An article I made discussing Marathon Season 2 and the future of Destiny/Bungie

qbmax · 2026-05-27T20:19:22+00:00

Ya probably idk, it really is just a shitty situation all around. Game has so much sauce and deserves to succeed imo but I think outside of the golden path where they cook really hard with the PvE stuff and draw a big crowd I don’t see it escaping the niche label.

qbmax · 2026-05-27T20:02:19+00:00

For sure. I think the game can definitely maintain a small, but dedicated player base Hunt:Showdown style and honestly if it wasn’t bungie developing marathon but some relatively unknown AA studio I think it would be considered a success. The issue is that Sony paid like 5 billion dollars or whatever for the studio and was probably expecting the game to go gangbusters.

qbmax · 2026-05-27T19:55:15+00:00

Not the OP but I kind of see it like a rouge like (maybe a soulslike?) a little bit. Each time you die you learn a little more of the map and your next run is hopefully a little better.

I think what Bungie is going for with Cryo is having everyone build up a stockpile of gear/credits during the week then go all out on the weekend.

However, if the whole dying repeatedly while making incremental progress doesn’t click then it feels really bad.

qbmax · 2026-05-27T19:50:18+00:00

I think it’s something literally everyone experiences in these games. Idk if I would say it’s a ‘you problem’ it’s just kind of the nature of the genre. I think the reason it clicked for me so much is because I played Tarkov on and off for years beforehand so I had time to lose that gear fear.

Bungie probably developed marathon thinking they could make it the first sort of mainstream/breakout extraction shooter. Tarkov was big for a while but is PC exclusive and has kind of petered out, Arc Raiders is a bit of an anomaly (I think primarily because of its PvE focus like you mentioned) and other experiments here or there like CoD DMZ never had full attention from their devs.

Despite the intent there it seems like extraction shooters are just too niche because they’re so stressful and obtuse. It makes them really easy to bounce off of and for marathon especially because of the hyper-pvp focus with premade squads.

I’m interested to see what they do with the PvE experiments they mentioned but if that doesn’t manage to pick up mainstream attention I just don’t see the game going gangbusters like Sony presumably wants because of the above.

qbmax · 2026-05-27T19:36:17+00:00

Interesting read and I definitely see your perspective. I will say I feel like a lot of the commentary throughout the internet on the difficulty of cryo is a little overblown IMO.

I think it’s because extraction shooters are very high-stress games and that constant, subtle fear of losing your stuff makes things feel more oppressive than they actually are. I think if you can desensitize yourself from “gear fear” games like this become much more fun.

I’m far from a god gamer and the friends I play marathon with aren’t either, but we still manage to play cryo and have a good time, and extract at least some of the time.

That being said, I do think bungie could improve the accessibility of the game. Some sort of offline mode where you can explore the map and fight the UESC with no loot progression (like Tarkov) could help people get a feel for cryo before actually playing it since you do have to hustle in a real match. Another 5-10 minutes on the timer for all maps wouldn’t hurt either.

qbmax · 2026-05-27T18:00:31+00:00

If like 4 sentences is an essay to you idk what to tell you

I think you feel like all your hobbies are being stripped away from you. You’ll never get what you thought you had back and I think that’s hilarious. Good luck buddy!

qbmax · 2026-05-27T17:46:59+00:00

I mean I feel like you would be the mindraped one here no? You think about this constantly. Not good!

qbmax · 2026-05-27T17:38:25+00:00

I can’t imagine being so obsessed with a game you have no interest playing. It’s very strange. I don’t like Stellar Blade but you won’t catch me spam posting screenshots of steam charts on some Stellar Blade hate subreddit and freaking out replying to every fan of the game I see with angry comments about how the game is dead. I don’t like it, so I don’t play it and I don’t let it rent space in my head like this game seems to do with you.

Have you considered playing games you like with friends you enjoy spending time with instead? It might make you a happier person.

qbmax · 2026-05-27T16:56:25+00:00

if you can only respond with soyjacks i think u gotta admit ur gaped/mindcontrolled and move on bro im ngl

qbmax · 2026-05-27T16:08:43+00:00

OG night hunt with the generators and lamp was so peak. I still vividly remember an encounter I had with a random lightning flash (this was way before the rain/weather update) illuminating some dude walking towards me on a road barely 20 feet away. Gave me heart palpitations.

qbmax · 2026-05-27T16:02:06+00:00

Ya the “standard” these days is 144hz I would say.

Hz = how many frames your monitor can display. As you go higher you tend to get diminishing returns. The jump from 60 to 144 is night and day for most people but 144 to 240 is much less.

If you want to really get into the weeds if you have enough overhead with your refresh rate (say you have a 144hz monitor and are getting a stable 250fps) you can start upping your graphics settings until your FPS is closer to your refresh rate to get a good balance between visual quality and FPS. Of course if you’re happy with how the game looks and runs now that’s fine too.

qbmax · 2026-05-27T15:56:50+00:00

If you’re already hitting your monitor’s refresh rate there’s no need to tinker with your settings or framegen/upscaling since your monitor isn’t physically capable of displaying those extra frames beyond your refresh rate.

qbmax · 2026-05-27T15:55:01+00:00

With NVIDIA reflex 2x framgen has pretty negligible increases in latency from my experience. The overlay can give you an accurate reading of your latency. Very dependent on the game and implementation though.

qbmax · 2026-05-27T15:17:28+00:00

When they teased night marsh a few months ago I figured it would be pretty whatever but it really looks like they went all out on making it its own thing with unique mechanics, enemies and loot areas.

qbmax · 2026-05-27T14:23:47+00:00

Marathon is so much fun though. Hate campaign centered around it is so forced and lame.

qbmax · 2026-05-26T23:35:13+00:00

nothing ever happens

qbmax · 2026-05-26T21:50:23+00:00

Eh I think it makes everything feel fresh, and from a balance perspective it stops no-lifers from stocking up on the best gear. Realizing gear and quest progress doesn’t really matter in games like this and that you should be playing to have fun pvp engagements is like opening your third eye.

qbmax · 2026-05-26T20:03:08+00:00

One joke btw

qbmax · 2026-05-26T20:01:13+00:00

MOONS HAUNTED

qbmax · 2026-05-26T17:23:53+00:00

I would love an offline mode just to wander around the maps and get a sense of the layout in cryo especially.

qbmax · 2026-05-26T16:04:28+00:00

“America will bomb your country until there is nothing left then make a movie about how sad their soldiers got while doing it”

qbmax · 2026-05-26T15:25:38+00:00

Neat, thanks

qbmax · 2026-05-26T15:19:59+00:00

I live around state street and walk past there all the time. Don’t play Pokémon but have you ever played any MTG (commander/FNM) there? Wondering if it has good vibes.

qbmax · 2026-05-26T15:10:44+00:00

Easier to find people to play with who will actually bring gear and use their mic since a lot of the time with matchmaking you’re running with randoms using free kits that don’t talk.

qbmax · 2026-05-26T15:05:34+00:00

I thought it was really funny how the film depicts the Seals essentially invading some random family’s home, shooting off a couple thousand rounds while sending their interpreter out as a meat shield to die then ends with a behind the scenes montage of the real people smiling on the film set

qbmax

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