[TermExtinguisher]

Wanted to make a topic about this, but some time ago i found this series of games called "Marathon" and played it, fairly nice but doesn't really have that much maps or mods. To be honest its really different from DOOM and Duke nukem 3D (obviously because its a different engine)


I also heard it has mobile releases but be warned, the experience i had playing those versions are absolutely horrible, navigating was awful, you had to swipe the top of the screen to change weapons, to put it short every part of the screen served a purpose, but this topic ain't going to be talking smack about this, i want to know more things like:

is there any forum for this game?

are there ATLEAST some user levels for this game?

but most importantly, what are your thoughts on this ancient relic?

[Danukem]

I thought it was pretty great at the time. Had some great weapons and a unique atmosphere, and its story put other shooters of its day to shame. There are still echos of the weapon and character designs in Bungie's later works up to this day.

[MrFlibble]

TermExtinguisher, on 26 March 2025 - 04:43 PM, said:

To be honest its really different from DOOM and Duke nukem 3D (obviously because its a different engine)

I'd say the series is dissimilar from Doom and Duke3D first and foremost on account of a completely different design philosophy. The engine itself is rather similar to the one in Doom, although of course not identical. I think that to properly understand and appreciate Marathon, one must also keep in mind the previous game, Pathways Into Darkness. If Marathon is Bungie's Doom, then PID is its Wolfenstein 3-D. These games are very obviously aiming at more depth, mystery and even some philosophical musings. There's a lot of world-building going on where Doom opts for pure action with a sprinkle of horror, but the developers were rather limited by technology in how they would present the wider context of what the player is doing (=lots of text to read via terminals).

That said, my personal impression is that Marathon games are pretty solid, but it might be an acquired taste to actually get into them fully and enjoy them. There seems to be a good chunk of community-made content, including several (?) total conversions and user episodes that are said to be good. I've not tried any of them so I cannot comment on this really.

There are also several other games on the same engine, out of which I remember playing ZPC, a really unique-looking piece of underground art disguised as a game. Unfortunately, it does not seem to be sold anywhere digitally, and I'm not sure if Aleph One supports it.

[Morpheus Kitami]

Hmm, I could have sworn there were a lot of levels around for it. Maybe not as much as Doom and Duke, but there's less work in making those work as intended. As Flibble mentioned, there's a different design philosophy with Budgie's '90s games. That said, I know there's this from where you linked and I'm pretty sure there are some TCs elsewhere. I know someone ported Pathways into Darkness into it, though it obviously loses something.

I haven't gotten far in any Marathon engine game, but I've sampled everything made with the engine. One thing I really dig about them, and Pathways, is the actual drawn artwork for sprites. It's a very cool look and I think it's a shame more people didn't use it. ZPC was the one I got the furthest in, but I must admit, nothing really struck me as interesting about it beyond the striking artwork. There's also Damage Inc, a sort of tactical FPS which had some pretty good squadmate AI for an engine that isn't really built for it. I have, however, finished Pathways, which I think is unique among FPS, certainly before it moved beyond that block-based design, in doing a lot and doing it very well. Overarching story, clever puzzles and decent RPG aspects. Usually built up the tension for big fights too. Shame that to get a proper experience you need to set up a Macintosh emulator. (Like I said, someone ported it to the Marathon engine, where it loses something)

[MrFlibble]

Morpheus Kitami, on 28 March 2025 - 08:20 AM, said:

ZPC was the one I got the furthest in, but I must admit, nothing really struck me as interesting about it beyond the striking artwork.

I played ZPC sometime in the late-2000s when my 90s video game nostalgia was pretty strong, and it felt like a very unusual "Doom clone" with unique-looking artwork. The gameplay itself wasn't very impressive though, but I liked the level design -- it felt like a pretty consistent world, in more ways more detailed than in Doom II for sure. I don't know how to better describe it, because the art style is definitely not very realistic, but the streets looked like streets, the various interiors also had a distinct look, etc. In a way it's a bit like Chex Quest, which also generally looks more grounded than anything in Doom II when it comes to urban environments, but where Chex uses sort of "generic" cartoon visuals, in ZPC you have something more artistic.

That said, I can easily imagine playing ZPC for hours in the 90s and enjoying it quite a lot. Pity there's no support in Aleph One, AFAIK.

[jkas789]

TermExtinguisher, on 26 March 2025 - 04:43 PM, said:

Wanted to make a topic about this, but some time ago i found this series of games called "Marathon" and played it, fairly nice but doesn't really have that much maps or mods. To be honest its really different from DOOM and Duke nukem 3D (obviously because its a different engine)

I'm glad to see new people discovering what is possibly the best story ever written for a video game ever. Baldur's Gate 3 eat your heart out. To answer your questions:

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is there any forum for this game?

Yes there is and they are called pfhorums. A discord server for Marathon created by the AlephOne peeps and some redditors also exists.

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are there ATLEAST some user levels for this game?

They are called scenarios and yes there are a shit ton of them of very high quality. They are basically the equivalent of user episodes for Doom or Duke Nukem. Some of the best are: Red, Rubicon X, Tempus Irae and last but not least Eternal X.

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but most importantly, what are your thoughts on this ancient relic?

It's a damn shame Bungie haven't remaked the games and that every fan project attempting it has fallen apart. Truly we live in a society.

If you want to read the full story of the games you can read it here.

Also yes, I am indeed a fan of of the series. God I hope the new game is good I need it to be good please Bungie don't fuck this up I beg you.