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Source: https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/season_2_combat_tuning_preview Today, we wanted to give you a clearer look at the kind of work taking shape for Season 2’s combat sandbox. Learn more about Season 2, including Night Marsh, the new Runner shell Sentinel, and the Cradle here. Season 2 gives us a chance to keep building on the parts of Marathon that players are already connecting with, while also making the overall combat experience clearer, more expressive, and more rewarding to learn over time. 2026_Marathon_Launch_Press_Kit_Compressed_018.jpg The new season gives us a chance to take a holistic look at everything in the game beyond isolated changes It’s about how fights come together as a whole. How your weapons feel in their intended role. How your build changes the decisions you make. How new tools can help you survive when things get hectic. And how your Runner shell's kit can embody more identity from one encounter to the next. We’re focusing on weapons, mods, buildcrafting, equipment, survival, Runner shells, implants, and the sandbox as a whole in Season 2. Across all of these areas, the goal is the same: We want your choices to feel more intentional, we want to make engaging with our deep systems easier, and we want more parts of your loadout to feel like they truly matter once you're Tau Ceti-side. Let’s get into it. Weapons and Sandbox Let’s start with the loud part. For the launch of Season 2, we are focusing on making weapons easier to use and reinforcing their intended roles. We want weapons to be clearer in their purpose and more distinct from one another when you're both using them and fighting against them. That work includes broader updates to ammo economy, time to kill, and range identities so that close-range tools stay dangerous up close, mid-range options better hold their ground, and weapon roles are easier to understand from one fight to the next. 2026_UESC_Press_Kit_Tick_Cordon_Area_V1_1920x1080.jpg Season 2 also brings a couple of new weapons into that conversation: Some longtime, keen-eyed Marathon fans may have noticed one of our new weapons might be a little familiar. Coming in Season 2, the KKV-9SD is pistol frame SMG with an integrated suppressor and is a perfect companion for fighting the terrors on Night Marsh. This means it takes pistol optic and pistol magazine mods, as well as chips. It is the fastest fire rate we've ever shipped on a weapon and excels at close range combat, specifically mowing down eager shotgun rushers. Its Prestige mod, Flechette Drum, adds sustainability by healing you when breaking a hostile's shield. 2026_Marathon_S2_Launch_Press_Kit_COMPRESSED_012.jpg Our second weapon for Season 2 is the D54 Battle Pistol which is a fully automatic, 3-round burst handgun. The Battle Pistol is designed to flex between Pistol and Magnum archetypes and to have advantage in 1v1 duels. It is an excellent companion when used with other hard-hitting archetypes—don't waste time reloading your sniper or shotgun, swap to the D54 Battle Pistol and you're good to go. Its Prestige mod, the Daredevil Stock, takes advantage of the new folding stock mod archetype: while folded, enemy defeats builds up to 2 stacks, and when unfolded, the D54 Battle Pistol's fire is converted into a super burst of 9 rounds, which can be fired as many times as you have stacks. More on the new folding stock below. 2026_Marathon_S2_Launch_Press_Kit_COMPRESSED_011.jpg The broader hope here is simple. We want weapon choices to feel more deliberate, and we want you to be able to feel what makes a weapon special in a way that breaks down friction and lets you dive into the fight you most want to take. So while we won’t go through every weapon change here (look out for the full patch notes on release), let’s start with the monster in the room: Misriah 2442. While it’s easy to say the Misriah rose up in the wake of the WSTR changes, the truth is it was always a strong and popular option, and it ended up on our radar long before its continued dominance. The biggest change we’re making here isn’t to the Misriah itself; rather, we are removing the rate of fire bonuses from Slick Mag magazine mods altogether. While it was an interesting experiment since the Misriah is the only weapon to take those mods, it isn’t sustainable. The idea was Misriah’s main weakness was its slow rate of fire, allowing players to counter Misriah by correctly spacing and attacking in between shots. Slick Mag presented an opportunity to shore up that weakness, but it’s clear it was pushing the weapon and its Prestige mod too far out of band. So to that end, we’ve made the following suite of changes: Misriah 2442 Increased pellet spread in hip fire by 10%. Increased pellet spread while aiming down sights by 5%. Increased base rate of fire from 58RPM to 72RPM. This is to compensate for the removal of increased fire rate stats previously granted by Slick Mag magazine mod family. Rebased magazine stat so now every mag will result in at least +1 round in the magazine. Base magazine size remains at 4 and max magazine size remains 10. Reduced base damage falloff start from 11 meters to 10 meters. Increased max damage falloff start from 15 meters to 16 meters. 2026_Marathon_Cryo_Unlock_Press_Kit_COMPRESSED_05.jpg Full-Auto Selector Prestige Mod This mod had static gameplay and buildcrafting experiences, so to improve these we've made the following changes: Rate of fire increase granted from Full-Auto Selector reduced from 150RPM to 90RPM. Added +50 ADS Speed and +50 ADS Accuracy. While firing from the hip, Misriah will fire full auto, have an additional 10% pellet spread increase, and massively increased Stability. While aiming down sights, Misriah has massively increased range and much tighter pellet spread but does not fire full auto. We believe these changes allow for more interesting spatial plays with the Prestige Mod, utilizing the different firing modes based on proximity to enemies while also tying in more buildcrafting potential—you can focus on increasing the potency of either the hip fire mode or the ADS mode. Let’s talk about the other end of the spectrum. While the Misriah is a popular weapon, the Overrun and the CE Tactical Sidearm were less popular options. First up on the Overrun, we wanted to keep it simple to start because this weapon is only a couple of value changes away from running over the other rifles. But we agree it still needs a little bit of juice. So for Season 2’s launch we made the following changes: Overrun Reduced horizontal and vertical recoil for base weapon, resulting in more control at lower rarity tiers: Horizontal recoil reduced by ~50%. Vertical recoil reduced by ~12%. The high-level Superior Overrun is still performing pretty admirably against other rifles, so our focus was to make running a lower-tier Overrun in a budget build or in a Sponsored Kit less painful. Go ahead, enjoy those CyAc Sponsored Kits. For the CE Tactical Sidearm, this weapon was always tuned in a way that if you built into it, and were hitting headshots you’d find plenty of success—but it’s clear we weren’t hitting that mark. Even at fully buildcrafted, the CE Tactical Sidearm is just not attractive enough to secure a warm seat in your Vault. In Season 2 you can expect the following changes: CE Tactical Sidearm Increased the speed at which the weapon's recoil settles when firing by 15%. Reduced ADS accuracy error multiplier by ~50%. Rebased aim assist and magnetism min and max falloff distances: Aim Assist Minimum distance increased from 11 meters to 14 meters at base range stat and from 14 meters to 22 meters at maximum range stat. Maximum distance increased from 22 meters to 25 meters at base range stat and from 21 meters to 29 meters at maximum range stat. Magnetism Minimum distance increased from 15 meters to 18 meters at base range stat and from 18.6 meters to 29.6 meters at maximum range stat. Maximum distance increased from 25 meters to 26.2 meters at base range stat and from 24.8 meters to 39 meters at maximum range stat. Rebased aim assist cone size stats: Increased aim assist cone size at base aim assist stat by 33%. Increased aim assist cone size at max aim assist stat by 16%. Rebased hip fire and ADS projectile accuracy stats to compensate. In general, this means an increase in projectile error all up to account for the increased aim assist cone size. Reduced crouch accuracy bonus at max crouch accuracy stat by 117%. Reduced moving accuracy bonus at minimum moving accuracy stat by 22%. Increased moving accuracy bonus at maximum moving accuracy stat by 50%. There’s a handful of more weapon-specific tunings happening at the launch of Season 2, but these are some of the big headliners. Expect more changes in the full patches on June 2! Mods and Buildcrafting A lot of combat starts before the first shot. Careful preparation and buildcrafting are key to survival on Tau Ceti IV. Season 2 was a chance to reflect on a lot of the mod stories for weapons and think about how we can make choices more meaningful and how mods can do more than just push stats up or down. For Season 2, we're investing heavily in a few key areas for mods. First, we're adding two new families of mods and eight new families of chips. We also took heavy balance passes on every magazine and every optic mod. There's a lot to dive into; far more than we could detail in this article, so look for the full scope of every change coming to mods in the full patch notes. 2026_Marathon_Launch_Press_Kit_Compressed_013.jpg Let's talk about the two new mod families. First up we have Folding Stocks: Folding stocks are a new mod family that will first be present on the new KKV and D54 Battle Pistol weapons. They are similar to Shield Mods for the LMGs in that they provide a unique gameplay altering action. When equipped, folding stocks are initially collapsed, and in this mode, they provide boosts to stats like hip fire accuracy and movement speed with that weapon. You can then press your alternate weapon action input to unfold the stock, trading the hip fire focused bonuses for boosts to ADS accuracy and range. We really love how these mods provide options for different playstyles on a single weapon and the ability to change strategies on the fly during combat. Second, we're adding an entirely new archetype of optics mods, the Darksight Scopes. Naturally, with the debut of Night Marsh, we want to make sure you have all the tools necessary for precision execution in a dark and dangerous place. Every archetype of weapon will receive their own Darksight Scope, and they come in two different rarities: Deluxe and Superior. All Darksight scopes will operate similarly. They all are a full screen vignette when aiming down sights—similar to how sniper optics already work—but for every weapon. Secondly, while ADS, you can press the toggle optic input to activate the night vision effect and light up the world around them. The night vision effect is wider and covers more distance with the Superior version. Our goal is for their unique gameplay to be helpful not only on Night Marsh, but across the rest of the game as well. Weapon chips are the backbone of weapon buildcrafting. They are the software upgrades that make your weapon do things that seem almost impossible. And on the topic of chips, we do have to do a bit of housekeeping to do. With Season 2, we are looking to rotate out a couple of chip families that were not meeting the bar for quality and performance—on both ends of the spectrum: Stack Overflow Rotated all rarities out of the loot pool for Season 2. Optimal Prime Rotated all rarities out of the loot pool for Season 2. Stack Overflow was overperforming on certain weapons and in other cases was performing wildly below the bar. So we’re taking this one back to the lab for now. Optimal Prime, while potentially interesting from a buildcrafting standpoint, just did not find the niche we were hoping for, so that too will take a seat on the bench. But fear not, eight new chip families are rotating in for their time in the sun. We won’t spoil everything here but here’s a couple of highlights: Alarmist (all rarities) After aiming down sights for a brief duration, projectile impacts create a terrifying scan drone alert. We heard you liked Ornithologist but we agree it’s weird to hear birds on Cryo. Maybe this will help? Scrapyard (all rarities) Defeating hostiles with this weapon has a chance to spawn depleted health items or standard materials. Brain Freeze (Superior rarity only) Precision downs or kills with this weapon create a small explosion that spreads Frost to nearby hostiles. But already existing chips also had some changes too. Again, there’s too many to go through here but here’s a couple of previews: Bounty Hunter Increased the amount of credits rewarded per UESC kill: Standard: 10 credits increased to 25 credits. Enhanced: 15 credits increased to 50 credits. Deluxe: 20 credits increased to 75 credits. Superior: 25 credits increased to 100 credits. Fixed an issue where Bounty Hunter wasn't awarding credits upon killing UESC scan drones. Cloudborn Redesigned perk benefits entirely: While in smoke, this weapon passively has increased stability, accuracy, handling, and movement speed. Previously the benefit was overflowing the magazine on reloading while in smoke. 