Marathon Season 2 Bets on Darkness to Forget the Ghost of Destiny 2

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Published May 27, 2026, 2:53 PM EDT

Miller Reynolds is a Writer at DualShockers specializing in news, reviews, guides, interviews, and lists. He began covering games professionally in 2025, bringing a journalism background and more than 25 years of firsthand gaming experience to his work.

Miller studied Advanced Journalism for online, print, and broadcast media at Loyalist College, where he received the Excellence in Writing and Production Award. Before focusing on games coverage, he gained experience writing across topics such as politics, entertainment, and sports. Today, he combines his journalism training with his long-running passion for games to cover current releases, developer interviews, reviews, and practical guides for players.

As Destiny 2's live service comes to an end, Bungie is going all-in on their new extraction shooter, Marathon, with a ton of exciting new content being added in Season 2, including a brand-new shell called the Sentinel, and a Dire Marsh night mode.

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

Bungie confirms plans to experiment with PVE-Only Mode in Marathon Season 2.

If the sound of UESC forces descending upon you wasn't terrifying enough on its own, Bungie is cranking up the fear factor in a major way for Season 2, leaning heavily into Marathon's already dark and ominous vibes, as new threats begin to emerge.

Marathon Season 2 is Jam-Packed with New Content and Improvements

Marathon exploded onto the scene just a few months ago, and while the game has been up against some serious competition and has had its fair share of ups and downs, Bungie has shown they have no intention of giving up.

The two biggest additions in Marathon's Season 2 are the new defensive shell, Sentinel, and the new Dire Marsh night mode. Bungie says, "This new zone introduces new mechanics, new combatants, and locations to explore on Dire Marsh. It’s built to be slower-paced than Day Marsh and plays more like a survival horror experience, with slightly fewer players and extra environmental challenges with navigating the darkness and threats within."

One of the new locations you'll be able to explore is known as Complex Control—an area on Dire Marsh that runners could see the entrance to, but couldn't access in Season 1.

This area can now be unlocked using UESC encryption certificates, which can also be used to hack into network towers, containing stockpiles of healing supplies, weapons, and other loot.

These certificates are also your only way home, as the extraction points on Night Marsh will be locked, requiring certificates to open them—so killing UESC has never been more crucial.

Luckily, Bungie isn't sending you into battle unprepared, and the following items will be added in Season 2:

Flashlights: All Night Marsh Runners will have a flashlight.
Vector rounds: Bullets that create light where they land, illuminating UESC and Runners on impact.
Vector grenades: Light up the environment and ping nearby enemies.
Darksight scopes: Highlights the environment around you for a brief period after you ADS.
Signal Flares: Used to illuminate the area.

With new enemies emerging from the shadows of Night Marsh, you'll need more than flashlights and flares to make it to the exfil in one piece. Luckily, the new Sentinel shell is a defensive beast that can deflect projectiles and secure areas with traps.

Here are the Sentinel's abilities and traits:

Defender System (Ultimate ability): Deploys an automated laser platform that destroys incoming projectiles and boosts weapon handling for nearby teammates.

Snare Mine (tactical ability): Proximity-triggered mine that immobilizes enemies.

Castle Doctrine (Trait): Faster weapon handling for close-range weapons when surrounded by enemies, and increased resistances after taking splash damage.

Prey Tracker (Trait): Short-range motion-tracking system that reveals nearby moving targets on radar.

You'll need more than flashlights and flares to make it to the exfil in one piece.

Bungie is also making a pretty big change to progression, implementing a new system known as 'The Cradle', allowing runners to upgrade their shell stats over the course of the season by trading in weapons and valuable loot in exchange for energy.

Runners will then use the energy to allocate stat points into the following categories: strength, recharge, dexterity, support, endurance, and resistance.

Not only do we have a new shell, new enemies, a new mode, and what appears to be a massive change in the progression system, but Bungie is also improving the faction trees and contracts. "Each faction now has a unique family of implants (head, torso, and leg) that fits the playstyle of that faction. NuCaloric offers implants that help with healing and durability, while MIDA has ones more proficient in mobility or disruption."

Marathon has also announced that they plan to continue exploring more PvE-focused content moving forward, with plans to introduce PvE-only and PvP-Lite modes.