Marathon's New PvE Mode is an Economic Disaster Waiting to Happen

It's been a monumental year for extraction shooters, as ARC Raiders and Marathon have exploded onto the scene, bringing unique twists to the genre, but both games are still figuring out where casual players fit into the equation.

Extraction shooters are known for unforgiving PVP, where every time you enter a match, the gear you bring with you can be permanently lost or stolen by opposing players, which creates the adrenaline-pumping, white-knuckling experience of trying desperately not to lose all your hard-earned weapons and items.

As this anything-goes-style gameplay can be a bit too much to handle for casual players who would rather not be shot down at the extraction point by a camper who hasn't left their computer in three full days, Bungie has announced a new PVE-only mode is on the way.

Bungie Experiments with PVE-Only Mode in Marathon Season 2

Marathon's Game Director, Joe Ziegler, recently confirmed plans to begin experimenting with pure PVE and PVP-Lite modes in season 2 of Marathon, "We want to build more survival experiences for different moods, like if you want to full sweat or lean back and chill."

The amazing thing about live-service games is their ability to transform with the help of community feedback, and I think Marathon definitely has what it takes to make it in the long-run, but they're still tweaking the formula to see what works best.

In ARC Raiders, there's a bit more room for co-operative gameplay, and you'll often encounter groups of players playing musical instruments together, foraging apricots, or battling some of the massive mechanized threats known as ARC. There's a lot of back-stabbing savagery happening too, but there are also a ton of friendly raiders.

In its current state, Marathon doesn't encourage those friendly moments, and laid-back looting runs quite as much as ARC Raiders, and that's why we're seeing Bungie begin to test the waters. "Gripping your precious loot every moment as you creep your way to the exfil while spinning your head around like a chicken to make sure another Runner doesn't drop on top of you with a shotgun is a fun and intense experience. But after a few runs of that, sometimes you need to power down and just want to frag out or relax and play a different way. It's hard to find that chill moment in Marathon," Said Ziegler.

Introducing a PVE-only mode does change the entire game in a massive way, as players will have the option to obtain crafting materials and weapons in an environment where no hostile players are plotting against them, so it will be interesting to see how the developers will balance this.

If I've earned all of my gear while facing a combination of sweaty squads and swarms of AI enemies all at once, I don't necessarily want to be risking it against someone who earned their gear in a PVE-only mode.

With that being said, it's possible Marathon could find the sweet spot in terms of balance, and it might end up working perfectly, or it could make the playing field uneven, and leave the game feeling fragmented, but we'll just have to wait and see how it turns out.

ARC Raiders players have also been calling for a PVE-only mode but Embark hasn't shown any signs they plan to introduce one, and I think that might be for the best.

While Marathon and ARC Raiders have both hit their fair share of snags along their journey thus far, they are both fantastic games with unique identities and a tremendous amount of potential, and it will be interesting to see how they evolve over the next few years.

Marathon

8.5/10