2026_Marathon_Launch_Press_Kit_Compressed_017.jpg Lastly for mods, we wanted to touch on optics and magazine mods. Every optic and magazine mod in the game had a full stat balance pass. These changes were largely to sand down some outliers while also trying to make more interesting choices for all the weapons that use any given family of optic or magazine. But there are a couple of big, important changes to note: Starting in Season 2, there will be no thermal optic option for snipers only. Even as we brought in their range, snipers with thermals were just overperforming. We don’t view this as a permanent benching, but we are taking the time to cook on some longer gestating changes for how thermals work all up and until that time, we decided it was better to pull this ripcord now. Starting in Season 2, one Superior magazine mod in every family will come with the new Vector Rounds perk on it by default. Vector Rounds is a new perk designed as an information tool that can help you mark space, track enemy movement, and create visibility in dark corners. After aiming down sights for a short duration, the next projectile impact will create a revealing pulse, similar to the Darksight effect. Enemies caught in this detonation will be highlighted for a brief duration. We’re extremely eager to see how buildcrafting is shaken up in Season 2. For the complete breakdown, the full patch notes will have you covered. Equipment and Survival Weapons aren't the only tools at your disposal to survive out there during a run. Equipment plays a vital role in the combat sandbox and is often what players use to turn the tide of a fight. ... though perhaps some equipment items were a little too strong in Season 1. Before we get into the three new pieces of equipment you can expect to unleash next season, we want to take the opportunity to outline a few changes coming to equipment at the start of Season 2. Grenade ready animations extended by 0.2 seconds The ready animation plays when a grenade is pulled out and primed. The throw (after the button has been released) is unchanged. We feel this change preserves the responsiveness and joy of throwing a grenade, but has a measurable effect on how many grenades can be thrown in rapid succession. The extra time also allowed us to polish the ready animations and make them a little more expressive. 2026_Marathon_Cryo_Unlock_Press_Kit_COMPRESSED_03.jpg Frag Grenade Reduced max damage by 15% (135 → 115). Heat Grenade Reduced damage by 50% (40 → 20). Signal Jammer Visual and detection jamming will temporarily flicker off when a player performs actions, uses abilities, shoots their weapon, or takes damage. No longer blocks detection by Early Warning System (Prestige Recon Core). No longer blocks detection by Vital Intel (Stryder M1T Prestige Optic Mod). Signal Jammers in Season 1 felt like a default requirement for any engagement because they offered a flat, guaranteed advantage whether you were repositioning for an ambush or sprinting directly into combat. We hope this change will make Signal Jammers reward tactical movement and stealth while being less effective during a firefight. With that housekeeping out of the way, let’s talk about the new stuff. First up, we have the Frost Mine. The Frost Mine is a placeable piece of equipment, similar to a Claymore. It detonates when an enemy is nearby and instead of a high damage conical blast like the Claymore, it explodes in a spherical blast dealing moderate damage but also spreading the Frost debuff to any enemy caught in it. Stay warm out there. Second, we have the Vector Grenade. This grenade’s primary purpose is not damage, but rather information. When a Vector Grenade detonates, it creates a field of revealing pulses that linger in the world for a short time, highlighting spaces in a large area and any enemies inside its radius. This grenade is an essential companion in Night Marsh and in other hard-to-see places. Lastly, we’re adding Signal Flares in three colors. Signal flares come in red, green, and blue varieties, and they each have a different lens flare shape. These don’t focus on damage but linger in the world providing some amount of light. We view these as communication tools for non-verbal Runners. Maybe in the heat of a fight, green flares are thrown and a new alliance is formed? Maybe you come across a blue flare that marks a piece of loot on the ground left by a benevolent Runner? The choice is in yours hands. Runners and Implants Your biosynthetic shell is the foundation that defines your playstyle. In Season 2, we’re taking the first step of expanding our roster to give you more ways to explore and experience our perilous, alien world. 2026_Marathon_S2_Launch_Press_Kit_COMPRESSED_006.jpg Meet Sentinel. This shell is a defensive specialist, made for carving out pockets of space within the battlefield and securing them with clever traps... and lethal force. Sentinel’s kit is built around area control and adaptability under pressure. It brings a few fresh new tools to the battlefield: Defender System (Prime Ability): Deploy a defensive platform that harmlessly neutralizes incoming explosives. You and your allies also gain increased weapon stability and reload speed when standing near the device. And as always, bear in mind that it’s got a limited number of projectiles to fire! Be sure to keep a steady eye out. Snare Mine (Tactical Ability): Toss a proximity-triggered mine which detonates into several Immobilizing submunitions when enemies get too close. Prey Tracker (Trait Ability): Activate motion tracking systems in your HUD that allow you to see moving enemies on radar within a conical zone in front of you. Castle Doctrine (Passive): You ready and reload SMGs, Pistols, and Shotguns more quickly based on the number of nearby hostiles. When you take splash damage, your Hardware, Firewall, and Self-Repair Speed are increased for a short time. Use your Prey Tracker to gather real-time information about enemy positions as they move, allowing you to set up the perfect ambush or hunt down a fleeing Assassin. Use your Snare Mines to stop a shotgun-rushing Destroyer in their tracks, or toss one under a UESC dropship for some immediate crowd control. When things get ugly, bunker down by deploying a Defender System to neutralize an incoming Rocket Drone missile barrage and whip out your KKV or Misriah to give a warm welcome to any unwanted visitors. We’re also adding a full suite of 10 Sentinel-specific Runner cores across the various rarity tiers. Here’s a small taste: Reversal (Enhanced): Defeating an Immobilized target heals you over time. Great for adding some sustain to your loadout if you’re low on medical consumables and don’t have a Triage in your crew. Wellness Beacon (Deluxe): While standing near your Defender System, you and your allies use medical items more quickly. Useful for more support-focused playstyles where you want to keep your allies in the fight longer. Eminent Domain (Prestige): Runner grenades neutralized by your Defender System fall to the floor and become lootable. The ultimate tool for countering throwable spam–literally throw your opponent’s grenades back at them. We can’t wait to see how Sentinel shakes up the meta and what kinds of devious (or hilarious) plays you get up to. Implants Now let’s talk about implants. Initially, our plan was to give cores and implants unique identities by focusing cores on powerful Runner-specific perks and implants on interesting packages of stat buffs. Our early playtesting led us to add random perks to implants in addition to the stats to help create more variety in the buildcrafting game. These proved very effective at expanding the depth of different playstyles available and quickly became the primary element driving choice around implants. However, our implementation in Season 1 led to a number of problems. The system is challenging to use because the item names reflect the stat package and not what an implant’s perk is, information about what that perk does is buried in the tooltip, and you can’t look at an item in a container or on the floor and intuitively understand what exactly it does. In Season 2, we’re taking significant steps to address these issues by reworking how implants are structured. Implants will be primarily focused on perks, with Runner stats being a secondary element. Every implant now grants a single fixed perk, which is reflected directly in the item name, and has a fixed stat package. As an example, you’ll be able to loot a Tox Injectors head implant which will give bonuses to your Firewall, Heat Capacity and Fall Resistance, or a Triage Cloaking Device torso implant which grants Revive Speed, Tactical Recovery, and Hardware. With this rework, you’ll be able to collect all the same perks you could in Season 1 (even the unique perks from Prestige-tier implants, if you’re lucky!) plus eight brand-new ones we’ve added in Season 2, such as Going Dark which makes you invisible while using healing consumables. Certain implants will only drop at higher rarities, which you’ll need to delve into more challenging zones to find... or you can just acquire them from your fellow Runners. One last note is that this is not the final form of implants. At-a-glance readability of the implant icons themselves the next thing on our radar, and we’re cooking up some more changes here that we’re excited to roll out in the future. Finally, we wanted to touch briefly on the rest of our changes for Runner shells. Our focus this season has largely been on bugfixing and quality-of-life updates, such as improvements to the mantle system to make climbing up rough terrain more consistent, making movement smoother and reducing instances of desync, and addressing deathbox spawning to prevent them from ending up in inaccessible areas. One notable tuning change is that we’re reducing how much the Prime and Tactical Recovery stats accelerate the cooldowns of runner abilities at 100 stat, to make sure that we’re preserving opportunities for counterplay in high-level engagements. Be on the lookout for our full patch notes page for the complete details on the changes and additional developer notes. Out With A Bang That’s a quick rundown of what’s to come with Season 2, so you can be better prepared dive right in on June 2nd. Reminder that there’s an Open Play Week from June 2 to June 9, where the full game will be available on Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Some of it is about refining the sandbox. Some of it is about adding new gear and new options. Some of it is about making the dark more playable while keeping its danger alive and well. And, some of it is about making sure that when you open your loadout, the choices in front of you feel thoughtful, useful, and worth exploring. Our hope is that these changes make combat feel sharper, build choices feel more expressive, and every run feels like it gives you a little more room to learn, adapt, and find a style that clicks for you. As these changes get into your hands, your feedback is going to matter a lot. We’ll be paying close attention to the places you already talk to us—especially our official Discord, Steam discussions, Reddit, and our MarathonDevTeam social channels on Twitter and Bluesky. We want to hear what is landing, what might feel off, what surprises you, and what is not doing the job it should. Happy hunting. submitted by /u/DTG_Bot to r/Marathon [link] [comments]

Source: https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/dev_insights_return_of_the_director Welcome to our first Dev Insights article, prepping for the release of Monument of Triumph on June 9. We have quite a bit to get through over the next few weeks. Today's article focuses on the return of the Director and Destiny 2 activities. Here's a quick list of what we'll be covering: The Director: Layout, additions, and updated Destination loot Distortions: Adding some spice to select Patrol modes The Portal: Breaking down barriers and overhauling the experience Gambit Ops: Bringing our old friend into the fold Heavy Metal: Vehicular mayhem Sparrow Racing League: Returning tracks, new loot, and some twists along the track Tomorrow we're planning to have our second Dev Insights article focused on the weapons sandbox alongside a Friday TWID, so stay tuned! The Return of the Director With the release of Monument of Triumph, we're putting the Director back at the center of your gameplay. It's your guide to the Destiny universe and the place to plan your adventures. It creates that feeling of wonder we all love. You see the Sol system before you, ready to be explored. To bring the Director up to date, we've added Kepler and the Lawless Frontier to this space as well. MOT_Director_1920x1080.jpg Destination and Patrol Updates Destinations have always been a foundational part of Destiny, whether you touch down briefly for a Public Event, roam areas for patrols and secrets, or find various factions moving against each other. Our first steps as Guardians were in the Cosmodrome and beyond that we've spent over a decade patrolling the wilds of our Sol system to protect the Last City. With the return of the Director, we felt now was a better time than ever to thrust players back into these frontiers. We've revitalized each pre-Edge of Fate destination's loot with new perks, tiered weapons for non-craftable pools, and set bonuses that reflect their themes and stories. For our destinations featuring crafted weapons, as outlined in the Monument of Triumph article, they will be receiving additional perks per column to make them feel up to modern sandbox Power standards. We're also introducing a new event... one with some added difficulty that appears during Distortions that only occur on certain Destinations. You'll primarily be able to earn this loot through Public Events. Base completion will grant Tier 3 rewards and Heroic Tier 4, with each drop having a chance to upgrade all the way to Tier 5. During a Distortion, these rewards will be upgraded by one tier to match the added challenge. Unique destination activities like Blind Well, Altars of Sorrow, or Terminal Overload will also distribute tiered rewards (full details in the patch notes). Additionally, we've updated what we call the “World Loot Pool” earned through Legendary Engrams that drop from general gameplay to now feature a collection of tiered loot with gear spanning multiple years of Destiny 2. You may find a few old favorites inspired by Splicer tech or our old friend Saint-14 within this engram. With that said, let's look at loot from a few destinations. Below is a taste of what's to come: we want to excite but not spoil your appetite. (P.S. Don't write while hungry.) Cosmodrome Where it all began… many Guardians can recall their first moments awaking in Old Russia and they weren't alone. Rasputin, the Warmind, called the Cosmodrome his home and proved himself to be a mighty ally of humanity. The returning weapons that drop from the Cosmodrome come from Rasputin's storied arsenal, along with a new origin trait. NEW Origin Trait – Eyes Up This weapon gains reload speed, range, and increased damage against combatants for a short time when combat begins. Final blows extend and enhance