The definitive phrase on Bungie’s Marathon will not be laid down for fairly a while but, however everybody who performs it could actually agree on one factor: it is received that particular sauce. The otherworldly sci-fi power of Tau Ceti IV has clearly had an enormous quantity of care and thought put into every bit of the puzzle, from its gleaming environments to its sinister megacorporations, the darkish hostility of its world, and the intentionally expendable nature of its runners. However the methodology behind the magic clicks into place with the reveal of 1 sudden element: the involvement of Caves of Qud builders Freehold Video games.
“Ah, we are able to lastly say that Jason Grinblat and I had the true privilege of engaged on narrative preproduction for a number of years on Marathon,” Freehold co-founder Brian Bucklew writes by way of Bluesky. “It has an unbelievable narrative group, and is a really particular sport that takes its narrative very severely, in a contemporary manner that honors its distinctive previous.” Listed alongside the pair as a fellow ‘narrative marketing consultant’ on the FPS sport is Rob McLees, who was beforehand finest often called Bungie’s ‘Keeper of the Halo Story Bible.’
If you have not touched Caves of Qud, I would not actually blame you, given its notoriously complicated nature, however you are lacking one thing particular. The roguelike hit 1.0 in 2024, a full 14 years on from its first public beta, and boasts the illustrious ‘overwhelmingly constructive’ Steam assessment score with 95% of gamers recommending it. It even gained a Hugo Award. Caves of Qud may be held up as a shining instance of deep, intricate methods coming collectively to make one thing really particular. It is a sport you may spend hundreds of hours mastering and nonetheless really feel like you have not seen all of it.
Given the lovingly constructed science-fantasy world that Freehold Video games has constructed, it is sensible that Bungie picked up the cellphone to name them in for Marathon. Caves of Qud attracts you right into a labyrinthine internet of intertwined storytelling and lore that tells the story of a planet that may be tipping over the verge of dying, or proper upon the cusp of rebirth. It layers its extra procedural, emergent components over a handwritten core that was constructed up over greater than a decade, and it reveals.
“It is so enjoyable to take a seat in a room with unbelievable writers like Jason and Jon [Goff, Marathon design lead], after which additionally me who can code a bit of and is there too,” Bucklew remarks of his work on the shooter. Responding to feedback congratulating him on the venture, he notes that the work was “distant and a fairly gentle tempo, simply over a very long time,” and provides that he is “actually so, so proud of what their manufacturing group made occur.”
“It is nearly all of the manufacturing narrative group, not us,” Bucklew says, “we have been simply pitching loopy concepts. As a participant I believe the manufacturing group did an incredible job.” However, it is a reveal that is making me swing in the direction of giving Marathon extra time, as a result of it helps to underscore how targeted Bungie have been on delivering worldbuilding worthy of the Marathon legacy.
When you’re tempted to attempt Caves of Qud because of this, Freehold is planning a minimum of three growth packs to reach within the coming years, so now’s a superb time to start out.
