Nightfall is a fair reason to jump into Marathon now, rather than treating the ship as sailed, because Bungie’s extraction shooter has reset for Season 2 and a new season is the natural moment to ask the question. There is fresh content, a clean slate, and a lot riding on it, and what actually changed is a zone, a shell, two weapons and a stat system, while my honest read is that the gunfight was never the part that failed.
First, the reset
Season 1 ended on 1 June, and with it your progress and vaulted loot were wiped, which is the deal with a seasonal extraction shooter, the slate cleared so everyone starts the new season on even footing. Season 2, Nightfall, began on 2 June, and if you have not logged in since launch, do not go hunting for your old stash, because it is gone, and that is by design.
What Nightfall actually adds
The new season is a proper content drop, not just a coat of paint, and the list is long enough that I would learn it before I blame the deaths on bad luck.
- A new Night Marsh zone to learn, which means new sightlines, new loot routes and new ambush spots to get killed in until you figure them out.
- A new Runner shell, the Sentinel, adding another playstyle to the roster, and it arrives in the same season drop as the zone and the weapons.
- Two new weapons to chase and build around, which is the gear chase sitting beside the new zone and the new shell.
- A new system called The Cradle that lets you customise your Runner shell’s stats, so you can finally tune your build rather than take what you are given, and that is the depth this genre actually rewards.
- Changes to faction progression, reworking how you climb with the in-world factions, which is the other system the season touches besides the zone, the shell and the guns.
That is a healthy season, and The Cradle in particular is the kind of depth this genre rewards, while a new zone is always the thing that pulls lapsed players back for a look.
Where the game actually stands
Marathon reviewed well, the shooting is sharp, it looks fantastic, and Bungie know how to build a gunfight, so the problem was never quality, it was that the game fell short of the sales expectations Sony had for it. This is a good game fighting an uphill battle for a population, which in an extraction shooter matters, because a healthy player count is part of the experience and not a number you can ignore while you praise the corridors. The other thing to be clear about is that Marathon is PvP-first, and the danger here is other players, full stop, which is a different beast from the PvE-leaning extraction shooters I usually champion on this channel. If you came here for slow, methodical solo runs against AI, you will not find that loop in this one, and if that is your itch, Gray Zone Warfare is still the one I would point you to.
What I would do with the season
Nightfall is a genuinely solid season, and if you bounced off Marathon at launch it is a fair reason to give it another look while the population gets a boost, so go in for the gunplay and the tension, not for a relaxing time. If you want the full rundown on going it alone first, I covered can you play Marathon solo, and for the wider field, the best solo PvE extraction shooters in 2026 is where I keep my honest rankings for this genre.
FAQ
When did Marathon Season 2 Nightfall start?
Season 1 ended on 1 June and Season 2, Nightfall, began on 2 June, which is the clean break the season is built on. The reset is the natural moment to ask whether it is worth jumping in, and a clean slate with a new zone is the fair moment to judge a seasonal extraction shooter.
Did Marathon wipe my progress in Season 2?
Yes, with the end of Season 1 your progress and vaulted loot were wiped, and that is the deal with a seasonal extraction shooter, so if you have not logged in since launch, do not go hunting for your old stash. It is gone, and that is by design, which is the sentence I would rather you read before you go looking for a stash that is not coming back.
What does Nightfall add to Marathon?
A new Night Marsh zone, a new Runner shell called the Sentinel, two new weapons, a new system called The Cradle that lets you customise your Runner shell's stats, and changes to faction progression, which is a healthy season on paper and in the raid. The Cradle in particular is the kind of depth this genre rewards, and it is the system I would open first.
Is Marathon PvE or PvP?
Marathon is PvP-first, and the danger here is other players, full stop, which is a different beast from the PvE-leaning extraction shooters I usually champion. If you came for slow, methodical solo runs against AI, you will not find that loop here, because the other person in the raid is the product.
Is Marathon worth playing now?
Nightfall is a genuinely solid season, and if you bounced off at launch it is a fair reason to give it another look while the population gets a boost, since the game reviewed well and the shooting is sharp. Its problem was never the quality, because it fell short of the sales expectations Sony had for it, so go in for the gunplay and the tension, not for a relaxing time.
Sources (3)
More like this
Field reportCan you play Marathon solo? The honest 2026 answer
You can queue into Bungie's Marathon alone, but solo here means solo PvP, because you drop in against other human scavengers rather than a single-player PvE campaign, and as of mid-2026 the only PvE-only option is the experimental Vault Breaker test on 21 July.22 Jun 2026Read
Field reportMarathon Player Count 2026: Is Bungie's Game Recovering?
Marathon sits somewhere between a recovery and a rented crowd, because Season 2 and a free Open Play Week pulled the Steam peak back to around 40,000 after it had fallen to about 25,000 from a launch high of roughly 88,000. The figure that matters is the one a fortnight after that free door shuts, and the money, which reporting says is still nowhere near breaking even, is the pressure underneath.19 Jun 2026ReadNew field reports, to your inbox
No spam. Leave whenever you like.