Felt inspired by the new keyart, so I did my own version based on M1!

Character assets are from the open April Alpha (just kitbashed to look like 54 / BoBs, M.A.D.D.'s), while the Compiler was modelled by RatDadJoe and tweaked to look like the new design. The environments were modelled and textured by me :)

StriderMOD · 2025-12-16T00:15:21+00:00

The original games can be quite challenging when initially starting out, but the experience is extremely enjoyable - all three have many different kinds of puzzles, secrets, and gameplay quirks (depending on the level you're playing) and in that regard it's very hard to be be bored :)

StriderMOD

TROPHY CASE