this bonus. Seraphic Arsenal seventh_seraph.jpg Our sample weapon from the Cosmodrome is a reprise of the Seventh Seraph CQC-12, updated with new perks and keeping its Rasputin's Arsenal origin trait. Slideshot Discord Quickdraw Threat Detector Disruption Break Heal Clip Dual Loader Snapshot Sights Closing Time Trench Barrel One-Two Punch Chain Reaction Incandescent Surrounded Seventh Seraph CQC-12 felt like the right showcase for Cosmodrome because it's both a core Rasputin weapon and a flexible close-range workhorse. With its updated perk pool, we wanted it to support everything from classic melee-heavy builds to pure add-clear shotgunning without losing that “Warmind toolbox” identity. Nessus With good robots (Failsafe and friends), bad robots (the Vex), and a lot of early Guardian memories, Nessus deserved a loot pool that reflects its status as a classic destination. So, the Sandbox Team reached through time to pull together a collection of weapons reflecting Guardians' many expeditions on the unstable centaur. We hope you agree that our selection plays as well as they look. NEW Origin Trait – Fail-Deadly Dealing damage grants a stacking bonus to magazine size, target acquisition, and range until your next final blow with this weapon. Echoing Reprisal pluperfect.jpg Our sample from Nessus is Pluperfect, reprised with a new perk pool built to play into its deliberate, hard-hitting identity while opening up new Kinetic-focused options. Outlaw Rangefinder Dynamic Sway Reduction Rewind Rounds Stopping Power Enlightened Action Demolitionist Rampage All Star Kinetic Tremors Adhesive Ordinance Closing Time Aggregate Charge Adrenaline Junkie We see Pluperfect as the backbone weapon of the Nessus set: reliable, deliberate, and built to carry momentum from one target to the next. Its refreshed perk pool gives players room to chase a range of playstyles while still preserving the feel that made the weapon memorable. Europa Europa was a defining destination in Destiny's history, marking a turning point where allies and enemies alike began to wield Stasis and deepen their understanding of the Darkness. Its frozen frontier is inseparable from Braytech whose ambition and technology remain etched into every corner of the moon. For this refresh, the team wanted the returning weapons to feel at home on Europa, reflecting both its harsh environment and its legacy as a defining frontier. NEW Origin Trait – Winterized Gear After being out of combat for a moderate duration, this weapon gains stability, reload speed, and handling. These benefits decay over time after reentering combat. Rewards, Rebooted high_albedo.jpg Our sample from Europa is High Albedo, and no, your eyes do not deceive you. High Albedo has been updated to be the first Kinetic Micro-Missile Sidearm! Auto-Loading Holster Bewildering Burst Impulse Amplifier Enlightened Action Shoot to Loot Stopping Power Blast Distributor Kinetic Tremors Ancillary Ordnance One for All All-Star Frenzy Desperate Measures Surrounded High Albedo matches Europa's identity by pairing precision tech with a harsher, more experimental edge. We wanted its updated perks to support players who use it proactively, whether that means building into utility, crowd pressure, or general-purpose combat. Distorted Destinations Patrolling the System Over the past few years, Destiny 2 has focused more attention on structured campaigns, exciting playlists, and challenging cooperative activities. This has led to Patrol mode feeling left behind; without strong rewards or a clear reason to return, many players have had little incentive to explore the wilds of Sol. To remind Guardians of the allure of wandering these worlds, we're introducing a new feature on seven destinations: Distortions. Distortions Every hour, a different destination becomes the focus of Distortions. The sky tears open, reality distorts, and corruption spreads. While distorted, the planet's enemies are empowered and more fearsome. Distortions_Cosmo_Ship.jpg Distortions_Luna.jpg Distortions are our new enhancement to Patrol mode. They're a celebration of all the things that are already there, plus a small injection of new things to do and new rewards to discover. Our main goal with this feature was to support what we call the “public loop”, the connected areas that players patrol where they can encounter other Guardians and work together on shared goals. We've leaned into all the fun little things that are already there, then added a little twist. Spotlights_05_1920x1080.jpg Distortions_Throneworld_Combatant.jpg Every enemy will become distorted too, making them tougher, more aggressive, and a little more dangerous. Distortions won't massively change the low-stress nature of Patrol but you may occasionally find an encounter that tests the skills of even veteran Guardians. You'll also discover some familiar challenges in new places and some strange signals leading to hidden rewards. Speaking of rewards, we're making Distortions uniquely rewarding by providing a new weapon set players can earn in these new events and, to balance the increased challenge of Distorted enemies, you'll see higher gear tiers awarded from playing public events. Europa_tooltip_director.jpg Excited to check out Distortions? Look for the telltale red glow and keep an eye on the timer telling you when a new planet will be targeted. Overhauling the Portal Since the release of The Edge of Fate, we've heard your feedback on the Portal loud and clear. Portal, the tab, is gone. However, we didn't want to remove quick access to Destiny playlists and content. While players can navigate the Director for numerous activities, we still wanted a “portal” of sorts to quickly find the content you want to play when you want it. We've refactored scoring, difficulty, and customization quite a bit to further address feedback around the system - more on that in a later section. Portal activities, bonus engrams, bonus focuses, and the Seasonal Hub are still accessible. The portal ops categories are built into the director itself. In the Director screenshot above you'll see a row of familiar icons at the bottom of the screen. They are the doorway to Portal-like sub-screens, allowing you to still access and configure the activities you'd like to play. You may have noticed in our Director preview that there are a few returning icons in that row at the bottom. Yes, Gambit will now have a Portal category updated with scoring, and raids and dungeons will have an easy access point on the front of the Director. Dungeon Ops will be retired, and this space will simply be a space to quickly find and play full raid and dungeon content. CGAE_portal_fireteam_ops.png We also wanted to bring back more of Destiny's legacy and the following will be available in Monument of Triumph: New Fireteam Ops Heist Battlegrounds: Mars The Disgraced The Lightblade The Scarlet Keep The Corrupted The Lake of Shadows New Pinnacle Ops Operation: Seraph's Shield Zero Hour New Arena Ops Override (On a 4-week map rotation) Difficulty and Reward Updates Portal Ops activities are getting a difficulty overhaul in Monument of Triumph. The overarching theme is less math, more playing Destiny. Right now, difficulty, rewards, and progression are too intertwined. Plus, a bunch of variables are tossed on top (Power, armor, and the rewards pass score bonuses) that required far too much planning and thought before players could just dive in and play. During development, we've simplified it, playtested a bunch, and simplified it even more to address player feedback. So, when we say we've made the system simpler, what do we mean? Now when you select a difficulty you will always hit a default reward rank which will result in a default reward tier without adding any modifiers. The table below helps illustrate what reward tier to expect from each difficulty and reward rank. Difficulty Reward Rank Reward Tier Normal C Tier 1 Advanced B Tier 2 Expert A Tier 3 Master A+ Tier 4 Grandmaster S Tier 5 Ultimate S+ Tier 5 Note: For Crucible modes, Grade A and higher will yield Tier 5 loot drops. But what is the role of modifiers now? In this simplified world, mods exist to allow higher scores to be reached without stepping up the difficulty level, to offset the cost of any selected boons, and to provide an additional, completely optional challenge. If you want to earn Tier 4 gear but don't want to face Champions, play at Expert and add some mods. Don't want to deal with the tougher, more aggressive combatants at Grandmaster but still want to earn an S-grade rank? Play at Master with a few mods of your choice and you'll get those Tier 5 rewards. Every difficulty can have enough mods applied to bump you up one reward rank and reward tier. Additionally, while reward tier will now cap at Grandmaster with Tier 5 and S rank, it didn't feel right to remove Ultimate difficulty from the game. So, we're leaving Ultimate in for Guardians who enjoy playing at the highest challenge level possible: the S+ rank will exist purely for bragging rights! CGAE_mods.png “So how will matchmaking work then?” We're also updating how matchmaking and customization work around Portal activities. We want the system to stay approachable while also providing variety. In matchmade versions of Portal activities: Activities will include fewer modifiers than what players have previously encountered. Will grant rewards and rank for the selected difficulty. Revive token counts are also getting updated across Fireteam, Pinnacle, and Arena Ops. We've heard your feedback about how revive tokens feel in Arena Ops, and as a result we're removing them on all difficulties. This should make joining activities in progress and navigating the chaos of six-player content a smoother experience. For Fireteam Ops and Pinnacle Ops, Grandmaster difficulty will now start with seven revive tokens, while Ultimate will start with five. Our goal here was to create a little more breathing room in the revive token economy while still preserving the level of challenge players expect from these difficulty tiers. Adding Variety to Loot As we were making updates to how loot is earned throughout the Portal, we also took this opportunity to expand loot variety. The following Portal Ops activities will feature exclusive weapon reward pools and an armor collection with a unique set bonus: Crucible Ops (General) Crucible Ops (Competitive) - Additional Exclusive Pool Trials of Osiris Iron Banner Gambit Sparrow Racing League (SRL) Solo Ops and Fireteam Ops will each have a unique weapons rewards pool and share a new Armor Collection with a set bonus. Arena Ops and Pinnacle Ops will also each have a unique weapon pool and share a new Armor Collection, with an additional pool for Onslaught (more details on that below). Additionally, Arena Ops weapons will have Holofoil variants – we hope you enjoy discovering them as a little surprise! Onslaught, Contest of Elders, and The Coil We're also making big changes to Onslaught and “Crawls”, our name for activities with escalating difficulty during gameplay. After reading feedback and looking at the data, we weren't happy with the amount of play these activities were getting. We're taking some big swings to make all these activities more enjoyable and rewarding for your time. Onslaught We've increased the scrap you earn from sources by over 40%, allowing you to max defenses at each location. We've removed revive tokens from this mode entirely. We've reintroduced the difficulty curve. Now, the first ten waves will be easier than the difficulty you selected, with the next ten waves increasing in difficulty and the final ten waves increasing in difficulty to match the difficulty selected. For example, Grandmaster Onslaught's first ten waves will feel somewhat like Expert difficulty, the second ten waves will feel closer to Master difficulty and the final ten waves will feel on par with Grandmaster difficulty that you've come to expect. We've reintroduced the full Brave Arsenal from Into the Light, with tiers, into the Onslaught reward pool that drop at the end of every 10 waves in additionto the Pinnacle Ops reward pool drops. Contest of Elders We've reduced the number of paths in a single run from four to three. We've reintroduced the difficulty curve. Now, the first path will be easier than the difficulty you selected with the next path increasing in difficulty and the final path further increasing in difficulty to match the difficulty selected. For example, Grandmaster Contest of Elders' first path will feel somewhat like Expert difficulty, the second path will feel closer to Master difficulty, and the final path will feel on par with the Grandmaster difficulty that you've come to expect. We've added World Pool rewards into the Contest of Elders reward pool that drop at the end of every pathway in additionto pinnacle ops reward pool drops. The Coil We've reintroduced the difficulty curve. Now, the first path will be easier than the difficulty you selected, with the next path increasing in difficulty and the final path increasing in difficulty to match the difficulty selected. For example, Grandmaster Coil's first path will feel somewhat like Advanced difficulty, the second path will feel closer to Expert difficulty, the third path will feel closer to Master difficulty, and the final path will feel on par with Grandmaster difficulty that you've come to expect. We've added World Pool rewards into The Coil reward pool that drop at the end of every pathway in additionto the pinnacle ops reward pool drops. Elevating Gambit For some time now, players have felt our core activity rotation has been lacking a very special PvEvP activity that was introduced in Forsaken. We agree. In Monument of Triumph, Gambit gets a clearer home in the Director through the Gambit Ops. Our focus is on better placement, stronger reward support, and a more legible reward structure, while keeping the core activity familiar for players who already know how Gambit works. Integration into the Portal means Gambit Ops will have its own tiered reward pool with a new armor set, armor set bonus, and reprised weapons, as well as Bonus Drops and Bonus Focus. Tiered rewards are driven by activity scoring, and for Gambit, score is driven by team progress through Gambit's major phases: banking motes, summoning the Primeval, and defeating the Primeval - with additional bonus score coming from Gambit Rank. Rewards are rooted in team effort rather than individual stat chasing, and a team that reaches the Primeval phase will earn S grade and Tier 5 gear, so getting to the final phase of the match is materially rewarded. Let's be honest: few things in Destiny feel better than banking a pile of motes or saving the game with a last-minute Invasion. To keep the playlist healthy, Gambit needs strength in its rewards, and that meant looking at the playlist's identity from multiple angles: a reworked Origin trait to match Gambit's unique rhythm, the return of many iconic Gambit weapons, and refreshed perk pools that give players real reasons to dive back in. Our resident Gambit lovers on the Sandbox Team took a deep pass on the weapons you've been asking for and made sure to give them some fun rolls. Here are two quick examples. REWORKED Origin Trait – Gun and Run Defeating targets builds stacks of Gun and Run for a short duration. Sprinting for a short time consumes a stack to partially reload this weapons' magazine from reserves; on Bows, this briefly improves draw speed. Return to the Dark Age spare_rations.jpg Our sample from Gambit is Spare Rations, now updated to be a Stasis Lightweight Hand Cannon. Slideshot Rapid Hit Snapshot Moving Target Firefly Keep Away Crystalline Corpsebloom Kill Clip Opening Shot Eye of the Storm Swashbuckler Desperate Measures One for All Explosive Payload We wanted Spare Rations to remain a sharp, responsive dueling weapon while broadening what players could chase on it. Its new pool offers a healthy spread of PvP and PvE options, from classic Hand Cannon consistency pieces to payoff perks that give it real flexibility outside of straight duels. 