We’re obviously nowhere near the settling point for player numbers, overall reaction, or complete sentiment for the PvPvE extraction FPS Marathon – a fact we feel it important to stress in times when games and studios go dark within days if they don’t make all of the money – but considering the shooter is Bungie’s biggest current hoopla, we are going to take a moment to check in.
We’ll start on Steam, which is where most player data is available, which saw the game’s opening day rake in over 88K players on the platform, while user reviews sit at “very positive” as gamers laud its aesthetics, gameplay, and even some of its confusing nature as a positive. User reviews on Xbox and PlayStation also appear effusive, both earning five-star ratings at the time of this writing.
That said, it hasn’t necessarily been all bright and shiny, as there are players who are calling out monetization of skins and the prices of cash shop bundles, which yet again force players to buy larger packs of currency than they need to buy a single item, along with battle pass complaints. The shooter’s launch was also eclipsed in terms of Steam numbers by the release of Slay the Spire 2 by a significant margin, with over 400K players on the platform.
Another bit of cold water thrown onto what otherwise seems to be a pretty good launch is word about Bungie’s request for press outlets reviewing the game, which asked that writers withhold their impressions until after the endgame map of Cryo Archive releases later this month. “To be clear, this isn’t a mandate, but a request/suggestion,” reads part of the email posted by RPS.
As for general discussion, players have been noting on Twitter how rewards for pre-ordering have yet to be delivered, while others have noted a bug where participants in the earlier stress test have found some high-level loot that carried over into the full game, but otherwise there seems to be an overall sense of enjoyment coming out of the playerbase right now. Also please enjoy this menacing cat.
