Marathon’s mid-season update aims to charm casual players

Marathon’s mid-season update (1.0.6) just went live, and alongside some much needed balance changes and extra reward pass goodies, it introduces a number of changes seemingly aimed at making the game friendlier for casual players.

This is an interesting pivot and comes after Marathon has become known as the most ruthless game in the genre, particularly compared to Arc Raiders which goes as far as matching players based on aggression – putting friendly players into lobbies with other friendly players. In Marathon, most encounters between runners were shoot on sight.

A new “Mercy Kit” item lets players revive a downed enemy runner, providing a new option for dealing with other players of an unknown aggression level. Previously players had to choose between completely eliminating players from the lobby and attempting diplomacy at the cost of a huge disadvantage should it come to blow. More plentiful self-revive kits in solo lobbies build on this aspect, allowing more encounters to end with both players still in the run.

Progression has been another sticking point with casual players since the game’s story and meta progression were locked behind demanding resource gates and missions that require tons of successful runs. Not only is progression now overall faster, a new C.A.R.R.I. system rewards collaboration meaning players are encouraged to live and let live.

Full patch notes can be found here.