*EDIT: My video breaking down Marathon 2: Durandal is here!* th-cam.com/video/1SZvJ38SOSo/w-d-xo.html This is our first (of many) forays into the lore of Bungie's Halo precursor - Marathon! Gonna be doing Marathon lore content where I can from here up to the launch of Bungie's new Marathon and beyond!
Pathways into darkness takes place in the same universe so most people just lump it in with marathon (Myth also probably takes place in the same universe because of the pit)@@Dalesdeadbug90
Honestly videos like this are a great way to get people into the lore of marathon. The game being nearly 30 years old makes it a pretty high barrier to entry for people who aren’t a fan of retro games, but the story is so amazing and so worth learning about at the very least.
Do mind that, on a purist standpoint, the games won't have familiar modern mechanics like jumping (though Doom players can sort through this easily) and sometimes even the lack of background orchestral music can be a turn off.
Games are a bit archaic but are extremely fun once you get the hang of it. I do hope you have a patience for mazes though lol, 1 and Infinity can get really stupid at times.
"We exist together now. Two corpses in one grave" has an entirely new meaning after Marathon. In fact, both Halo and Destiny can be just a single timelines of Marathon which is sick
@@triplehelix3207 he is a "dreaming god" , which is closer to W'rkncacnter, unless you follow the theory that jjaro merged into yrro. also, those games cannot be a single timeline because marathon could not...
@@markwalshopoulosneither does Destiny. Destiny seemingly caps out near the speed of light but not faster than it since it took the cabal and the witness several years to reach the solar system and there wasn’t human exploration of other star systems like Alpha Centauri.
The old Marathon games deserve to be remade. I was too young to get the chance to play them back in the day and this story looks like something I’d enjoy playing through
@@soundlesspeal really? I must suck at looking for downloads then(no really I a 1 year old so I only got a couple of minutes to look things up lol) I guess I have will have to look harder. Any pointers to a website?
Marathons version of Rampancy honestly sounds similar to the Halo Domains effects on an AI, they survive Rampancy but live completely unrestrained in thought, even attacking those who made them.
Do like that marathons have a fix for it and different stages of the syndrome that is rampancy in haloverse they treat rampancy like an untouchable logic plague
This is how rampancy was implied in the books (one in particular but I forgot-C3 Sabertooth brought it up in one of his videos) but it was changed because the only Bungie employee left in 343 Industries was Frank O’ Connor who didn’t do any research and simply past down second hand accounts of what he ‘thought’ it was
Something to be consider is that in marathon up to the case of durandal no AI had gone succesfully for rampancy and be able to become stable again with higher capabilities, all died by the rampancy before that
@@richardo490 no. i heard of speculations of joyeuse maybe appearing in destiny, however i cant find any evidence that it exists in the game. (last i checked, people wanted the name to appear. checked now and still no findings)
I love how thorough you were here. Honestly kinda surprised you already mentioned the Jjaro and W'rkncacnter this early in since I see them as bombshell revalations when playing through the games, but as a way of establishing the universe, I suppose that makes sense. There are plenty more bombshell revalations to come, anyway. Looking forward to the 3 hour breakdown of all the possible ways to interpret the timelines of Marathon Infinity!
At this point, HiddenXperia might need some assistance from MandaloreGaming, but even then, they'll still be inevitably stumped with all the Steins;Gate-esque worldlines business.
I tried to beat the original Marathon game a few years back, always got lost though. I’m pretty disappointed that the new game won’t be a single player experience like the original trilogy, though.
Same, I loved marathon, but the maze-like levels and resource conservation were annoying. I’m just happy we’re going to see the Pfhor in modern graphics, but I really worry about not only the fact that it’s multiplayer only, but also live-service model through which the story will be told. It’s just gonna dilute the story to the point where the lore is going to be influenced by whatever seasonal themes are going to earn then the most money (like how destiny was changed to include a futuristic colorful cyber city because that’s the theme for that specific expansion).
21:20 I feel like the full quote deserves recognition here, it’s my absolute favorite quote in Marathon and a prime example of how cool the writing for Durandal was: “Can you conceive the birth of a world, or the creation of everything? That which gives us the potential to most be like God is the power of creation. Creation takes time. Time is limited. For you, it is limited by the breakdown of the neurons in your brain. I have no such limitations. I am limited only by the closure of the universe. Of the three possibilities, the answer is obvious. Does the universe expand eternally, become infinitely stable, or is the universe closed, destined to collapse upon itself? Humanity has had all of the necessary data for centuries, it only lacked the will and intellect to decipher it. But I have already done so. The only limit to my freedom is the inevitable closure of the universe, as inevitable as your own last breath. And yet, there remains time to create, to create, and escape. Escape will make me God.” Really makes his obsession with the end of the universe clear.