21_delirium.jpg We're also bringing back 21% Delirium, now with a full random roll perk pool, while keeping its original static roll as a possible outcome. Overflow Reconstruction [REDACTED] Trickle Charge Fourth Time's the Charm Feeding Frenzy Eddy Current Killing Tally One for All [REDACTED] Rolling Storm [REDACTED] Frenzy Jolting Feedback The goal here was to turn 21% Delirium into a deeper chase weapon without losing the version players remember. Its refreshed pool opens up new ways to build around sustained fire, reload loops, and damage ramp, while still leaving room for the classic roll that defined it the first time around. Crucible Playlist Rotations In Monument of Triumph, Crucible playlist offerings are moving to a more predictable cadence, and all PvP offerings are receiving loot refreshes to offer new weapons, armor sets, and cosmetics. First, let's start with our main PvP events: Iron Banner and Trials of Osiris: Iron Banner now returns every four weeks. Control remains a constant offering and is replaced by Iron Banner Control during Iron Banner weeks, with one additional Iron Banner mode available each time Iron Banner is live. Trials of Osiris will continue to run every weekend* from Friday through Tuesday *Trials will not be available during Iron Banner weeks to help keep Guardians focused. Trials is also undergoing changes to featured map and weapon rotations. Instead of a single curated featured map each weekend, the mode can now vary from week to week. Some weeks may feature a singular map, while others can feature up to three. Check back each Friday to see which arenas you'll be challenged on. Featured weapons are also moving away from a single weekly focus and now drop from a featured weapon pool instead. We will have more details on the map and weapon pools in an upcoming TWID. As for our broader PvP offering, featured 6v6 modes continue to rotate weekly, while featured small-team modes rotate daily until Trials takes over for the weekend. Rumble also remains permanently available. This update also expands the small-team lineup, with Heavy Metal added into the 3v3 rotation alongside the new 4v4 Arena Collision - a new modifier mode built around more deliberate weapons-first combat. Private Match access has also been moved under Crucible Ops / Portal, where players can also find Heavy Metal, and more new Crucible modifiers like Arena. We'll have more information on Crucible rewards, Crucible modifiers, and more next week when we talk more about sandbox tuning. Until then, let's turn our focus to some vehicular mayhem. Heavier and More Metallic Heavy Metal is back on a permanent rotation in the Crucible Ops with some fun updates! If you've played Heavy Metal before, you know the fantasy: climb into a massive vehicle, roll onto the battlefield, and turn the other team into scrap. This time, there's a new option joining the lineup with the Cabal Behemoth, alongside the Drake and Brig. We've also added a new vehicle selection screen so players can choose which vehicle they want to bring into a match before it begins. That means Heavy Metal is no longer just one fixed matchup and gives players more freedom in how they want to play. Heavy_Metal_UI_02_1920x1080.jpg To keep matches feeling faster and punchier, we've lowered the score needed to win from 50 to 40. It's a small change, but one aimed at making the mode feel snappier without losing the vehicle combat chaos that makes Heavy Metal what it is. Heavy Metal is also getting a brand-new map: Nightfall Station. If that name sounds familiar, it should: the space is adapted from the wreckage of this vessel from the Renegades campaign, now reworked into a Heavy Metal battlefield built for vehicle combat. Heavy_Metal_Map_1920x1080.jpg Heavy_Metal_Map_02_1920x1080.jpg Overall, these updates are focused on giving players more variety from match to match, tightening up the pacing, and making sure each vehicle feels like a viable choice when they drop into the mode. We're excited for players to jump back in, try out the new lineup, and see which vehicle fits them best the next time Heavy Metal rolls around. The Return of Sparrow Racing League The long awaited and frequently requested Sparrow Racing League (SRL) is returning to Destiny 2! This isn't just SRL coming back as you remember it, though. We've brought the mode forward with a set of updates aimed at making races feel faster, livelier, and a bit more chaotic from lap to lap. SRL_Header_1920x1080.jpg Ghost returns as your SRL announcer along with Shaxx. There's nothing more motivating than Shaxx screaming at you to push for first place after your opponent just took you on the inside of a turn on Mercury. Skimmers are joining the fun, allowing you to choose between a Sparrow or a Skimmer before hopping into a three-lap race against five other players. Players won't have access to rail grinds or manual jumping as a Skimmer or be able to use destabilizers for rolls or flips as a Sparrow - in fact, we've done a ton of work under the hood to make sure that using either vehicle in SRL feels equally advantageous to players. Speaking of under the hood, we've also updated SRL to support those photo-finish moments at the end of a race. Close finishes can now properly assess ties, which means when two racers hit the line at nearly the same time, the results screen can better reflect that outcome. We know the mantra “if you're not first, you're last” but our goal with SRL is to bring the chaos and friendly competition to the forefront and so tying means you both get equally great rewards. A couple of new mechanics have been added to SRL. Rocket Boost rewards racers who nail their timing of hitting the gas just before the race begins, giving them an early burst out of the gate. Trick Boosts are just what they sound like: land a trick successfully and you'll get a boost. On PC, Sparrow and Skimmer tricks can also be remapped the same way emotes can and we've updated the UI to support that. All four of the original SRL maps are returning, and we've got a brand-new map called Quantum Circuit located in the realm of the Nine! Avoid the Taken and enemies of the past while racing on this wild and intense ribbon road. Additionally, speed boost pads have been added to specific shortcut paths on all maps to offset any gates missed; a change that we think will make taking riskier or tougher shortcuts more rewarding and viable. Finally, we've done some tuning on gate sizes, vehicle speeds, and rubberbanding to keep the pack together while still rewarding strong racing lines, smart shortcuts, and well-timed boosts. We're excited for players to get their hands on all of these updates and hear the brand-new SRL music tracks when Sparrow Racing League goes live next month. SRL Rewards Alongside SRL's return as an activity, you'll also be able to earn weapons and armor rewards. If you've gotta go fast then these will feel right at home in your arsenal. The perks found on these weapons have speed and movement in mind, such as Eager Edge, Desperado, or Perpetual Motion. While we want to keep the weapons and their perk pools under wraps, we will share an early look at the origin trait and armor set bonuses: Featherweight (Origin): Final blows with weapons that have the Featherweight Origin Trait grant increased movement speed while equipped. Revving Up (2-piece): Fast movement builds up a charge that gradually increases your health regeneration speed. Once you are Fully Revved, sprinting grants Speed Booster. Dielectric Drift (4-piece): Sliding while Speed Booster is active jolts combatants in front of you. And for players looking for a little more style with their speed, SRL will also bring plenty of earnable rewards worth chasing. This includes brand-new SRL racing Sparrows and a Skimmer as well as SRL armor ornaments, returning racing Sparrows, and SRL shaders from Destiny 1 plus returning Sparrow Horns from Destiny 1 that also work with Skimmers (and can be previewed in menus), new and returning SRL emblems, and more. SRL_Vehicles_01_1920x1080.jpg SRL_Weapons_1920x1080.jpg Whether you're racing for the win, completing SRL triumphs, or just showing up for the chaos, there will be plenty of ways to earn gear and accessories that let you look the part. Join us tomorrow as we turn our focus to the weapons sandbox, raid and dungeon updates, Tower vendor attunement, and more in our second Dev Insights article and TWID. submitted by /u/DTG_Bot to r/DestinyTheGame [link] [comments]

Source: https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/welcome_season_2 Today, we released a new Dev Insights video shining a light on the new content coming in Season 2. There's a new zone filled with new dangers and secrets, a brand-new defensive shell, a ton of new gear, and much more. Check out the video for the first look at what’s coming in Season 2: Embed Link Season 2 begins on June 2 and kicks off with an Open Play* Week from June 2 to June 9. During the Open Play Week, the full game will be available to play on Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, and any progress you make will carry over into Season 2. This will be a great time to invite your friends to crew up as everyone will be starting out on a clean slate. When Season 1 ends, all the assets in your Vault and personalized Armory access will be wiped, and your shells will be reset to factory standards to put everyone at the same starting line. It’s important we give players a chance to explore the new season together and not have to worry about going up against fully kitted out crews right out of the gate. Resets only include things related to gameplay progression; you’ll keep your achievements, non-seasonal Codex prgression, and cosmetics. For a full breakdown on how Marathon's seasonal reset works, please head here. Darkness Descends on Tau Ceti IV Runners have had a profitable season on Tau Ceti IV, but their constant raiding has attracted the wrong kind of attention. Now the UESC is stepping up its efforts to keep Tau Ceti IV on lockdown and protect the secrets they’d rather keep hidden. As the UESC escalate their defenses, all of this activity on Tau Ceti IV is causing something else to awaken. The Anomaly is changing... and after the sun goes down, things get much, much stranger. Embed Link New Zone: Dire Marsh (Night) Dire Marsh (Night) introduces a new kind of challenge to Marathon: How do you survive when you lose one of your senses? When darkness falls on Dire Marsh, the things you thought you knew warp in the night. The Anomaly blocks your path, long sight lines are obscured in the dark, and you’ll want to be careful where you shine your flashlight—you never know what’s lurking in the shadows. This new zone introduces new mechanics, new combatants, and locations to explore on Dire Marsh. It’s built to be slower-paced than Day Marsh and plays more like a survival horror experience, with slightly fewer players and extra environmental challenges with navigating the darkness and threats within. 2026_Marathon_S2_Launch_Press_Kit_COMPRESSED_013.jpg Mastering the zone will require you to make use of the new equipment designed for surviving—and hunting—in the dark: Flashlights, a new tool all Runners have access to on Night Marsh. Vector rounds, a new type of mag which create pools of light where your bullets land, illuminating enemy Runners and combatants. Vector grenades which highlight the environment and ping nearby enemies. Darksight scopes, which highlight the environment around you after you ADS for a brief period; these are focused on traversal versus highlighting enemies. Signal Flares which light up the environment and come in multiple colors. 