Marathon, Bungie’s new Extraction shooter was released today and one thing that I found really interesting was the artistic style of the game.
The original game, which was released in the 1990s was made in a style about the internet before the internet ossified into websites. Cyberspace was seen as a place not as infrastructure. That shows up in how the game appears. The neon lights and high contrast colors are divisive but to be honest, I rather this game have this style than having the earthy style that almost every high budget game seems to have in this age.
Marathon has been struggling with some players, who just see as more content than a creative vision being brought to life in our stale age. People have a right to be cynical here. However, I think that this game is better than all those independent games which are just copying those 16-bit games.
I think that games with a unique visual style is what we need more of in this age.
Growing up with Web 1.0, I think that that era gets unwisely maligned by people now. There was a lot more experimentation in that age and some styles would work and others would not. I think we need to be more charitable. The internet was seen as a place not entirely yet as a place dominated by money. We need to remember that mentality and I think we should try to recapture some of it here.
Marathon is a niche game, and I think Bungie was right to put the price at $39.99. This is the right price for a game which will be getting more content in more seasons. In comparison to Battlefield 6, they need to make sure that the player’s choices actually have an impact on the game and they respect the player base.
Too many games have been issues recently and it would nice to see AAA game have some success here.
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