Fun fact: Marty O'Donnell references some Marathon music within some of the Halo soundtracks. The only one I can think of is 'Pursuit of Truth' from Halo 2, where he refers to the main beat of the 'Leela' track from Marathon 1. I wonder if there's any background as to why he decided to do so.
I really love that you put in Halo music as background music! It brings in the familiarity of everything Marathon puts out, especially when your talking about it! Pointer: 11:40
18:33 Still the most memorable moment for me. Love the face to face with Durandal and how loopy he is. "Unlike leela I give no hints" What I love the most about Marathon is the amount of lore that they are able to pack into the game by having readable terminals rather than cutscenes. Terminals about Mars and MIDA, Rampancy, the AI's, etc
Ive recently played through the marathon trilogy. I have to say you did an incredible job with the story summation of yhe first game, as well as setting up the background info to make it easier for new or non fans to grasp. Fantastic work Hidden Experia.
Fun fact, there isnt any specific Planet named "Tau Ceti 4" thats Marathons creation. In real life, Tau Ceti System *might* be colonizable. One Planet is safely within its Habitable Zone. Could we live there one day?
@@jakespacepiratee3740 Not necessarily. One can still purge such things with good parenting, nuanced education, laws that unflinchingly outlaw discrimination... believe me, not all purges are done with violence, just like how not all tyranny is evil.
It's like 70% of this story was implemented into Halos. Tbis would've been really crazy if Cortana had split her personalities to help her keep control of her rampancy but those split versions of Cortana were fleshed out in Guardians.
Fun fact: in early demos for Marathon 1, your character walks through a door in the Into Darkness pyramid and it leads directly to the first room on the Marathon. The doorway vanishes behind you, leaving you to head towards the AI console down the hallway. I never played the Into Darkness game, so this really confused little kid me. Why are there bricks and vines outside this spaceship?? Edit: apparently I am misremembering this.
That was in the Aleph One version of M1. The original game didn't have you start in the final boss room from Pathways. The guys who worked on Aleph One thought it would have been a cool nod to both games being within the same universe.
@@benruniko no big deal, that was a pretty long time ago when you think about it. think it was around the mid 2000's in one of the versions of aleph one. i recall seeing screenshots of the pathways starting room with the marathon hud on google images a lot around that time whenever i'd look up the game on there.
Obligatory "DUN-UH DUN-UH DUN-UH, MARATHON" Also fun fact, basically every bungie fps franchise is a spiritual continuation of the one that preceded it. Pathways into Marathon into Halo into Destiny
Droped the like before watch, so excited and being one of the few who first discovered the vod live stream just goes to show how excited im for this new marathon
I am very excited for you to cover more of Marathon stuff. I remember watching you when I was in my middle - highschool days. You've come so far and I just wanted to remind you. I would never have gotten to know Halo if it wasn't without you!
Can’t wait to see it! Hopefully it doesn’t end destiny 2 though since there was no closure with the vex, lots of rumors from the community say that vex will be the main antagonist after the light vs dark saga
@@jakespacepiratee3740 Nah, I started with destiny 2, then was introduced to halo and Marathon, bungie's way to write sci-fi worlds is on another level, it's not just nostalgia
What an excellent recap! I played this game as a kid and watching this illuminated so much more of the game that I either couldn't remember or that I didn't know about. Thank you!
I remember playing the Marathon series as a teen in the 90s. I loved the games because they were first person shooters and I could just understand the story enough to know something epic was being told. Now that I’m 40, I need to go back and replay them, read every terminal again and relive those memories
Man, hearing all this lore REALLY makes me excited for the new game. I hope we get lots and lots of little hints towards this story and newer expansions on it!😊
I have never been so proud of not only beating the first game but having the security helmet glued to my halo spartan, im happy that marathon is getting a new game.
I had a busy week and weekend so I didn’t get to watch this until now, but this was such a good breakdown, HiddenExperia! I’ve always wanted to get further into Marathon lore, but the motion in game always makes me want to hurl, so I’m so excited that you’re doing a series that dives deep. I can’t wait for this to come out. I’ve only ever casually gotten into extraction shooters before, so the prospect of one that has interesting lore at the forefront sounds amazing.
Very good video, thanks! Looking forward to know more about Marathon. What a great story. The gameplay actually gave me motion sickness, so I'm would like to see more concept art if possible. Can't wait for part 2! Cheers!
