Less than a week after release, the first patch is here. Getting started will be easier.
Marathon has received its first update: With Patch 1.0.0.4 was released today, Wednesday, with a long list of changes – many of which eliminate problems that make it unnecessarily difficult for newcomers to get started.
Here are the four update highlights:
Less quest hassle: The automatic icons that precisely mark mission objectives in the world for many quests now appear at a distance of 20 meters instead of the previous 10 meters. This will definitely reduce the annoying search for many missions.
No more ammunition shortages: More crates with ammunition and healing items spawn on the Perimeter map, and sponsor kits from Mida, CyAc, and Arachne now contain more cartridges. This will counteract the often-criticized ammunition shortage, especially at the beginning.
Weaker AI: The changes to the UESC units are likely to have a similar effect. They now have slightly fewer health points and slightly weaker shields. This is to prevent the AI from becoming a complete resource drain while still remaining threatening.
Better Rook runs: Rook players are now correctly displayed as icons on the map, which makes navigation easier. In addition, Rook now receives a larger amount of faction XP for actions in a run and always keeps his backpack. This should make solo rounds much more enjoyable.
There isn’t any substantial new content available yet, but according to the official Marathon roadmap, that will change in March when Cryo Archives, a new endgame map, is released.
A ranked mode and new items (including a new weapon) are also planned for the near future. Season 2 will then introduce a night version of the Dire Marsh map and a new playable Shell class, among other things.
Marathon Update 1.0.0.4 Patch Notes from March 11, 2026
Item Economy
- The number of med kits and ammo boxes that can spawn in the perimeter has been increased.
- The starting ammo in the free sponsor kits from MIDA, CyberAcme, and Arachne has been increased.
- The frequency with which UESC Grenadiers throw EMP grenades has been reduced.
Table of Contents
Combat
- Fixed an issue where players could sometimes die instantly in Confinement events.
- Fixed an issue where the screen effects for breaking through the shield would play continuously when a healing-over-time effect and a damage-over-time effect were active on the player at the same time.
- Increased the range from which shots and explosions can be heard.
Weapons
Thermal sights
- The visual clarity of targets with thermal sights has been reduced.
- The maximum distance for thermal marking has been adjusted:
- Pistols: 40 meters (previously 55)
- Rifles/LMGs/SMGs: 60 meters (previously 65)
- Precision Rifles: 80 meters (previously 100)
- Sniper Rifles: 100 meters (previously 180)
Overrun
- The standard ammo capacity has been increased by 5.
Runners
Rook
- Fixed an issue where backpacks could be deleted when exfiltrating with Rook.
- Fixed an issue where Rook’s position was not displayed on the map screen.
- Increased CyAc reputation gain from exfiltrating with Rook.
- Rook now receives the same faction reputation bonus for exfiltration as solo players.
- Rook’s WSTR shotgun now appears as compromised.
- Compromised items must be fixed with a Matter Fixative during the run in order to exfiltrate with the item.
UESC
- The health of most UESC enemies and the shield HP of UESC bosses have been slightly reduced.
DEVELOPER NOTE: With this change, we hope to slightly reduce the resource burden of fighting the UESC for both solo players and crews. The goal is to make your bullets and meds last longer without reducing the UESC’s effectiveness too much. We clearly understand player feedback that they appreciate the challenge presented by our UESC fighters, and we have no intention of changing that direction.
Missions
- The default distance of target navigation points has been increased from 10 m to 20 m.
Introduction of the NuCaloric mission
- Fixed an issue where enemy crews could receive NuCal contract VO audio and subtitles from a long distance.
Introduction of the Traxus contract
- The difficulty level of the encounter with the UESC Commander has been reduced.
Zones
Outposts
- Access to the Broken Wing on the Outpost has been temporarily disabled.
DEVELOPER’S NOTE: We are temporarily disabling access to the Pinwheel via the Broken Wing while we make some adjustments to it. In its current state, it makes access to the Pinwheel too easy. We are making some changes to preserve the spirit of “stealth” access while better balancing the risk/reward of the Pinwheel. In the meantime, runners can continue to use all other paths to the Pinwheel (including the additional stealth method).
Reward Pass and Shop
- Fixed an issue where silk inventories were not updating correctly without restarting the game.
- Fixed an issue where bundle prices may have been displayed incorrectly.
- Fixed an issue where cosmetic items were incorrectly displayed as “bargain” items even though they were being sold at full price.
- The LUX bundle has been increased from (1000 + 100) to (1000 + 120).
Stability
- Fixed a rare issue that could cause dedicated servers to crash.
- Fixed several issues that could cause the client to crash.
General
- Players will no longer see a prolonged black screen while the map is loading.
- Fixed an issue where doors would become locked and players would be unable to complete the new player tutorial mission.
- Updated the description of “Perimeter (Beginner)” on the Zone Selection screen.
- Fixed a bug that could cause the text chat window to remain open.
- Fixed a crash that sometimes occurred when attempting to use an IME keyboard.
- Fixed a crash that sometimes occurred when typing quickly with an IME keyboard.
DEVELOPER NOTE: Some issues with third-party IME software may still exist and are currently being investigated. The IME built into Windows may be a temporary solution for users experiencing issues while we work on a permanent fix.