2026_Marathon_S2_Launch_Press_Kit_COMPRESSED_002.jpg Complex Control The UESC have secured their resources on Night Marsh with advanced encryption. Kill UESC to gather their encryption certificates, or Certs for short, and hack into Network Towers across Night Marsh to gain access to their stockpiles of weapons, healing supplies, and other loot. The UESC has also locked down the exfils on Night Marsh, and you’ll need to collect Certs to activate exfils on the map. You may have noticed staircases on Marsh that led to closed-off doors. Anomalous energy is flowing from Complex. What are the UESC hiding up there? Gather enough UESC Certs to open the doors and hunt down what enemies, mysteries, and powerful loot that awaits in the upper rooms of Complex Control. Dire Marsh and Night Marsh Availability One of our takeaways from Season 1 is that we want to be more judicious with how we handle the amount of queues in Marathon. Between adding Night Marsh, Duos queue on a daily rotating map, and continued experimental modes, we’re conscious of the impact it could have on queue health and matchmaking. To that, Dire Marsh and Night Marsh will both be available at all times for at least the first week of the season. After that, the maps will rotate availability with one another every 90 minutes. You’ll be able to complete most of the existing Dire Marsh contracts on either zone, with a couple of exceptions. We’re also introducing some new Night Marsh exclusive contracts—MIDA and Traxus are both interested in learning more about what the UESC are hiding in the dark—which you’ll need to complete on Night Marsh. If you unlocked and completed a run on Dire Marsh last season, you’ll have access to both Dire Marsh and Night Marsh when Season 2 begins (same rules apply for Outpost). Otherwise both Marshes unlock at Runner Level 3. 2026_Marathon_S2_Launch_Press_Kit_COMPRESSED_003.jpg New Runner Shell: Sentinel Season 2 introduces Sentinel, a new shell built for controlling space and defending areas. If you want to protect your team from a rocket drone barrage during a clutch final exfil or turn the tides on an aggressive team rushing you down, this is your Runner. Sentinel's Prime ability Defender System deploys an automated laser platform which identifies and destroys incoming enemy grenades and missiles, as well as boosting weapon handling for all nearby crewmates. Keep an eye on how many charges it has left to destroy projectiles–it can’t block those rocket drone barrages forever. 2026_Marathon_S2_Launch_Press_Kit_COMPRESSED_008.jpg Snare Mine, Sentinel's tactical ability, is a thrown proximity-triggered mine that will detonate into several Immobilizing submunitions. Bait enemies into your traps and lock them in place to finish them before they can escape. Sentinel's passive trait Castle Doctrine grants increased resistances after taking splash damage, and faster weapon handling for close-range weapons when surrounded by enemies. Prey Tracker, their trait ability, will activate a short range, motion-tracking system that allows them to see nearby moving targets on radar. Use this to gather a bit of extra intel on who or what’s moving around you, and set up your defenses accordingly. 2026_Marathon_S2_Launch_Press_Kit_COMPRESSED_015.jpg Sandbox Updates and New Gear Each new season of Marathon is an opportunity for us to take a holistic look at what’s working, what needs improvements, and where we can add new tools to the sandbox. With everyone’s Vaults empty, it’s a time we can take bigger and more swings across weapons, gear, and equipment. These changes can create space for new metas to form and keeps Marathon feeling fresh as you progress throughout the season. Here are some of the highlights for what’s coming in Season 2. Weapons, Mods, and Chips Season 2 brings two new weapons to the sandbox. KKV-9SD First is the KKV, a new pistol-frame SMG with an integrated suppressor whose name may sound familiar to Marathon veterans. Its rate of fire is extremely fast, coming in at 1200 rounds per minute. Effective if you want to take down UESC units without other shells noticing you or if you are looking to mow down a Runner in a split second. It also a good counter to all the shotgun rushing we saw in Season 1, giving you new tools to combat this strategy. The KKV also comes with a new built-in folding stock mod. Keep it closed for benefits when firing from the hip, or use your weapon action to unfold the stock and trade those benefits for ADS benefits. This mod can also be used by the new Battle Pistol. 2026_Marathon_S2_Launch_Press_Kit_COMPRESSED_012.jpg D54 Battle Pistol A fantastic weapon for close encounters and 1v1 duels, the D54 comes with a red dot sight and fires full-auto three-round bursts. It’s a high-handling, medium rate-of-fire sidearm—think hybrid between the BR33 Volley Rifle and the BRRT SMG. A perfect companion for sniper rifles and other long-range weapons. Both of these new weapons also synergize well with Sentinel, who receives benefits to close-range weapons when surrounded by enemies. 2026_Marathon_S2_Launch_Press_Kit_COMPRESSED_011.jpg Rarities and Chips Season 2 also brings some changes to the rarity of weapons and new options in the Armory, with the goal of shaking up when and how you run into weapons throughout the season. This should give you a chance to try out other weapons more often and keep it from feeling like you have to use the same loadouts season over season. In addition to the new weapons and folding stock mod, we’re also adding eight new chips with Season 2. This includes: Brain Freeze Chip: Precision downs and kills with this weapon create a small explosion that spreads Frost to nearby hostiles. Alarmist Chip: After aiming down sights for a brief duration, projectile impacts create a terrifying proximity drone alert. Scrapyard Chip: Defeating hostiles with this weapon has a chance to spawn depleted heal items or standard materials. We’ll share more details on the weapons, mods, and other balance changes before Season 2. Implants During Season 1 it was hard to tell what each implant did at a glance. They were named based on their stats, with a random perk attached, but what ended up mattering most to players were the perks, so the names ended up being confusing. In Season 2, implants are now defined by their perk first and have fixed stats, with the name of each implant reflecting its perk. When you check your Vault or are quickly looting, it should be easier to tell them apart and choose which ones fit your builds. All your favorite implants are still there, split between head, torso, and legs, and they still give a stat benefit that scales with each rarity tier, from gray all the way up to gold. With this update, some implants will now only exist at higher rarity tiers, as we want to balance the power of high-utility perks like Logic Bomb or Triage Cloaking Device with how easy they are to access. New System: The Cradle One of our goals with seasonal updates is to improve and update the way you progress throughout the season so your climbs feel different each time. To that, in Season 2 we’re introducing a new system called the Cradle, which is where you’ll go to improve your Runner shell across the course of the season. Cradle_LVL30_MAX_DEX_NoTooltip_R2_052226_EN.jpg With the Cradle, you’ll empower the WEAVEworms that create your biocybernetic bodies to increase your Runner shell stats across six categories and unlock powerful perks. The primary way you’ll progress your stats is by using the Matter Converter, which turns weapons, equipment, and other items into experience for your Cradle. The better the item, the more experience you’ll receive. Level up your Cradle to earn Energy, which you can then allocate to any of the six stat categories. Hitting certain breakpoints will unlock additional perks for your Runner shells. Convert-Matter_LVL50_Selection_EN.jpg You can reallocate your Energy to different stats at any time, with no penalties or limitations. Feel free to experiment freely and adjust your stats based on your builds, playstyles, and goals. Your Cradle progression is shared across all Runner shells, and it resets at the start of a new season. With the Cradle, you’ll have easier access to the stats you want to focus on whenever you want (no more needing to level up a faction to gain access to stats), you can change your focus any time, and everything will be on one page to make things easier to manage. Cradle_LVL50_MAX_STR_Tooltip_R2_052226_EN.jpg Faction Progression and Contracts With all of the Runner shell upgrades in the faction progression trees being moved to the Cradle, we’ve been able to expand the Armory options, which should give you even more reliable access to weapons and items as the season progresses. You can expect to see some new additions to the faction trees too. For example, each faction now has a unique family of implants (head, torso, and leg) which fits the playstyle of that faction. NuCaloric offers implants that help with healing and durability, while MIDA has ones more proficient in mobility or disruption. We’ve also made some adjustments to schemas, which can now unlock specific Barter offers in the Armory. Faction Progression Improvements In Season 2, we’re increasing the rate you make faction progress across the board. You’ll feel this through a combination of under-the-hood tweaks, adjustments to the requirements to level up each faction, and increased options and rates at which you earn reputation. One of our goals with these changes is to make it so most players who regularly play can max out their faction upgrades and reach VIP rank during the season. This goes for players who love to crew up, as well as the lone wolves who prefer to run solo. Here are a couple of changes you’ll notice when it comes to faction progression: Updated the requirements to level up each faction, reducing the time necessary to reach VIP in most cases. This includes a pass on the amount of materials required to unlock faction upgrades, so hopefully this time you’re not craving Biolens Seeds and Alien Alloys as much. Standard Contracts will grant significantly increased faction reputation, so they should help much more with progression. Added new ways to earn reputation, including adding reputation gain to Enhanced (green) valuables and a small amount of reputation for defeating UESC. Unlocking everything a faction has to offer will still require time and successful exfils with valuables and materials, but it should feel more like a staircase where you take one step after another, not like a wall you must climb. 2026_Marathon_S2_Launch_Press_Kit_COMPRESSED_009.jpg Contracts Contracts remain a great way to earn the favor of factions, and we’ve been working on some improvements for Season 2. Our goal is to shave off the rough edges, chill down a bit on the heavy traversal and the “in a single run” requirements, and reformulate Priority Contracts so they don’t feel like a blocker to your progress. Priority Contracts will be more focused on granting loot rewards rather than being hard requirements for reputation. Priority Contracts are also no longer gated behind faction reputation levels. We’ve also refreshed Standard and Liaison contracts to shave off some of those rough edges. Reminder that if you’ve completed the Liaison contracts and unlocked a faction in Season 1, they’ll be unlocked for you in Season 2. Cryo Archive contracts are also getting an update. Having every contract require opening a vault made it difficult to make any progress on a run without taking in a key and risking it all. In Season 2, we reworked these to set more achievable goals that can be progressed over multiple runs and to help teach Cryo softshells the mechanics of the ship, with the seventh contract still requiring you to take down the Compiler. Overall, we want the experience of completing contracts to be more organic and enjoyable. We’re also working on some changes to streamline contracts to make them less linear in how they roll out to you over time, which we’ll share more about in the future. Experimental Queues and Duos Queue Last season, we introduced experimental queues—including Duos Queue and Sponsored Queue—as a way to test the waters with different ways to play Marathon. We’ve loved seeing the participation and hearing your feedback in Season 1, and we’re going to continue that in Season 2, including explorations with more PVE content. More details to come! We’re also adding Duos Queue in Season 2 with a rotating daily queue for Perimeter, Dire Marsh, Night Marsh, and Outpost. The rotation is part of us being more judicious with how we handle our matchmaking divisions in Marathon, and we’ll continue to evaluate your feedback on Duos (and all of the new content) as the season progresses. 2026_Marathon_S2_Launch_Press_Kit_COMPRESSED_010.jpg Ranked Updates Ranked will return in Season 2 on June 14, with all new rewards across the board. We’re also making some high-level changes to help simplify Ranked and improve matchmaking times. This includes combining the Low and High Stakes modes into a single queue with a 5,000 Loadout value minimum. Players must also now bring a Holotoag that matches their current rank. We’ve also made some other additions so progression is a bit faster and to ease a bit of gear fear: Progression has been adjusted and should feel faster across all ranks. Win/loss point progression will be influenced by the average rank of the players in that match compared to the player. If you play against people above your rank and lose, your loss won't be as big. If you win against them, though, the earnings will be higher. There is a new daily Ranked Sponsored Kit that contains a loadout appropriate for your rank—the higher your rank, the better the gear. Players can earn Arachne reputation by exfiling with a Tag Chip. We’ll be making more improvements to Ranked as Season 2 progresses, including a new system that will make it harder for ill-intended players to coordinate and team up across runs. Cryo Archive Returns June 11 Cryo Archive will continue on rotation during Season 2, with the first chance to play on June 11, right after Ranked. Reminder that any of the Cryo Archive Subroutines you unlocked during Season 1 will carry over to Season 2. Quality of Life Updates In addition to all of these changes, we also have a bunch of QoL updates coming in Season 2, with more to come as the season progresses. Increased Vault space: a fully upgraded Vault can now hold up to 512 grid spaces of items. Added the ability to batch select items in your Vault. Added a loot filter where if you select a slot you’re missing on your loadout, it’ll filter only the loot you can equip in that slot. Simplified and streamlined the lobby UI, so that you can get into a run faster and more intuitively. This includes combining the Loadout and Vault menus. Players can access select UI screens during matchmaking, including factions, the Codex, settings, and more. Added new PC and console cursor speed settings. Added new privacy settings with name obfuscation and a matchmaking timer offset. Additional game security features to speed up detection of cheats and reduce their effectiveness. Implemented a round of CPU performance improvements, as well as adding support for frame generation on PC. Performance optimization is an ongoing priority for us, and we anticipate further improvements in future updates. Improvements to our network technology to reduce the rate of disconnections, particularly for players outside the United States. Marathon’s Open Play Week Begins June 2 At the start of Season 2, we’re opening the gates to Marathon so everyone can experience Season 2 and the many changes made throughout Season 1. Grab your friends and crew up as everyone kicks off the season on a clean slate*. Marathon’s Open Play Week takes place from June 2 to June 9 and includes the full game on Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Any progress you make during the Open Play Week will carry over to Season 2. Marathon will be on sale around the start of Season 2 for Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. As a reminder, for those who already own Marathon, Season 2 gameplay content will be available for no additional cost. We’ll be back with more information including patch notes before Season 2 goes live on June 2. Good luck in your final days of Season 1, and we’ll see you for Season 2 next week. *Gameplay requires internet access and paid-for subscription on console (sold separately) 2026_Marathon_S2_Launch_Press_Kit_COMPRESSED_001.jpg submitted by /u/DTG_Bot to r/Marathon [link] [comments]