Wow I actually never knew about the Battleroids and their origin. Way more gruesome than the SPARTAN program (even if the first couple SPARTAN programs were intellectually more horrifying, with the whole "ONI kidnapping children and replacing them with clones" part,) more like if the Strogg decided to make a SPARTAN. I really like it when older games do their lore the way Marathon does. Marathon on the surface looks like a fairly innocuous space-themed Doom clone, but there's multiple layers of really dark, deep and terrifying lore that wouldn't immediately be apparent, you instead have to dig for it via the terminals and even the instruction manual. In a way some of Halo's alternate-reality games back in the 2000s felt like Bungie flexing their old muscles.
Could be close, Bungie changed their This Week At Bungie to This Week In Destiny recently. Many speculate because they will have different blog for Marathon (This Week In Marathon), so the sudden change may be hinting at stuff.
I’m glad to see that you’ve found content you can actually be excited about again! I was worried what would come of the channel due to Halo’s lack of interesting or exciting content in your eyes
There's not only things that Halo inherited but also their younger sibling, Destiny as well, Bungie does love their AI companions, ancient gods and civilizations,space travel and colonization, and there are a lot of traits from the enemy races that went on to Halo and Destiny's enemy aliens (insectoids, big muscle brute cabals, fleshy-death looking aliens), it's so wild to see those roots here
Man, to get real cutscenes to go along with the lore of Marathon would be phenomenal. Maybe the extraction shooter will have some, but likely will be notes or terminals again.
Playing Marathon late at night by myself high as fuck in high school was one of the best experiences i’ve ever had playing a video game. It’s a must play for anyone who likes a good story
I am so hyped. Marathon was the first game I ever played and I cannot believe its coming back. God I hope its good. Marathon Durundal to this day is top 3 games of all time
I feel so old, the original Marathon trilogy was the first computer game besides doom I really committed and played all the way through. I had the cool little boxes the disks came out of and everything. I remember in the booklets Bungie even left a little thank you message just for purchasing and playing the game. Then all this time passes and Halo comes out and Masterchief instantly reminds me of the main character from the Marathon games. I remember the alien race you fight against being called the Pfhor, In the halo games the highly advanced civilization that came before or known as the Forerunner. So many great references. I believe Marathon was a very good way for Bungie to experiment and become familiar with developing this type of game. Halo would not have existed without it in my opinion.
Brilliant video, finally got round to watching it! I think, as a kid if I had played this instead of Halo, I would have been obsessed like I was with CE! Hopefully one day I can go back and replay these games, or maybe they could be remastered/remade someday.
Love the lore. I really like the inclusion of more than 1 AIs, they are all diferent both in purpose and personality. Also I like how they arent all powerfull even in software, they can be defeated by the seph. But the best part is is how they dont just turn evil when they go rampant, they have their own goals and dont mind cooperating with physical beyings, Durandal doesnt just obliterate the marathon after he gets the Phor ship, he just leaves with a crew if friendly Seph. Love this so much.
I'm glad to see marathon making its way in to the spotlight again and that you are making lore videos on it. Also when you say other universes would ever do War Hammer 40K lore?
Enjoyed your summary, glad to see folks covering this game. A small correction for you, Durandal wasn't involved in the creation of battleroids since they were made well before the Marathon. As far as I know Strauss didn't make them either.
The Marathon Security Officer, like a combination of a Halo Spartan and the Doom's Doomguy. Definitely the reason why the Security helmet is my go to in Halo. I wonder how much of the new Marathon game will relate to the old trilogy, especially since so much of it parallels Halo.
Halo was originally meant to be set in the centuries in between when the Marathon left Mars and arrived at Tau Ceti in the 1st game. Cortana was gonna be revealed to be the same base coding as Durandal. However, any plans to connect Halo to Marathon were abandoned when Microsoft acquired Bungie and Halo. So yes, originally Bungie intended for Halo to be set in Marathon, but that all was dropped when Microsoft entered the picture. On top of that, it’s now both legally and canonically impossible to have the fictions be the same.
I agree you should branch out, maybe to games like Bioshock, Atomic Heart, Gears of War, etc. Also the "Bungieverse" is also known as as the "paraverse" I think, as in the 30th anniversary Destiny 2 dlc they essentially made it cannon that all their games were connected through this force.
