Bungie's ambitious (and somewhat controversial) extraction shooter Marathon has been in the firing line since its release, but that hasn't stopped the team behind it from pushing out updates and improvements to what is – in my humble opinion, at least – an already great game.

The next of these big updates was planned for release on the 22nd of September, but Bungie has recently announced that it is going to be pushed back to December 8th to be released as part of the "Symbiosis" update, which will contain a lot of features that I'm personally very excited about. Before that, a smaller update will keep Season 2 going on October 6th.

This update will include a progression reset, a new rewards pass, quality-of-life improvements, and balance updates. This isn't all, however, as on the Marathon Steam page Bungie has announced that Vault Breaker will return for a limited time, and that "gameplay experiments" will run until the big update on the 8th of December, letting the team figure out how to push the game forward with the help of player feedback.

Following on from October 6th, the "Symbiosis" update will include a refreshed perimeter zone, a new runner shell, a permanent PvE experience, a new social hub, a firing range, TDM mode, and improvements to new-player onboarding.

Bungie says this is meant to create new ways to engage with Marathon and expand the game beyond what it has been, which I believe is necessary, as Marathon has seen a steady decline in players, potentially due to a lack of content.

"Instead of tying major updates to fixed seasonal deadlines, we’re giving the team more flexibility to build, test, and improve features before they are released," says the company. "Since launch, you’ve told us Marathon needs more depth, more variety, stronger progression, and better reasons to keep playing over the long term. We agree. Addressing that feedback requires us to change both what we’re building and how we deliver it."

Either way, I'm excited for this update and hope it brings players back and pulls new players into the fold.