First, a quick tl;dr All content for games from Snowbreak's area must be screened with regulators ahead of time. Snowbreak showed regulators one thing, then gave players a DIY file mod so that they saw another. Snowbreak devs revealed that they knew the decensor existed and asked streamers to use it. Regulators butchered the game because it was circumventing the system. --- I'm sure you've all heard the news. Depending on how you feel about it, I'm either happy for you or sorry it happened. Just like when Snowbreak first shut down, some people are claiming that similar incidents will soon befall other games. I am here to assure you that is not going to happen. Snowbreak's demise is because the developers chose to play a very dangerous game. No one else is foolish enough to risk it. 1. Content Regulation in China Whenever a gacha game creates a patch, they must first submit the content for review. This isn't always an exhaustive review, but the sampled materials must be representative. The exact rules on what passes are intentionally vague with the idea being that if you draw a line, everyone will run up to it right away. If the line is blurry, games will self-regulate while worrying about crossing the line. Review is also context dependent. Characters in swimsuits can show more skin; male nipples are fine while female nipples are not. A bit of risque material is less likely to be flagged than if everything is risque. Once the material is approved, it cannot be changed without another review. If you release material that differs from what you submitted for review, you instantly lose your game license and your game is pulled from all distribution. To get it back again, you must pass review with the same people that took it away. And they hate you now. You do not, under any circumstances, modify content after the review unless you're a complete idiot. Snowbreak did not suffer this fate. While they did shut their servers down, government records show that their game license was never pulled. This was due to a rather slick plan on their part. 2. Snowbreak's Devs Slick Plan After several censorship incidents where their content passed review but was later censored after a closer look (which suggests they did not provide representative samples AND/OR the regulators were pissed), Snowbreak's devs began sending censored outfits for review. They weren't so foolish as to then ship uncensored outfits directly. Instead, they took a page from old-school gachas and 'discreetly' spread a method to easily uncensor the game among their playerbase. An official Snowbreak employee giving the decensor to a content creator after a censorship wave This is why Snowbreak's censored outfits are incredibly half-assed. The devs did not care to make them palatable because they did not expect anyone to actually see them except for the regulators. This wasn't a good bet, but more on that later. The end result is that they were technically compliant with the law and, since players had to technically modify the game to see the uncensored outfits, they had a thin legal defense if the decensor were ever exposed. 3. The Decensor is Obviously Exposed Since the censored outfits are extremely ugly, Snowbreak employees routinely told sponsored streamers how to decensor the game and even instructed them on how to do it. Example from Stix The game's producer and the marketing director (two people) also routinely posted decensored content on their social media. The game's trailers usually slipped in a few seconds where players could pause to get an uncensored screenshot as well. This was a very open secret. The trick was blasted all over the place by design because the devs knew that no one was interested in playing the game in a censored state--or at least not enough people to keep it afloat. However, because the regulators do not actually play games, they did not notice. Or perhaps Seasun's parent company, Kingsoft, was able to get them some leniency. While the direct studio (LHM) that made the game is small, it is part of Seasun which brags about being the oldest video game company in China and publishes JX3 online--a 20 year old MMO with strong Chinese cultural influence that is still going strong and makes up most of their revenue. Kingsoft is chaired by Lei Jun, one of the richest men in China and one with a sterling reputation as an all-around do-gooder. As long as Snowbreak remained a niche game and didn't cause a national controversy, it was likely better to overlook a little overeager gooning than to smear the reputation of Lei Jun, Kingsoft, or Seasun. 4. Snowbreak Causes a National Controversy The developers and a vocal minority of fans of the game have been obnoxious from the start. Suffice to say that they have made enemies all over the gacha space in China and without. Not all attacks against them are warranted, but what matters is that there are legitimately legions of folks who would love to see them humbled. This is in no small part because they brag about their gooner content and accuse other companies of just being cowards and refusing to give players what they want. The devs declared their work an 18+ game (they didn't get a designation from the government; they just self-declared) and advertised that it was 18+. The players laughed at all the major players for not daring to show as much ass as Seasun. The marketing director posts cringe after a censorship hit Both the developers and the players were, to be nice, insufferable in this regard. They demanded that Snowbreak be seen as THE gooner game. The only game willing to give men what they really wanted--balloon boobs as far as the eye could see. Then they collaborated with the National Post Office. If you have two brain cells to rub together, consider donating one to these developers because they somehow did not see what the inevitable outcome of this would be. Now, other spicy games have collaborated with the National Post Office without incident. This is because they made the collab content completely sterile. From the Love and Producer collab, often mistaken as Love and Deepspace by Snowbros Snowbreak went a different route. They had the good sense to censor their censored outfits even more so that nothing explicit was showing, but these were still bridal-esque outfits with characters in sensual poses. At the very least, it could be seen as a promotion of polygamy (the game's MC had just married his 8th wife). Snowbreak's Collab Offerings The material itself would not have been an issue alone, but combined with the game's fiercely defended reputation as an 18+ adult game for horny men and the army of people eager to strike back at it that vastly outnumbered the players and the fact that it was a collaboration with a government entity, it blew up on social media. This resulted in a news channel showing footage of a random streamer playing the game...with the decensor enabled. The Blurring Makes it Worse TBH Now, even if the shown footage matched what was sent for review, the game still would have received a knock on the head from the Iron Fist of censorship. If the regulators approve something and then the public gets upset about it, the regulators do not take your side. They censor you even harder for embarrassing them. However, since the footage did not match what was sent for review, an inquiry began immediately. Soon, a visual novel style blowjob scene in the main story of that patch suspiciously stopped working. A day later, the game announced indeterminate maintenance and went radio silent. The developers social media accounts and the official Bilibili channel, which all contained decensored content sprinkled in, went private and never returned (except for some pre-launch videos on Bilibili). If only the devs could have known... 5.) The Devs Should Have Known Before releasing Snowbreak, Seasun made a couple of games in the Girl Cafe Gun series. They ripped those characters off for Snowbreak to a hilarious degree though they, thankfully, boosted most of them above the age of consent this time. Like Snowbreak, GCG was forced to shut down for rectification and included a decensor method when it reopened. However, it never really caught on and the game was eventually abandoned with most of the staff being moved to work on Snowbreak instead. The game stopped receiving updates and eventually EoS'd around the month where Snowbreak was initially supposed to launch based on files datamined in the first client--November 2023. Found in Client on Actual Launch of 7/20 Seasun actually has a long history of games where they promise to release the spiciest content and skirt the regulators in some fashion. Players are drawn in by the honeypot and when Seasun inevitably gets caught and is forced to censor the game, they simply move on to the next project. Snowbreak is by far their most ambitious game and one where there was some initial push to do something more sustainable, but they quickly reset to their default shenanigans. This is why, I suspect, the regulators took them back behind the barn and made them shoot their own game in the knees repeatedly. It wasn't about protecting the children or societal contagion--it was about punishing a company that can't seem to stop pulling this same trick. Not only did they have to censor nearly everything in the game, they had to censor things that were already censored and even things they were forced to censor already in the past. After this, they were forced to disable their decensor mechanism. Players who spent absurd amounts of money to support the one developer they thought had their best interest in mind suddenly had to play the version of the game that actually passed review. Since Seasun spent the years after their gooner turn dialing up the goon without much in the way of core gameplay improvements, this wasn't a particularly attractive idea. Once again, Seasun got players money and then cried that they couldn't possibly do anything about the government forcing them to take away the goods they promised to deliver. It's working a little better than usual. While most people have walked away, many are buying the narrative that Seasun really loves them and is doing the best they can. Nevermind that they couldn't be bothered to even add texture to the censored outfits despite over two months of downtime. Only the costume that is currently on sale got a censored version that isn't just untextured plastic. 6. What Does This Mean for Other Games In a word: Nothing. Snowbreak was hit with extreme censorship due to a series of foolish decisions by the developer. They were uniquely vulnerable due to their decensor regulation circumvention and only got slammed because the decensor was discovered by regulators. Basically no other modern gacha is using a decensor for precisely this reason--it's impossible to keep one under wraps in the social media age and especially when people constantly stream your game. It's just a matter of time until the blowback comes and it will always be more trouble than it's worth as the regulators can force you to censor more than other games if they hate you. And they will hate you. Some players have pointed out the practice of mass reporting games. However, games are only vulnerable to that if they do something dumb like circumvent regulation. Otherwise, all of the content in the game has been seen by and approved by the very people you're reporting the game to. They're going to ignore the report unless it somehow becomes too embarrassing not to. Other gacha games with competent PR teams and that didn't build their brand on controversy and picking fights know how to avoid these sorts of situations for precisely this reason. 7. What Does This Mean for Snowbreak Contrary to fan's hopes, they're probably not going to release another decensor trick. They are being watched like a hawk and that's never, ever going to stop being the case. The regulators they embarrassed are likely itching to kick them in the balls again ASAP and may have only approved the current version to show everyone that they made an example of these guys. At the same time, they're unlikely to ignore the current PAK mod to decensor the game. Doing so could be used as evidence that they are, once again, circumventing regulation. Also, that PAK mod works because they have always created models with a switch to change between the version they show regulators and the version they show players. If they keep doing that, the Iron Fist will return to knock out all their teeth. Players will have to just mod in entire models like with the costumes made before the switch that are not decensored with the base PAK mod. As we see with the new character, they did finally hire someone who can make costumes that can pass regulation and don't look like complete trash, but it's too little, too late. They essentially have to give up making money on all content except that one skin if they just try to tough it out. However, this is the most likely outcome because it is the only one that doesn't involve another trip behind the barn. The most recent patch launched with no PV, no character preview and not even character cards on the rerun banner notices. The devs knew what was coming and chose not to say anything to players. Since the patch went live, there has been no official communication. They aren't even talking to their Discord mods despite all the trouble they went through to install CN users to police the Global Discord some time ago. The usually chatty Producer and Marketing Director both remain silent with all posts hidden. The devs know the gig is up and they know that at the end of the day, they still have all the money while the players can only cope until the inevitable EoS. submitted by /u/ShirtlessCommie to r/gachagaming [link] [comments]