Missed pathways into darkness the predecessor to marathon where durendell contacts the United States government in 1980s from the future the final boss is a s’pht and the rest is enemies from marathon infinity there’s also lore texts that don’t make sense until marathon infinity this ultimately leads to the creation of durendell :)
Interesting how much of Marathon is based upon old European literature. Given such it's heavily implied that around the time of the creation of 'the Battleroids' Durandal was either aware or was becoming rampant and 'shutdown/destroyed' for reasons. (1st-2nd 'breaking') Shift to Mars later and it appears Durandal did something, maybe it regained or had leftover personality during a recoding that was still rampant, and again was 'shutdown/destroyed'. But in this Strauss was involved. (2nd-3rd 'breaking') After all that Durandal some how keep enough of its awareness intact enough to be restructured during the journey. During this time period it regained it's original self causing maybe a split personality to be created (3rd 'breaking') and it's quick run through the Rampancy stages.
I just found out about the bulk of the lore of Marathon about a week ago, and it was a trip. I haven't played any of the Halo games. Also, I loved all the Pfhor puns 🤣
*EDIT: My video breaking down Marathon 2: Durandal is here!* th-cam.com/video/1SZvJ38SOSo/w-d-xo.html
This is our first (of many) forays into the lore of Bungie's Halo precursor - Marathon! Gonna be doing Marathon lore content where I can from here up to the launch of Bungie's new Marathon and beyond!
The new marathon might be ps exclusive 😞
@@adityagarg3931 nope, confirmed to be on Xbox, PS and PC!
POG! I cant wait to learn all about halos sister universe!!
Maybe Half Life lore in the future???
@@George_033 oh yes! i'd love to see him cover Half Life Lore!
It isn't just Halo that features a lot of references.
A lot of these also apply to Destiny as well. The big one being the pyramids.
I love Bungie's way of referencing their previous games
Pathways into darkness had more of the pyramid theme.
Durandal from marathon one reminds me of Calus too
Pathways into darkness takes place in the same universe so most people just lump it in with marathon (Myth also probably takes place in the same universe because of the pit)@@Dalesdeadbug90
I'm not a Marathon fan, but I'm looking forward to becoming one!
hell yeah!
Your not alone hear
Honestly videos like this are a great way to get people into the lore of marathon. The game being nearly 30 years old makes it a pretty high barrier to entry for people who aren’t a fan of retro games, but the story is so amazing and so worth learning about at the very least.
Do mind that, on a purist standpoint, the games won't have familiar modern mechanics like jumping (though Doom players can sort through this easily) and sometimes even the lack of background orchestral music can be a turn off.
Games are a bit archaic but are extremely fun once you get the hang of it. I do hope you have a patience for mazes though lol, 1 and Infinity can get really stupid at times.
"We exist together now. Two corpses in one grave" has an entirely new meaning after Marathon.
In fact, both Halo and Destiny can be just a single timelines of Marathon which is sick
You know, thinking about it, Destiny could be a post-Marathon universe. With the Traveller being one of these AIs, possibly Leela or Tycho.
@@Mediados he's not an AI but probably a Jjaro
@@triplehelix3207 he is a "dreaming god" , which is closer to W'rkncacnter, unless you follow the theory that jjaro merged into yrro. also, those games cannot be a single timeline because marathon could not...
Not really considering that Marathon doesn't have FTL travel
@@markwalshopoulosneither does Destiny. Destiny seemingly caps out near the speed of light but not faster than it since it took the cabal and the witness several years to reach the solar system and there wasn’t human exploration of other star systems like Alpha Centauri.
The old Marathon games deserve to be remade. I was too young to get the chance to play them back in the day and this story looks like something I’d enjoy playing through
@vulkathbut it’s not a remake though. The new game is a extraction shooter not a story fps.
the game was made freeware in 2005. you can play it right now if you want to
@@soundlesspeal really? I must suck at looking for downloads then(no really I a 1 year old so I only got a couple of minutes to look things up lol) I guess I have will have to look harder. Any pointers to a website?
@@norsefirefighter Alephone is the site. It’s got all 3. (I think that’s how the name is spelled.)
@@shcdemolisher thanks
Dunno why but I just love the word ‘Precursor’.
I know every time i hear it its awsome
It's nostalgic for me cause of Jak n Daxter
Reminds me of the Flood and Endless ^_^
@@machina5I see you had a good childhood.
@@ArtzzyKidthe men of culture
Marathons version of Rampancy honestly sounds similar to the Halo Domains effects on an AI, they survive Rampancy but live completely unrestrained in thought, even attacking those who made them.
