LogInThanks to the fan community behind an open-source engine Aleph One, you will be able to experience this genre-defining, revived for modern hardware classic first-person shooter Bungie title via Steam.
Yes, it's true, the fan-made Bungie's Marathon revival is coming to Steam with Bungie's permission.
The original Marathon was developed in 1994 for Apple Macintosh and shortly became a trilogy, although quickly getting overshadowed by another Bungie's iconic title Halo. Despite that, it had its influence on the genre and was quite innovative for a first-person shooter: Marathon had a detailed plot related to the gameplay and the player's progress.
The game takes place far into the future in orbit around humanity’s first interstellar colony, where the player takes the role of a security officer attempting to stop an alien invasion aboard a colony ship named the Marathon. In order to advance in the game, the player has to interact with computer terminals, serving as the primary means by which the plot is relayed. These terminals provide the player with their current objective as well.
Bungie released the source code of Marathon 2 in the late 90s following the release of game assets, enabling the development of an open-source enhanced version of the Marathon 2 engine called Aleph One. Now, the team behind this project received Bungie's permission to publish the original trilogy on Steam.
While you get to experience authentic gameplay using the original data files, there will be some changes in the form of optional widescreen HUD support, 3D filtering/perspective, positional audio, and 60+ fps interpolation, "just in case the original is too authentic".
Although it's completely a community-driven project, when asked about it, Bungie confirmed their permission and also mentioned Classic Marathon will be free:
"We're very supportive of the Marathon community and Aleph One's dedication here to bring the original Marathon to PC, Linux, and Mac for everyone to experience, with cross-platform play available in multiplayer. This is a true tribute to the original game!"
Image Credits: Aleph One Developers, Classic Marathon
Image Credits: Aleph One Developers, Classic Marathon
Image Credits: Aleph One Developers, Classic Marathon
There's no known release date for Classic Marathon's arrival on Steam, but it would be safe to assume it'll launch before the expected Marathon reboot in 2025. However, if you want to experience the Marathon trilogy right now, all of the games are free and available on the Aleph One website.
Wishlist Classic Marathon on Steam here and don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.