Bungie has released additional information on Marathon’s seasonal reward passes. Curbing the typical trend where such passes are phased out as new seasons are introduced, these will stay in the game permanently for players in a model similar to Helldivers 2 and Halo: Infinite.
This and more was broken down across Marathon social media accounts. It’s emphasised there is “no pay for power” in Marathon, with premium rewards earnable in these passes and real-money microtransactions providing only cosmetics. On top of that, these passes will not expire as time progresses, meaning you can stop playing without worrying about FOMO.
As for how you unlock rewards in these premium passes, you do so with Silk. This currency is earnable in-game, and notably cannot be bought with real money. The premium currency – known as Lux – can only be used on a separate selection of cosmetics.
Plus, if you aren’t keen on seasonal models at all, there’s a collection of unlockable cosmetics available in the Codex. This is in essence is a hub for challenges you can complete. So doing something special with your favourite gun could unlock a skin for this gun, as an example.
The reason this is all noteworthy is because it isn’t typical in live service games. Seasonal passes are introduced and later removed forever, typically in order to encourage player retention – it makes you feel like you have to boot up the game so you don’t miss anything. Bungie, by taking this alternative path, is losing out on such motivation. But in return it’s being more consumer friendly.
Marathon, which just today got a mysterious age rating on PS4 and Xbox One, is due to release later today worldwide. It recently got an eight-minute launch cinematic setting the stage for its full release, following a Server Slam last weekend proving popular among extraction shooter fans.
If you’ve not played the game yourself and are curious about it ahead of its release, you can read Eurogamer’s early impressions based on this Server Slam here.
