Marathon’s Expedition PvE Mode Is a Three-Run Roguelite

Two days after giving Marathon’s permanent PvE mode a name, Bungie has published a deep dive on how the first phase of Expedition will work when the Symbiosis update launches on December 8. Expedition is a fully PvE cooperative roguelite mode with its own queue across Perimeter, Night Marsh, Outpost, and Cryo Archive. It can be played solo, as a duo, or as a full trio, with players also able to cooperate with other Runner crews. Priority Contracts can be completed in the mode as well.

Each session is built around what Bungie calls a Run Series, which consists of three runs of escalating difficulty. Players can choose any zone they’ve unlocked through their Runner Level for each run. The first two runs are for exploring, completing contracts, and looting gear to shape a build, while the third is the Critical Incident, where the difficulty can be raised for better rewards. That final run is also where tougher activities are available, including Upper Complex in Night Marsh, Pinwheel on Outpost, and the new Tick Queen fight on Perimeter. A series can be reset at any point to cash out rewards, and crews who survive all three runs can either cash out or carry their builds into a new series.

Builds in Expedition start with Run Kits, which are faction loadouts that specialize in different playstyles and weapons. The loadout is locked for the length of a series, though weapons and items can be looted or improved along the way, and faction upgrades will improve the starting loadout over time. The rest comes from Flash Boosts, the in-run upgrades that are looted around the zones or earned by killing tougher enemies and completing objectives. Stacking multiples of the same boost increases its rarity and potency. Flash Boosts and any gear picked up are sold when a series ends, but credits and XP carry over to buy gear for Extraction runs and upgrade the Cradle. Anyone who joins a crew that’s already mid-series will start at the highest run reached by that crew, though they’ll only have access to their faction loadouts rather than a build developed over the earlier runs.

Bungie says it will reveal more about Expedition’s Phase 2 in March, and before then, it has a Dev Insights Part 2 scheduled for December 1 with a closer look at Expedition and the rest of Symbiosis. The update also brings the revamped Perimeter that Bungie outlined in its September roadmap, which is now covered in fungi and opens two new major areas called Reservoir and the Burrows. Bungie says this version of the map is Perimeter’s look going forward, and all of the previous Contracts can still be completed on it.

Symbiosis Gameplay Trailer | Marathon