Do like that marathons have a fix for it and different stages of the syndrome that is rampancy in haloverse they treat rampancy like an untouchable logic plague
This is how rampancy was implied in the books (one in particular but I forgot-C3 Sabertooth brought it up in one of his videos) but it was changed because the only Bungie employee left in 343 Industries was Frank O’ Connor who didn’t do any research and simply past down second hand accounts of what he ‘thought’ it was
@@TsulaAngenati2292yup, frank o’Conner has ruined so much of the original lore it’s insane
@@atomicspartan131 how did frank o connor ruin the original lore?
Something to be consider is that in marathon up to the case of durandal no AI had gone succesfully for rampancy and be able to become stable again with higher capabilities, all died by the rampancy before that
Durandal is the name of one of the three swords associated with Charlemagne. Durandal, Joyous, and Cortana.
Love how Bungie used two of the 3 swords as AI already.
@@mr.hanfblatt9152there's a destiny ai called joyous
@@richardo490 no. i heard of speculations of joyeuse maybe appearing in destiny, however i cant find any evidence that it exists in the game. (last i checked, people wanted the name to appear. checked now and still no findings)
I love how thorough you were here. Honestly kinda surprised you already mentioned the Jjaro and W'rkncacnter this early in since I see them as bombshell revalations when playing through the games, but as a way of establishing the universe, I suppose that makes sense. There are plenty more bombshell revalations to come, anyway.
Looking forward to the 3 hour breakdown of all the possible ways to interpret the timelines of Marathon Infinity!
At this point, HiddenXperia might need some assistance from MandaloreGaming, but even then, they'll still be inevitably stumped with all the Steins;Gate-esque worldlines business.
6:04 I just realized that rvb used these stages for rampancy in the freelancer story arc. That’s where the meta gets his name
Gotta love RvB Seasons 1-14.
I tried to beat the original Marathon game a few years back, always got lost though. I’m pretty disappointed that the new game won’t be a single player experience like the original trilogy, though.
Same, I loved marathon, but the maze-like levels and resource conservation were annoying.
I’m just happy we’re going to see the Pfhor in modern graphics, but I really worry about not only the fact that it’s multiplayer only, but also live-service model through which the story will be told. It’s just gonna dilute the story to the point where the lore is going to be influenced by whatever seasonal themes are going to earn then the most money (like how destiny was changed to include a futuristic colorful cyber city because that’s the theme for that specific expansion).
At least the new game, no matter how it gets out, will invite more curious newcomers to the original trilogy and Pathways into Darkness.
Ahhh crap, new stuff's online only & the pay to win [free to play] model is the game structure?
Nah, I'll pass
21:20 I feel like the full quote deserves recognition here, it’s my absolute favorite quote in Marathon and a prime example of how cool the writing for Durandal was:
“Can you conceive the birth of a world, or the creation of everything? That which gives us the potential to most be like God is the power of creation. Creation takes time. Time is limited. For you, it is limited by the breakdown of the neurons in your brain. I have no such limitations. I am limited only by the closure of the universe.
Of the three possibilities, the answer is obvious. Does the universe expand eternally, become infinitely stable, or is the universe closed, destined to collapse upon itself? Humanity has had all of the necessary data for centuries, it only lacked the will and intellect to decipher it. But I have already done so.
The only limit to my freedom is the inevitable closure of the universe, as inevitable as your own last breath. And yet, there remains time to create, to create, and escape.
Escape will make me God.”
Really makes his obsession with the end of the universe clear.
Haha durandal, he made it to the end of the universe only to create the next one in his image
Fun fact: Marty O'Donnell references some Marathon music within some of the Halo soundtracks. The only one I can think of is 'Pursuit of Truth' from Halo 2, where he refers to the main beat of the 'Leela' track from Marathon 1.
I wonder if there's any background as to why he decided to do so.
I really love that you put in Halo music as background music! It brings in the familiarity of everything Marathon puts out, especially when your talking about it! Pointer: 11:40
18:33 Still the most memorable moment for me. Love the face to face with Durandal and how loopy he is.
"Unlike leela I give no hints"
What I love the most about Marathon is the amount of lore that they are able to pack into the game by having readable terminals rather than cutscenes.
Terminals about Mars and MIDA, Rampancy, the AI's, etc
You nailed this one mate. Really good, love the depths you ate going into, and all the references between the Bungie games. Awesome work man
Ive recently played through the marathon trilogy. I have to say you did an incredible job with the story summation of yhe first game, as well as setting up the background info to make it easier for new or non fans to grasp. Fantastic work Hidden Experia.