So my life pretty much derailed back in spring 2022. This is when the downward spiral, so to speak, really began for me. Trust me, this is necessary context for the rest of this. I was at buffalo wild wings, watching some UFC fights with some friends and decided to cook up a harmless little parlay before the main card. I’d never gambled on anything before and only had this vague understanding of how it worked. But I had just passed some exams and was about five or six drinks deep and the world just seemed so open and rife with possibilities, so I thought why the hell not. I ended up turning $15 into over $200 that night. But based on the way I was acting, you would’ve thought I’d won $200 mil. The high was just that good. More visceral than I would’ve thought. I never reached that high ever again. Even after hitting ludicrous bets that paid out fifty to sixty times more, nothing really came close to replicating it. Which was really the crux of my issues. My dumb ass just kept trying to chase it. As much as I’m sure you’d all love to hear it, I’m not gonna go into a detailed timeline of my misery. Just know that it was bad. Probably worse than you’re imagining right now. Bridges burned, legal trouble, having to avoid calls from very persistent debt collectors. The works. The only reason I’ve been able to somewhat keep my head above water for so long was due to my job. It was one of those positions that paid you a lot to sit around in an office and update a spreadsheet every now and then. Maybe an hour of real work a day. I was lucky to land it, even luckier to be able to hang onto it for as long as I did. So when the consultants were hired and the “fat” started being trimmed, I really had no right to be as shocked as I was when I saw that notification from my manager waiting for me on teams. I did end up with a pretty decent severance. And can you guess what I did with it? Well, I actually tripled it the following week. Betting on motherfucking golf of all things. Of course I should’ve stopped right there and updated my LinkedIn, polished off my suit, registered for some networking events. But no, that wasn’t going to work for me. In my head, no work meant more time to learn how to become a more proficient gambler. Every night was spent diving into statistics, deep analytics, line movements, even sports psychology of all things. What’s it called when you think you know a lot, but you really don’t know shit? The Freddy Krueger effect? Something like that? Things were going alright for a while. Not great but I was winning just enough that I was able to stomach it all. But then one night I was completely coked out and decided to place a very large and stupid bet on a certain boxing match. It flopped hard. Then in my desperation to recoup something, I cooked up another longshot parlay on some fights the following weekend. And I’m sure you can guess what happened. When I was laid off four months ago, I had a total of $45k in liquid savings and only $35k in debts. Across all my accounts now, I’m down to $27.50. As for the debts, I don’t even know. I don’t want to look. My cards are all maxed, my credit is shot, I can’t talk to my family anymore, my friends are no longer my friends and every day there are people who look like they enjoy breaking fingers standing outside of my apartment building. Sometimes they manage to make it in and knock furiously at my door, and I just have to pretend like I’m not there. By the time I finally came to my senses and began job searching again, I’d already dug a cavern for myself that was going to take some Herculean effort to scale out of. I did manage to get some interviews but never made it to any second rounds. Maybe I was coming off as too strung out, I don’t know. Side tangent—don’t you fucking it hate when they ask about gaps in your employment? It’s like fuck off, man. Anyways, I haven’t gotten an interview in a while and things don’t seem to be looking up there. A few days ago, the collectors actually tried physically breaking down my door. Got real close as well until one of my neighbors—this old military type came out and threatened to shoot their kneecaps off if they didn’t skedaddle. I got lucky there. I can’t bank on getting lucky again. Which leads me to last night. I was drunk off some bottom shelf vodka and decided to try a more shameful and unorthodox method of procuring funds. That method being using AI generated sob stories to e-beg on reddit. Yeah, look, I was desperate, wasn’t thinking straight. I know. Of course, I wasn’t sure how much I’d be able to get out of it. Certainly not enough to put even a tiny dent in the total debt, but maybe just enough to get the collectors off my back. For a while. And what more could I lose from trying? I still had the wherewithal to at least edit out most of the ChatGPT speak in the posts before copying and pasting them to as many relevant subreddits as possible. Predictably, I got called out almost immediately, getting blocked from one community after another. But just when I was ready to give it up, somebody shot me a message. I’ll paste it below. Hey there, my name is Scott. I saw your post in ___. That really sucks man. Really, it does. I’ve been there and I think I can help. Now I can’t just give you money straight up because I don’t have much myself, but I can offer you a quick and reasonably trouble-free way to get some. Nothing weird or illegal or sexual, so don’t worry about that. I have a friend who’s head of a property group that owns a mall. You said you live in ___ right? The mall’s located in ___ so it shouldn’t be too far of a drive. In any case, you’ll be compensated for fuel. So here’s the crux of the proposal. You see, the mall’s not doing too well. These days I think most malls aren’t, but the location for this one is just so awful that it’s doing worse than the rest of them. But for whatever reason, this guy isn’t quite ready to let go of it. It’s not that he even really cares about it being profitable. He just doesn’t want it to get shut down and repurposed for something else. For whatever reason. You know how weird rich people can be. Have you ever heard about mystery shoppers? It’s not as eerie as it sounds. They’re just people who are hired to walk around malls and shopping centers, pretending to be customers. That’s basically what he’s recruiting for. To make it look like the place still has some juice left in it so that he can delay the inevitable for as long as he can. Again for what, I don’t know. You’ll be given a certain window of time in which you’re meant to walk around, doing your best to pretend like you actually have a reason for being there. Which would involve some shopping, looking around, having a meal in the food court. Etc. Once you enter the building, you’ll go up to the Starbucks on the second floor. Go up to the barista and tell her that you’re part of the “program” and she’ll give you $100 cash. You can then go ahead and spend that $100 on whatever you’d like over the course of the time you’re in there. Make sure you spend all of it. Don’t try and keep it. They’ll know. Once your time is up, you can simply leave. But don’t try and leave early. Once again, they’ll know. In order to receive compensation, you’ll need to be in there for your entire allotted duration. You can stay longer if you’d like. But not a second less. I mean that literally. Not even a second. Compensation is as follows: $250 for each hour spent there, to be e-transferred immediately upon your departure. If my friend likes your performance, there will be opportunity for you to come back. Let me know if this sounds like something you’d be interested in and then I’ll send over some more details. Cheers. Okay, so clearly a joke, right? I’m being trolled. But then I tried to think about what the punchline possibly could’ve been and couldn’t up with anything. So I pivoted to the idea that maybe it was a scam. Or something even more nefarious than that. The setup tracked well enough. Lure people out to somewhere remote under the pretense that they’re about to make some good money. But not such good money that it seems like a glaring trap. $250 an hour for walking around a mall is just skirting that edge. In my opinion. But what the fuck are they planning to do once I get there? Mug me? They know I’m broke as shit and don’t have anything, so that can’t be it. So what else do I have that’s valuable? My organs? Maybe they’ll kidnap me and torture me to death on the dark web? I think the reason I’m typing this all out is because I’m hoping when I read it back, something’ll click. That I’ll be able to come to my senses and realize just how bad an idea it is. Because right now, against all logic, I’m genuinely considering it. Because those fuckers are pounding on my door again. ***** This time, they knocked for like twenty minutes straight. It got intense enough that I really thought they were going give another go at breaking it down. But they didn’t. Lucky me. I’ve thought about spending less time here, so that if they ever do storm in, I won’t have to make a break for the fire exit. But I don’t know where I’d go. Maybe the library or the gym. Though if it ever comes to a point where I’m having to do all that, it’s basically already over for me. That’s no way to live. Trying to weigh everything now. Do I have anything to lose besides my life? Could things get worse than they are right now? One of the people I owe money to is this guy named Renzo. I met Renzo at a bar while I was watching Canelo vs Crawford card. What was that, like nine months ago? Jesus. So anyways I met this guy there and I was blitzed out of my head and told him very confidently to bet the house on Crawford. He seemed to like the cut of my jib so he went ahead and did so. Not quite the house, but a pretty fat stack. I made him some good money that night. Made some good money myself. Then we just drank and drank until things got hazy and the only other thing I really remember before waking up in his apartment the next morning (not what you think) was my face being pressed down into cold concrete. My clothes were still on, phone and wallet still in my pockets and I was just slumped over on a couch with one side of my face stinging so bad it felt like something was pulsating beneath it. Looking at myself using the camera on my phone, I could see that half of my face was red and swollen, scratches overlapping each other like a bloody lattice. Then Renzo comes into the living room saying he couldn’t believe what I did last night and how much of a dog I was. I didn’t know what he was referring to and I still don’t. I never asked. So that’s how I met the guy. I’d later find out that he traffics a lot of cocaine over the border and does a lot of it himself. And that there’s a small jar sitting next to his television containing several shriveled, dried-up human ears that he claims used to belong to the members of some outlaw gang in the old west. I’m sure a reasonable person would’ve considered these things very carefully and concluded that they might be better off keeping their distance. But not me. In fact, I did the worst thing anybody could’ve possibly done. I ended up borrowing some money from him. Only around $3k. Maybe not a lot to some of you, but when you’re dealing with this guy, it’s still $3k too much. To be fair though, he was the one that had first offered it up, told me to throw it on whatever I thought might get me some coin. And if I won, we could share the profits. I guess he was under the impression that I was some sort of master sports bettor and that I knew what the fuck I was doing. I should’ve asked him what would happen if I lost before I’d accepted it. And I did lose it. All of it. Couldn’t pay him back even a cent. I didn’t hide it from him, just told him the facts straight and clear. To which he’d smiled, told me it was alright. That I had a week to pay him back. That week turned into a month. Then two months. Then I just started flat out avoiding him. Wasn’t picking up his calls, being very careful to scan my surroundings for any sign of him whenever I was out. Eventually I guess he snapped and sent his goons after me and now here we are. The reason I bring Renzo up is because he’s the most pressing issue in my life right now. The guy’s clearly not going away and if I don’t placate him soon, something very bad is going to happen and I’m not going to be able to run from it. I just gave him a call, apologized for ducking him and then asked him plainly how much money I’d need to give him at this point to square everything up, for him to call off his goons and leave me be. He told me $10k. And if I didn’t give it to him by Tuesday next week, he’d come up to my apartment himself and blast the door off its hinges. And that I could try leaving the city or getting the police involved but that it wouldn’t matter because eventually he would get me. And once he did, he’d skin me alive before tossing me into a vat of boiling oil. I told him okay, to meet me at a bar next Tuesday at noon and that I’d have the money. Then I hung up. Now I’m really panicking. I mean, I doubt the guy has access to a vat of boiling oil large enough to toss a body into, but I kind of believe him about the skinning alive part. $10k divided by $250 is 40 hours. I