Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
Bungie’s current Marathon project may be on a bumpy road in development, but at least fans of the series can look back to the games that started it and play them for free on Steam. As of this week, Marathon, Marathon 2, and Marathon Infinity are available for free on Steam to add to your library. That means you can check out a full trilogy of what was an early Bungie venture in first-person shooter gameplay and puzzle-solving at no cost.
The Aleph One Developers group has been looking after what is now known as the Classic Marathon games on Steam for quite a while now, and it was this week alongside an update that the group made Classic Marathon, Classic Marathon 2, and Classic Marathon Infinity free on each game’s respective Steam pages. The original games have been said to be extremely alike to Doom in their foundational design. They are still shooters in similar fashion. However, the Marathon games put a far heavier emphasis on puzzles than the Doom games, making them quite a bit more than run-and-gun experiences.
With the option to get all of these games for free, players can now experience where Marathon started and get a sense of what they’re in for as Bungie continues to prepare the return of the franchise. That said, the classic Marathon games also may be the most reasonable way to check out this franchise for the foreseeable future, as Bungie has seen several setbacks that delayed the game into 2025, including a mass layoff of over 200 employees at the developer.
Even so, the Classic Marathon games are also just a sweet bit of gaming history. If you’ve never had a chance to play them and dig the old school, you’ve got nothing to lose but time in checking out these games while they free on Steam. Stay tuned for more updates on the Marathon franchise right here at Shacknews.