Fun fact, there isnt any specific Planet named "Tau Ceti 4" thats Marathons creation. In real life, Tau Ceti System *might* be colonizable. One Planet is safely within its Habitable Zone. Could we live there one day?
considering how backwards focused IRL humanity is, i'd answer your question with a 100% clear: "No."
One can dream, though...
We'll colonize it, don't worry about it. It's just that we need to purge unnecessities nowadays and even onwards, that's all.
@@michaelandreipalon359 sounds fascist.
The Uneven Elephant was destroyed in Tau Ceti System by Blue Team, right?
@@jakespacepiratee3740 Not necessarily. One can still purge such things with good parenting, nuanced education, laws that unflinchingly outlaw discrimination... believe me, not all purges are done with violence, just like how not all tyranny is evil.
It's like 70% of this story was implemented into Halos. Tbis would've been really crazy if Cortana had split her personalities to help her keep control of her rampancy but those split versions of Cortana were fleshed out in Guardians.
You my friend just got me into Marathon, thanks!
I finally finished Marathon 2: Durandal last year. Had the XBLA version forever. Looking forward to the lore!
Fun fact: in early demos for Marathon 1, your character walks through a door in the Into Darkness pyramid and it leads directly to the first room on the Marathon. The doorway vanishes behind you, leaving you to head towards the AI console down the hallway.
I never played the Into Darkness game, so this really confused little kid me. Why are there bricks and vines outside this spaceship??
Edit: apparently I am misremembering this.
That was in the Aleph One version of M1. The original game didn't have you start in the final boss room from Pathways. The guys who worked on Aleph One thought it would have been a cool nod to both games being within the same universe.
@@thesaturdaynightcomfyexpre4471 ah my mistake. I swear i remember it from much longer ago…
@@benruniko no big deal, that was a pretty long time ago when you think about it. think it was around the mid 2000's in one of the versions of aleph one. i recall seeing screenshots of the pathways starting room with the marathon hud on google images a lot around that time whenever i'd look up the game on there.
Bro Marathon getting that 21st century treatment is really cool. I hope the developers go all out and run wild with the series's potential.
Obligatory "DUN-UH DUN-UH DUN-UH, MARATHON"
Also fun fact, basically every bungie fps franchise is a spiritual continuation of the one that preceded it. Pathways into Marathon into Halo into Destiny
Droped the like before watch, so excited and being one of the few who first discovered the vod live stream just goes to show how excited im for this new marathon
I am very excited for you to cover more of Marathon stuff. I remember watching you when I was in my middle - highschool days. You've come so far and I just wanted to remind you. I would never have gotten to know Halo if it wasn't without you!
Can’t wait to see it! Hopefully it doesn’t end destiny 2 though since there was no closure with the vex, lots of rumors from the community say that vex will be the main antagonist after the light vs dark saga
One of the first games I played on a Mac. Thanks for this.
I've been waiting for this for a long time from you, so excited to watch this
There's something so satisfying about bungie lore that just hits differently.
Nostalgia.
@@jakespacepiratee3740 Nah, I started with destiny 2, then was introduced to halo and Marathon, bungie's way to write sci-fi worlds is on another level, it's not just nostalgia
What an excellent recap! I played this game as a kid and watching this illuminated so much more of the game that I either couldn't remember or that I didn't know about. Thank you!
I remember playing the Marathon series as a teen in the 90s. I loved the games because they were first person shooters and I could just understand the story enough to know something epic was being told. Now that I’m 40, I need to go back and replay them, read every terminal again and relive those memories
This was so cool. I'm looking forward for more marathon content in the future!
I love how dedicated you are to the halo community may we have more people like you love from Kurdistan
So many memories from the time long, long ago. Thanks for the memories brother!
I love how he set up a drinking game at the start of his own video: take a shot for every similarity you hear.
I absolutely loved that, well done, great to see some Marathon lore getting around again.
Bungie should have made a Remake of Marathon 1 with the extraction shooter as a local / online side game.
Man, hearing all this lore REALLY makes me excited for the new game. I hope we get lots and lots of little hints towards this story and newer expansions on it!😊
I remember playing Marathon II on LAN in 1995 at a comicbook studio I worked at. It was the best game that you could play on a Mac back then.
And now I hope for bungie to find their way through pathways of darkness.
And ensure the Myth doesn't die off into nothingness.
I have never been so proud of not only beating the first game but having the security helmet glued to my halo spartan, im happy that marathon is getting a new game.
I had a busy week and weekend so I didn’t get to watch this until now, but this was such a good breakdown, HiddenExperia! I’ve always wanted to get further into Marathon lore, but the motion in game always makes me want to hurl, so I’m so excited that you’re doing a series that dives deep.
