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The Cord: So... What's Everyone Doing Tonight?

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I really, really, really didn’t want to write this. I told glockceti and goosewasinuse as much about 30 minutes ago, and even now I’m staring at this draft wondering how the hell things spiraled this badly. What. The Fuck. Happened? I got off work at 3PM EST after spending nearly two hours watching NuAngelics and MallowTheQueen desperately attempt to complete a single run, or simply get into the servers at all. I went on a quick coffee run with Mrs. Zaws, got home around 4:30PM EST, watched the State of Play (which was solid but ultimately kneecapped by Sony spending the last week pretending it was the second coming), then walked my dog and showered. By the time 7PM EST rolled around, all I wanted to do was sit down, boot up Marathon, and finally experience the launch of Season 2. Instead, the game effectively ceased to exist. At almost exactly 7PM EST, the developers announced they were pulling the servers offline to deal with what can only be described as a catastrophic launch. P...
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The Cord: Marathon Season 2 Launches Today

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Good morning. It is Marathon Season 2 Day. After weeks of teasers, developer insights, and community speculation that ramped up considerably over the last week specifically, Marathon Season 2: Nightfall launches today, at 1PM EST. The update brings a fresh progression system, a new Runner shell, new weapons, a free access week (which also starts today, at 3PM EST, and runs to the 9th of June), and perhaps most importantly, Bungie’s first major attempt at addressing many of the complaints that surfaced during Season 1. For a game that spent much of its first season fighting an uphill battle against public sentiment, Nightfall feels less like a standard seasonal refresh and more like a statement of intent for the studio and the players who remain committed to the project. The main attraction is Night Marsh, a nighttime variant of Dire Marsh that fundamentally changes how players approach the map. "Dire Marsh, but dark" is what many shitposters (yes, all of you, including you Ta...
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The Cord: Season 2 Dark 2 Furious

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It’s interesting that no matter how many of Season 2’s features and additions were predicted weeks, if not months ago, the full reveal still managed to smack the community upside the head. Martoners, we are officially one week away from the release of Marathon Season 2: Nightfall. Headlining the update is Night Marsh, a night-time variant of Dire Marsh that appears to lean fully into Marathon’s survival-horror sensibilities, alongside the Cradle, a complete overhaul to shell progression and buildcrafting. Joining them are two new weapons in the KKV SMG and D54 Pistol, the long-awaited Sentinel shell, and yes, somehow most shocking of all: Zombies… at least I think that’s what they are. We’ll start with Night Marsh, which many feared would simply amount to “Dire Marsh if someone turned the lights off,” and what Marathon’s harshest critics still insist it is. In reality, the map appears to fundamentally alter the sandbox itself, introducing LIDAR tools for navigation in complete darkness...
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The Cord: Skins So Premium They'd Make Charter Blush.

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Well what do we have here? Bungie sent out a survey to a selection of players soliciting feedback on (POTENTIALLY) upcoming skins for Marathon, and they are causing quite a stir within a community already gearing up for the end-of-season-palooza that’ll bring about new events and 10 days of Cryo Archive. (Dear Bungie, I was not made aware of whether or not these were NDA protected, they have been substantially proliferated in forums and chatrooms. If this article must be taken down, please let me know, thank you!) But the game itself aside, today we get to talk about something a lot more visually intriguing: these skins, what precedent they set for future expectations, and whether this is what players have been waiting to sink their teeth (and hard earned cash into) or not. First up is the surprising addition of not one, but two new “White Rabbit” themed skins for the Vandal and Recon shells, following up on Thief’s premium launch skin of the same motif. When it was revealed that Thief...
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The Cord: "Marathon Is Dead", Long Live Marathon.

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  This has been a busy week in terms of Bungie news. When I decided to take up the role of covering all of this, I did not expect a major controversy, patch notes, a Season 2 outlook, SIE’s earnings call, and an address from the game’s Director, Joe Ziegler, to all hit in the same week. Alas, we get into it all the same. Good evening, it is Thursday, May 14th, and instead of squeezing in whatever Cryo Runs I can on my busiest day of any given week, my ass is once again glued to my desk, as Joe Ziegler has sent us an open letter about the state of Marathon going into Season 2 next month. There’s a lot Ziegler was able to go over here; from major changes that have affected the game, to an appreciation for the core community that continues to engage with it. We’ve spent just under three months sending our consciousnesses to die on Tau Ceti in hopes of realizing the title’s core pillars; Danger, Progression, Risk and Reward, and Survival. A few of the highlights of the season have und...
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The Cord: Marathon Season 2 Launches on June 2nd, with Substantial Changes In Tow.

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Dear Bungie, Two days in a row, really? I’m already starting to understand why a certain someone is always late to, and under informed on, your news. We had a Season 2 release date confirmation courtesy of the fine folks over at Bungie. On June 2nd, 2026, players can expect the launch of Season 2 in place of a regular “Weekly Patch”, following last week’s Xbox Store leak suggesting Season 1 would end by the 3rd and the announcement of Cryo Ranked all but confirming a first-week-of-June release. But this wasn’t just a “save the date” announcement. Bungie also outlined a swathe of changes and rebalances to turbo charge the fuck  out of the final weeks of the current season. For the next few weeks, UESC presence across the game will increase considerably. Wardens will spawn at additional POIs across Perimeter, Dire Marsh, and Outpost, a new “aerial dropship” event is being added where UESC supply ships crash land with gear in tow, and Dire Marsh is getting a new boss specificall...
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The Cord Special: An Interview with NAPainter.

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Tuesday, May 12th 2026 – I’ve just had the chance to speak with the, now infamous, Marathon player NAPainter. We sat down for roughly 45 minutes to discuss last week’s “Compiler Loot Room OOB” exploit, which made its rounds on Twitter and quickly became one of the most defining controversies in the title's history. We spoke briefly about Painter’s experience with Bungie games dating back to his time with Destiny 2, and how he initially approached Marathon before getting into the elephant in the room; covering the exploit itself, his intentions, how the situation is being handled both in public and behind the scenes, the backlash, and ultimately what he thinks is an appropriate way to handle what he acknowledges was an egregious offense. (Note: Parts of this interview have been removed to protect the integrity of the game itself. All information removed relates exclusively to explicit details about existing, but publicly unknown, exploits that Bungie is aware of; these details being...
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