Marathon Season 2 Adds PvE & PvP-Lite Modes in NIGHTFALL

Marathon Season 2 is called NIGHTFALL. It launches June 2, with a full reveal the week of May 25. A reset wipes all gameplay progression. Your cosmetics survive. Your loot does not. Welcome back.

The Wipe: What Goes, What Stays

The Marathon Season 2 reset is a full seasonal wipe. Bungie calls it "equal footing." Players who invested three months of their life call it something else.

Players who reached Runner Level 75 in Season 1 receive a Superior CyberAcme Sponsored Kit when Nightfall starts. Players who reached Level 10 get a lesser kit. The rewards stack. This is the bone being thrown.

What's Actually New in NIGHTFALL

Beyond the experimental modes: which get their own section because Bungie clearly wants them to: Season 2 NIGHTFALL ships with concrete new content.

Night Marsh Zone

A nighttime variant of Dire Marsh. Dramatically reduced visibility, increased UESC pressure, and an unnamed new enemy threat described as attempting to "shut down Runner activity." It's dark. Danger scales. This is the atmospheric flex of the season.

Sentinel Runner Shell

A new defensive Bungie Marathon new runner shell joining the existing roster. Details on its kit and abilities arrive with the full reveal May 25.

The Cradle: Stat Customization

The most mechanically relevant addition confirmed so far. The Cradle lets players directly shape their Runner Shell's strengths and weaknesses, preventing the meta from drifting toward a single optimal setup. Whether it succeeds at that is a future problem.

Also Shipping
 New weapons: new mods: new contracts: faster faction progression: UX improvements: updated matchmaking with "different dimensions": duos returning as a rotating queue.

This is the part that moved the needle on coverage. Two modes in Season 2, experimental in name, consequential in implication. These are not permanent additions. Bungie will watch what players do and decide accordingly.

Mode 1: PvP-Lite

PvE-focused with a "light touch" of PvP. Not a mode where all player contact is removed: more of a dial turned heavily toward AI enemies. The Marathon PvP lite mode is Bungie's attempt at finding a middle ground between full PvPvE chaos and something a normal person can endure. Think fewer hostile Runners, more room to breathe, still some human threat to keep it interesting.

Mode 2: PvE-Only Co-op

A proper Marathon PvE mode Season 2 with crew-based objective completion and progression that carries between matches. No other players are trying to kill you. You and your crew complete objectives, make progress, exist without sweating through your keyboard. Bungie has not confirmed whether loot extraction is still involved, but the cross-match progress structure suggests something distinct from the base loop.

Honest Assessment
 The map designs and existing enemy variety were built around squads of three fighting other squads. A PvE mode built on top of that infrastructure will require significant dedicated work to not feel like the same maps with more bots. Bungie knows this. Season 5 is where they plan to fully integrate the PvP and PvE ecosystems. That is three seasons from now.

And Beyond: Pure PvP

Ziegler confirmed experimental queues will continue past these two offerings, including "perhaps a more purely PvP-focused mode." The language around Marathon PvP mode update stops short of promising an arena shooter or battle royale pivot. But the framing: "potential for these to become part of the core game loop or permanent new ways to play": does not rule it out either.

Roadmap: Seasons 2–5

Ziegler outlined a multi-season trajectory. Whether Bungie survives long enough to execute it in full is a financial question above this guide's pay grade.

S2

• Night Marsh zone
• Sentinel runner
• The Cradle stats
• PvP-Lite experiment
• PvE-Only co-op
• Duos returns

S3

• Onboarding overhaul
• Perimeter region update
• New runner shell
• Contract system revamp

S4

• Extraction loop depth
• Further PvP experiments

S5

• Full PvP+PvE integration
• Evolving sci-fi world
• "Ecosystem" unification

The Marathon Bungie game roadmap 2026 commits Bungie to at minimum five seasons of active development. Season 5 is described as where "the whole ecosystem of PV(P)VE play" comes together. That sentence has parentheses around the P. Intentional.

Before the Wipe: Last Weeks of Season 1

If you are still playing, the pre-season end events are worth noting. If you are not still playing, they are a useful checklist of things you missed.

• May 21–June 2: Cryo Archive available nearly every day with free Sponsored Kits distributed daily
• May 24–28: Cryo Archive: Ranked: final ranked event of Season 1 with exclusive cosmetics and titles on the line
• Now through June 2: Boosted Faction EXP from all sources: use it
• Update 1.0.9: Wardens now guarantee key drops for locked rooms; Intercept, Lockdown, Anomaly, and Convoy guaranteed every run
• Claim everything: Unclaimed gear reward packages disappear with the reset. No extensions.

The Marathon Season 1 end rewards include a Bully SMG cosmetic, new emblems, a Destroyer style, and a player title based on final Season 1 ranking placement. You do not get to negotiate what that ranking is now.