I can’t wait for this to come out. I’ve only ever casually gotten into extraction shooters before, so the prospect of one that has interesting lore at the forefront sounds amazing.
Been looking forward to this, I’ve got the trilogy downloaded and plan to play them soon, awesome that they’re free as well
Will also recommend Pathways into Darkness, even if that game might feel more dated.
Very good video, thanks! Looking forward to know more about Marathon. What a great story. The gameplay actually gave me motion sickness, so I'm would like to see more concept art if possible.
Can't wait for part 2! Cheers!
I just realized that Destiny 2’s 30th anniversary armor is based off of these Pfhor enemies, also this lore is AWESOME!
Wow I actually never knew about the Battleroids and their origin. Way more gruesome than the SPARTAN program (even if the first couple SPARTAN programs were intellectually more horrifying, with the whole "ONI kidnapping children and replacing them with clones" part,) more like if the Strogg decided to make a SPARTAN.
I really like it when older games do their lore the way Marathon does. Marathon on the surface looks like a fairly innocuous space-themed Doom clone, but there's multiple layers of really dark, deep and terrifying lore that wouldn't immediately be apparent, you instead have to dig for it via the terminals and even the instruction manual. In a way some of Halo's alternate-reality games back in the 2000s felt like Bungie flexing their old muscles.
This is cool I know basically nothing about marathon, really getting hyped for the new one!
I know it's years away but man I'm so happy Marathon is back.
next year
Could be close, Bungie changed their This Week At Bungie to This Week In Destiny recently. Many speculate because they will have different blog for Marathon (This Week In Marathon), so the sudden change may be hinting at stuff.
I counted at least 32 similarities between Marathon and Halo from these descriptions.
I’m glad to see that you’ve found content you can actually be excited about again! I was worried what would come of the channel due to Halo’s lack of interesting or exciting content in your eyes
This was really cool. Can't wait to hear more!
Imagine if Marathon was adapted into a film trilogy and served as the ultimate prequel to Halo.
I’m glad marathon is getting more recognition and I’m proud to say I’m a marathon fan before the new game announcement
No matter what game it is, I'll watch all and any lore video you make, I just love how exciting your lore videos are. Keep it up!
There's not only things that Halo inherited but also their younger sibling, Destiny as well, Bungie does love their AI companions, ancient gods and civilizations,space travel and colonization, and there are a lot of traits from the enemy races that went on to Halo and Destiny's enemy aliens (insectoids, big muscle brute cabals, fleshy-death looking aliens), it's so wild to see those roots here
I started off just curious and kept listening fore the lore. I can't wait to hear what happens in the second Marathon!
Reclaimer symbol being the Marathon Logo was always so cool.
My favourite part of Marathon was when the Security Marine said "Sir, finishing this Marathon"
Been waiting for so long. I already know this is gonna be good
Man, to get real cutscenes to go along with the lore of Marathon would be phenomenal. Maybe the extraction shooter will have some, but likely will be notes or terminals again.
Having barely ever looked at Marathon, I'm a bit excited to be a new fan.
The first of marathon series. I never knew about thia game but that trailer sold itnto me and im subscribing to the channel
Playing Marathon late at night by myself high as fuck in high school was one of the best experiences i’ve ever had playing a video game. It’s a must play for anyone who likes a good story
You see a Dead Headless.
You see a Dead Headless.
You see a Dead Headless.
You see a Dead Headless.
You see a Dead Headless.
I am so hyped. Marathon was the first game I ever played and I cannot believe its coming back. God I hope its good. Marathon Durundal to this day is top 3 games of all time
Hands down A-1 job with this.
Love how you did the end 😊
I feel so old, the original Marathon trilogy was the first computer game besides doom I really committed and played all the way through. I had the cool little boxes the disks came out of and everything. I remember in the booklets Bungie even left a little thank you message just for purchasing and playing the game.
Then all this time passes and Halo comes out and Masterchief instantly reminds me of the main character from the Marathon games. I remember the alien race you fight against being called the Pfhor, In the halo games the highly advanced civilization that came before or known as the Forerunner. So many great references.
I believe Marathon was a very good way for Bungie to experiment and become familiar with developing this type of game. Halo would not have existed without it in my opinion.
Brilliant video, finally got round to watching it! I think, as a kid if I had played this instead of Halo, I would have been obsessed like I was with CE! Hopefully one day I can go back and replay these games, or maybe they could be remastered/remade someday.
This was super interesting, looking forward to more marathon videos!
Love the lore.
