Bungie’s Marathon 1.0.6

Bungie pushed Marathon update 1.0.6 on April 14, adding a new reward system that pays solo players and squads for finishing objectives and extracting alive. (bungie.net) The centerpiece is C.A.R.R.I., short for CyberAcme Runner Reinforcement Initiative. It gives players CyberAcme Commendations for helping crewmates finish contracts, clearing contracts alone, or extracting as a Rook, then lets them spend that currency in a new armory on salvage crates and faction reputation packs. (bungie.net) Bungie also added “Stay Together,” an end-of-run option that forms a new crew with runners you just extracted with, even if only one crewmate made it out. Rooks now spawn with a Mercy Kit by default, and that consumable can revive an enemy runner instead of finishing them. (bungie.net, polygon.com) Marathon is an extraction shooter, which means players enter a match with gear, scavenge for more, and lose what they carried if they die before extraction. Bungie has kept saying that structure is supposed to get less punishing over time, and this patch adds more ways for players to recover, group up, and keep progressing after bad runs. (marathonthegame.com, ign.com, bungie.net) The update also changes the early game for new players. The Perimeter beginner map is now solos-only until Seasonal Level 12, presents a lower chance of running into other runners, and adds five new contracts plus optional CyberAcme contracts aimed at first-time players. (bungie.net) On the gear side, Bungie added 11 blue-rarity unique weapons to Showcase encounters in Perimeter and Dire Marsh. The studio also expanded the Season 1 Rewards Pass with four runner shell styles, a WSTR shotgun style, and a profile emblem split across the free and premium tracks. (polygon.com, bungie.net) Combat balance moved too. Bungie increased runner level and faction reputation gains for solo players, buffed the Recon shell’s Echo Pulse and Tracker Drone, and changed railguns so a fully charged shot no longer auto-fires and can be held indefinitely. (bungie.net, polygon.com) A separate limited-time test starts April 15 in Dire Marsh. In that queue, called Dire Marsh Sponsored, every player must enter with a white-tier free sponsored kit so Bungie can study how matches play when everyone starts with the same low-end loadout. (ign.com) Game director Joe Ziegler said the mode is meant to test Marathon’s “early gear ecosystem” and its “zero to hero” progression, where players upgrade from weak starting equipment with what they find in the zone. Bungie said the queue is planned to run for around two weeks and is limited to duos and trios, either premade or through matchmaking. (ign.com) The rollout came with downtime on April 14. Marathon Help said maintenance began at 5:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, sign-on was unavailable during the update window, and players started being removed from activities at 5:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time as version 1.0.6 went live. (help.marathonthegame.com)