Summary
- Bungie & Aleph One team up to release Marathon 2 for free on Steam, a classic FPS that laid the groundwork for future games.
- Optional enhancements like widescreen support and texture packs offer a fresh take on the iconic game experience.
- Marathon trilogy revival continues with plans to release Marathon Infinity on Steam, along with a new hero shooter in development.
Bungie and Aleph One Developers have re-released the second entry of the studio's classic first-person shooter series, Marathon 2, for absolutely free on Steam. Bungie is mostly known for being the creator of the Halo and Destiny FPS franchises. However, the studio got its start with the Marathon series back in the '90s.
Bungie's classic Marathon trilogy started in 1994, first being released for Apple Macintosh computers. While it was competing with other influential FPS games released in the 90s, Marathon would help codify a lot of FPS conventions and tropes that gamers are familiar with today. While the series isn't as well-known as Bungie's other IPs, since it was only available on Mac PCs for the longest time, the studio has been revisiting the Marathon series with both a new game and re-releases of its older titles. The first Marathon game was re-released for free on Steam back in May, and fans can now pick up the second entry in this influential FPS series for free.
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Re-released as Classic Marathon 2, this game was developed and published by Aleph One Developers. Aleph One Developers is a fan-run team of developers who were working on bringing the Marathon trilogy to modern platforms like Steam. Much like the Classic Marathon Steam re-release, Classic Marathon 2 has made a number of enhancements and improvements to the original.
Classic Marathon 2 is Available for Free on Steam
New features included in Classic Marathon 2 are optional widescreen HUD support, 3D filtering and perspective, positional audio, and 60+ fps interpolation. Players who don't like any of these new enhancements can also opt to play the game the original way. Classic Marathon 2 also has a texture pack DLC, which replaces the game's graphics with the ones from the XBLA version of Marathon: Durandal. The story of Marathon 2 picks up after the first game's ending, where the evil rogue AI Durandal seizes the player character and forces them to do their bidding.
The third game in the trilogy, Marathon Infinity, is also slated to be re-released on Steam sometime this year, also for free. Bungie is also reviving the Marathon IP with a brand-new hero shooter, though the studio has faced a bit of backlash following the announcement of Marathon's change from an extraction shooter to a hero shooter premise. This revival is still currently in development, however, so fans will need to wait until more information is given before fully casting judgment on the game and its direction.