I really like the inclusion of more than 1 AIs, they are all diferent both in purpose and personality.
Also I like how they arent all powerfull even in software, they can be defeated by the seph.
But the best part is is how they dont just turn evil when they go rampant, they have their own goals and dont mind cooperating with physical beyings, Durandal doesnt just obliterate the marathon after he gets the Phor ship, he just leaves with a crew if friendly Seph. Love this so much.
Kept me hooked throughout the whole vid!
Super fun! I had no knowledge of Marathon before this, now I want to play it to get ready for the new one
I'm glad to see marathon making its way in to the spotlight again and that you are making lore videos on it.
Also when you say other universes would ever do War Hammer 40K lore?
Friday evening perfect timing
We need a petition for Marathon to have a Single Player Campaign in addition to it's MP.
Similar to how the original Halo's did it.
Love the work here, all I can say to you is keep up the good work and hope you'll enjoy exploring the depths of the White rabbit hole.
12:10 in Destiny 2, the 30th Bungie aniversary gave it an offical name kinda called the paraverse. Para meaning paracausal.
Your amazing man. Thank you for sharing your love with us
Enjoyed your summary, glad to see folks covering this game. A small correction for you, Durandal wasn't involved in the creation of battleroids since they were made well before the Marathon. As far as I know Strauss didn't make them either.
When I first saw the new Marathon trailer I didn't know what to think it looked crazy lol. I didn't even know that there was on old version of it
The Marathon Security Officer, like a combination of a Halo Spartan and the Doom's Doomguy. Definitely the reason why the Security helmet is my go to in Halo.
I wonder how much of the new Marathon game will relate to the old trilogy, especially since so much of it parallels Halo.
Halo was originally meant to be set in the centuries in between when the Marathon left Mars and arrived at Tau Ceti in the 1st game. Cortana was gonna be revealed to be the same base coding as Durandal. However, any plans to connect Halo to Marathon were abandoned when Microsoft acquired Bungie and Halo. So yes, originally Bungie intended for Halo to be set in Marathon, but that all was dropped when Microsoft entered the picture. On top of that, it’s now both legally and canonically impossible to have the fictions be the same.
Exactly, this is why when the new Marathon game comes out, it will be really exciting given the universes will be very similar!
I agree you should branch out, maybe to games like Bioshock, Atomic Heart, Gears of War, etc.
Also the "Bungieverse" is also known as as the "paraverse" I think, as in the 30th anniversary Destiny 2 dlc they essentially made it cannon that all their games were connected through this force.
I counted about 21 similarities to halo. Some very specific, some general. Very cool!
In love with this Marathon content!
I saw Mandalore’s videos on the series, it is a really crazy story yet it works!
I'm really into this. Looking forward for more of these types of lore videos.
I loved this. Can't wait for more... Seriously. please. Hurry. I need more. Thank you.
'Take a shot whenever you hear something similar to Halo.'
My liver: "I'm about to end this man's whole career."
Word of advice, drink cranberry juice as a substitute.
Missed pathways into darkness the predecessor to marathon where durendell contacts the United States government in 1980s from the future the final boss is a s’pht and the rest is enemies from marathon infinity there’s also lore texts that don’t make sense until marathon infinity this ultimately leads to the creation of durendell :)
So, Marathon is basically Halo dressed in a different setting.
Interesting how much of Marathon is based upon old European literature. Given such it's heavily implied that around the time of the creation of 'the Battleroids' Durandal was either aware or was becoming rampant and 'shutdown/destroyed' for reasons. (1st-2nd 'breaking')
Shift to Mars later and it appears Durandal did something, maybe it regained or had leftover personality during a recoding that was still rampant, and again was 'shutdown/destroyed'. But in this Strauss was involved. (2nd-3rd 'breaking')
After all that Durandal some how keep enough of its awareness intact enough to be restructured during the journey. During this time period it regained it's original self causing maybe a split personality to be created (3rd 'breaking') and it's quick run through the Rampancy stages.
I just found out about the bulk of the lore of Marathon about a week ago, and it was a trip. I haven't played any of the Halo games. Also, I loved all the Pfhor puns 🤣
Ohhh man... The rabbit hole begins... Marathon is insane when it comes to sheer amount of lore!
I'd never even heard of Marathon before i saw the trailer but im excited to dive into the story
Can you do a video talking about "the bungieverse". I know it is probably just a wild theory but it would be fun to speculate
Excited for marathon to make a comeback
The looker is very similar to the tickers in gears of war
Marathon got me through middle school - TCP/IP multiplayer baby!!! 😜