Bungie loves its ARGs. We got some good ones withDestiny, and Bungie has gone all out with yet another ARG to drum up hype for its shooter game,Marathon. Here’s everything you need to know about theMarathonARG and how it got solved.
Table of contents
What is the Marathon ARG?
ARG stands for Alternate Reality Game. It’s an immersive storytelling technique that involves getting players to interact with the story using real world media (websites, social media, images) to solve puzzles and discover more clues to progress. ForMarathon, things kicked off on April 3, when theMarathonX/Twitter account started posting cryptic videos and images related to the game.
The entireMarathonARG took around six days to solve, and it required Twitch streamers, YouTubers, and players to all come together in a coordinated effort. It’s honestly pretty impressive, so let’s track this whole thing step by step.
The first clues
pic.twitter.com/5k2BaGcHk9
On April 3, we started seeing weird videos and images on theMarathonX account. Over the next couple days, the account posted more cryptic tweets, and players put them together to reveal the MIDA logo from the game itself. It also revealed the phrase, “Truth persists beyond their walls.”
After the MIDA stuff was revealed, players found a link to a website simply called Our Silence, which redirected to a Twitch-linked overlay requiring streamers to authorize access. Twitch streamers would now be able to start streaming in the Marathon category with this overlay, and the viewer counts on these streams would determine how fast the new clues could be decrypted for more hidden messages.
Twitch works together
Once theMarathonstreams reached 10,000 concurrent viewers, we unlocked the first clue “+714 Frontier.” This would later be used for a satellite alignment site required to decode another message.
In addition to that, streamers Aztecross, Skarrow9, and MrRoflWaffles continued deciphering the clues, which involved breaking down ASCII art and discovering that they were actually made up of terminal commands which formed a Discord server link. A Traxus Global satellite map website was also uncovered, and this is where you’d input your coordinates to get to the next step.
Discord contracts
For folks who joined the secret Discord server, they were also able to complete contracts by interacting with a bot named Null Transmitter. These contracts mainly consisted of fairly tricky tasks, including translating hexadecimal codes, which would reveal phrases like “The stars align for those who persist.”
As more contracts were completed, additional lore documents were also unlocked to help flesh out the world and lore of Marathon. For instance, there were documents detailing the in-game conflict between the corporations Traxus Global and Sekiguchi Genetics.
Finally, the remaining coordinates for the satellite adjustment were also revealed: -978 Transit, and -413 Core.
Satellite alignment
Over on theTraxus Global satellite map website, players needed to upload a DAC by clicking the button in the bottom right corner. to solve this step, the website required at least 2,000 players to upload anofficial .png imagethat had been uncovered in the Discord contracts.
Once that was done, players could then input the coordinates that were previously unlocked and start aligning the satellites. After aligning the satellite array, this triggered a countdown to April 12, as well as a Save the Date trailer that, well, teased the date for the proper game reveal trailer.
Results of the Marathon ARG
Nothing compares to a warm dead body. 🐈Join us on Saturday, April 12 @ 10AM PT for the Marathon Gameplay Reveal Showcase.#MarathonReveal📺🟣https://t.co/j72GOyFm9ypic.twitter.com/kcFuZnARLA
So to sum up, we got our Save the Date trailer letting us know that the properMarathonreveal would be happening on April 12. We also got over 35 pages of lore and corporate documents detailing the corporate and political machinations of the world from the Discord contracts. All of that information has been put together in aneat Google Docfor your perusal.
The ARG was launched through the perspective of MIDA, an anti-capitalist faction that seeks to reveal corporate secrets from large companies like the aforementioned Traxus Global and Sekiguchi Genetics. It sets the stage for what’s to come inMarathon, and also gives us an idea of the main conflicts that we’ll be dealing with in the game.
