patchtracker.gg
We’d like to start this update with a big thank you to everyone who has joined us in the Marathon community or signed up for Alpha since our reveal showcase last weekend.
As developers we believe community feedback and dialog is essential to make the best version of Marathon. Up until now, this feedback has come from closed playtest sessions. In the spirit of building towards that future, we’ve decided to remove the NDA from our Closed Alpha Test. Everyone can share their thoughts, feedback, and footage, including streaming starting on April 23.
HOW WE DEFINE CLOSED ALPHA
This is a true closed technical test of Marathon. What that means is that you’ll be playing an incomplete version of the game. Our primary goal is to test two things: technical capabilities and our moment-to-moment gameplay loop. We plan to break stuff.
Alpha is a curated, limited slice of systems and content. We welcome feedback across the board, but the areas we are most keen to hear your thoughts on are:
- Weapons and gunplay
- Maps and survival gameplay
- Runners, including kits and build-crafting
- Early-game progression, including factions, contracts, and faction upgrades
- PvP engagements against other Runners
- PvE engagements against AI combatants
It’s important to note the Alpha is NOT the complete game. It does not include:
- Final visuals and graphics, including animations and lighting
- Full and polished UI
- All Runners
- All zones, including the Marathon Ship
- Pinnacle and end game content
- All weapons, items, consumables, implants, cores, and mods
- All factions and upgrades
- Long term progression and systems
- Complete narrative and storytelling systems and final shipping content
- Ranked play
- Final balance
- We’ll be hosting developer Q+As, streams, and jumping in with other creators all next week. See you on Tau Ceti IV.
THE IMPORTANCE OF DIALOGUE
Keeping an open dialogue is a crucial part of Alpha and beyond. We’ve been tracking several topics since Reveal and we’re looking forward to seeing and hearing your feedback as you play Alpha. After the Closed Alpha Test ends, we'll be summarizing the major things we heard, our thoughts, and what comes next.
If you haven’t already, make sure to hop into the Discord and sign-up for Alpha for your chance to play. And if you are outside of NA, we will have additional opportunities for you to play Marathon before release later this year. We are still in the process of configuring our global datacenters, and they aren't ready for large-scale public testing yet.
In the meantime, Traxus sends regards.