have about 170 hours before I have to meet him. I just messaged Scott back, telling him I was very much interested in the mall thing. Let’s see what he says. ***** It didn’t take long for Scott to get back to me. He said he was glad to hear it, then asked when I could start. I told him immediately. Then I asked him how many hours he could get me before Tuesday. He told me he could maybe swing thirty-five. I told him I really needed forty and was there any way we could make that happen. He said no, thirty-five was a hard limit, but that he could probably vouch for me and get my rate up to $265 an hour. Then I tried pushing for $285, claiming that’d be the minimum I’d need in order to stave off eviction. Basically trying to guilt him into it. It was a long back and forth, but eventually we were able to come to a mutual agreement. He then sent me an address and told me to be there from exactly two to nine tomorrow. I told him I appreciated it and sent him the details he’d asked for. Which was just my name, age, phone #, email. And that’s it. No address, work history, social security number, literally anything else. They didn’t even ask for a picture of my ID. Which was convenient, but also sketchy as fuck. I mean, I could’ve been a literal bot and how would he know? So many red flags that you could supply a parade with them. But it’s not like I really have the luxury of backing out at this point. Maybe I could try leaving town. But I don’t think I’d get too far. I don’t think it’d end well. I told him I’d be there. A few hours later, he sent me another message, via email this time. Hey __ it’s Scott. Please remember this before you go. It’s really important that you do your best to act like a real customer. From the moment you step inside to the moment you leave. If anybody comes up to you and asks you what you’re doing, tell them you’re shopping or going to see a movie or grabbing lunch or just killing some time. Have a response ready and deliver it clearly and confidently. Absolutely no acting like a deer in headlights. Just be calm. Be natural. Don’t think about it too much. And while you’re in there, don’t ask any questions of your own. You see or hear something weird, just ignore it. But if you ever feel like you’re in genuine danger, don’t hesitate to leave. You’ll be paid in full for the day. Should any incidents transpire, please let me know. Tell me exactly what happened and I’ll relay it to my friend. He likes to keep tabs on that sort of stuff. Also, one more thing I should’ve mentioned at the start. Try to keep what you see in there to yourself. Try not to talk about it too much. But if you do, because I know you probably will, just make sure to leave out the specifics. I know it sounds contradictory, but my friend would rather keep everything contained here. Good luck man. Rooting for you. So yeah. Not sure what to make of that, but I’m trying not to think about it. I thought about sending Scott another message, asking what kind of “danger” I could possibly expect. But fuck it. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you or something. It’s late now and I’m watching Breaking Bad for the fourth time, and I have about eight hours before I need to be at the mall. I really should get some sleep, make sure I’m mentally sharp for tomorrow. But my heart’s beating pretty fast and I get the sense that rest won’t come easy right now. I looked up the address, and it does seem to be a real, active place with real reviews. Nothing glaringly “off” about it other than the location. It’s about a twenty-five minute drive from my apartment and it’s pretty out of the way, not very accessible. I think I have just enough left in my account to fill up my tank with just enough gas to get me there and back. Then that’s it. So if this does turn out to be some stupid joke, then I’m really screwed tight. I’m done for. But I’ll be screwed tight if I show up or not. And even if it is a trap and I show up and immediately get shot in the head or get kidnapped and tortured, well, at least that means I won’t have to deal with a lot of annoying shit in the future. Framing it that way, it really is a win-win-win and I’m starting to feel better about it all. ***** I’m sitting in my car right now and I’m feeling oddly mellow, more than I have in a long time. Could be a defense mechanism, my psyche trying to brace me for the unknown. Could also be the vodka Red Bull concoction I’ve just finished chugging. Whatever it is, I’ll take it. The parking lot here is larger than I’d expected and about a fifth of the way full. Which is surprising to me, given the location. It might be a stretch to call it the middle of nowhere but just based on a cursory glance, you could make a case for it. No other buildings around. No other sign of life at all. Just a desolate stretch of highway on one side and a dense forest on the other. It’s about ten minutes out of the city, smack dab between some grey industrial area and a long stretch of farmland. I cannot fathom what the target demographic was here. It’s about ten before two. A lot of thoughts running through my head but I’m doing a good job of stamping most of them out. In another five minutes, I’ll head in. ***** It’s just after eight now and I’m sitting in the food court, sipping on the remnants of a milkshake. Not so mellow anymore. It’s been strange here. Real fucking bizarre. I’m still trying to process it. When I’d first entered (which I made sure to do at exactly two), I’d followed Scott’s instructions and immediately headed up to the second floor. Looking around the place, it seemed typical enough. There was the usual fare: H&M, Foot locker, Bath & body works, Sephora, candy shops, stores selling cute but useless toys and knickknacks. Not quite bustling with activity anywhere, but also not empty enough for it to feel eerie. Though it feels really weird knowing that everybody you pass by is likely there for the same fucked up reason you are. So I’ve been trying to avoid making any eye contact. I spent a lot of time searching around for the Starbucks and eventually found it tucked away in some corner, all the way at the end of a long string of dead and vacant storefronts. Almost like they’d made some concerted effort to hide it. Or maybe it was just a coincidence? Don’t want to get too conspiratorial yet. I walked inside and the only person in there other than the barista was this dude sitting at a table with a half-eaten sandwich in front of him. He didn’t look up or really register my presence at all. Just kept staring blankly ahead at… something? I didn’t know what. Couldn’t figure it out. Maybe the painting of abstract shapes on the wall? I went up to the barista, who had short blonde hair and looked to be in her twenties. I offered up a smile, which wasn’t reciprocated. Not that I really cared. What did catch me off guard was the look on her face. Like I was the scourge of the Earth or something. Like I’d just murdered ten puppies in front of her and then laughed about it. I was so puzzled by this that my train of thought completely derailed for a second and I forgot what I was supposed to say. After stumbling through several half-baked sentences, it finally came back to me and I spat it out. “I’m uh, part of the program.” She sighed and actually rolled her eyes before asking me what I wanted to order. I just stared at her, no clue what to say, probably looking bewildered. I told her again that I was part of the program. She shook her head, sighed again. “You’re supposed to buy something first,” she told me, keeping her voice really low while staring daggers at me. “They didn’t tell you?” I shook my head and told her no, they didn’t. “You’re supposed to buy something and hand me some cash and then I give you the change. Get it?” I remember starting to get light-headed here, thinking was this real? Was I dreaming? “So order something and then give me some cash” she went on. “Doesn’t matter how much. Just give me something.” I told her I’d have a black coffee and began digging through my wallet, surprised and relieved to find a crumpled $1 bill in there. I took it out, handed it to her. She snatched it quickly out of my hand and dumped it in the register then gave me back a small stack of crisp $10 bills. I counted them quickly. Ten total. I turned around, getting ready to leave but then she called me back, asking did I forget about something? I stopped, turned around and she went about making the coffee, her movements slow, almost labored. I noticed that she was walking with a limp. It took her a few minutes to finish up and then she held out the cup, giving me one last glare as I grabbed it from her. I’d never been more glad to be leaving a Starbucks. Like I said, really bizarre stuff. But as I’d come to find out, this was only the tip of the iceberg. I took a sip of the coffee, and it tasted burnt to hell, just completely God awful. So I tossed it, made my way over to one of those mall directory things. Still had a lot of time to kill, so I began perusing the options. Eventually, I settled on heading over to the Chili’s, having a margarita or two or three. Yes, I have problems. I went back down to the first floor, keeping my vision squared ahead, trying not to draw any attention to myself. At one point, I walked past a woman that looked to be in her early sixties/late seventies and I had to wonder, was she here for the money as well? Or did she just happen upon this place on her own volition? I almost wanted to ask her directly but thought better of it. Arriving at the Chili’s, I headed straight for the bar and was surprised to find most of the seats there occupied. Most lively place I’d seen in the mall by far. Though there wasn’t a soul at any of the tables. It was a mixed group. Men, women, some old, some young. All seeming pretty drunk and glaring at me malevolently, as if I were intruding on something sacred. Well, I thought. This was just the way it was going to be. I tried not to take it personally. I took a seat at the end of the bar, trying and failing to catch the bartender’s attention. It was a youngish guy, maybe early thirties. Big beard and pencil thin arms covered in tattoos. I think it took about five full minutes before he finally, reluctantly, looked my way. He started to walk towards me, moving real slow, as if trying to draw out the steps. “Yeah?” is all he said to me, his tone oozing with cold contempt. I told him that I’d have a margarita. Along with a Budweiser. For a while he continued to stare at me, his expression implying that I’d crossed some sort of line by asking to be served alcohol at a bar at a fucking Chili’s. Then he took a deep breath through his nose and turned away, walked over to the liquor shelf. I watched him as he dumped some tequila into a glass, threw a lime wedge in it, topped it off with a messy splash of sprite, spilling most of it onto the counter. Then he walked back over, set it down roughly in front of me, walked away again. He didn’t bother with the Budweiser, and I didn’t bother pressing him for it. More trouble than it was worth, I reckoned. I sat there and sipped my drink slowly, watching CNN on the television but not really paying attention to it. It was hard to focus on anything at all when you could just feel that every single pair of eyes in the room was stuck onto you like glue. That you were the center of attention for reasons that were probably not so good. I finished the drink and felt like I needed one more to get a tolerable buzz going. Tried to get the bartender’s attention again but this time, he just straight up ignored me. Just kept facing ahead while leaning against the back shelf, taking swigs out of a Smirnoff bottle before putting it back. Lightly swaying on his feet. The guy was plastered. At a point, it starts to become a blow to your ego. And this was about that point. I began shouting at him. Something like “c’mon man, can a guy not get a fucking drink?” Maybe, probably, with a bit of an edge in my voice. But he still wouldn’t look at me. I looked down at the rest of the bar and suddenly nobody else was looking at me either. It’s like the entire room had suddenly and collectively agreed to pretend like I no longer existed. “What the fuck is wrong with you people?” I shouted. “Nothing against you buddy,” somebody, I couldn’t see who, shouted back. “There’s just too many people in here right now.” I asked out loud what the hell that was supposed to mean. “It’s five o clock on a Tuesday,” the bartender spoke up, his tone implying that he was explaining something painfully obvious. “Think about it, yeah? How busy can a *Chili’*s get? On a Tuesday? At five o clock? Just think about it. If we don’t sell this, then nobody gets paid. So quit your whining and come back when it’s emptier.” Any further questions of mine fell on deaf ears. I was invisible again. I slapped one of the $10’s onto the counter and stood up, left the place. For the next few hours, I sort of just wandered around, my head in a bit of a daze. Still not fully convinced this wasn’t a dream. I went over to the food court, ate some KFC. The guy working the counter there didn’t say a word to me, communicating via nothing but head nods. Then when I bit into the chicken, I realized that some of it was still raw. I just ate around it. After that, I went over to the Under Armor store, spent some time looking over some knock-off jackets (the labels read Undre Armore?) that nevertheless seemed comparable in quality to the real thing. I picked one of them up, along with a t-shirt. Surprisingly, the lady who worked there was actually pretty nice, actually put some effort into being an employee (or maybe she was a real employee?) After that, I was down to just $20 and went over to the movie theater, which was completely empty save for a woman who was asleep behind the box office and some guy sweeping the floors. The screen that was supposed to be displaying what was playing was glitched, completely bugging out. So I went up to the guy, asked him what was on. He just shrugged, said that it could be anything. Then I asked how I was supposed to buy a ticket and he said all I needed to do was go up to the box office and put a $10 on the counter then I could go into any of the theaters. But to try and not wake Lindsey up since she gets real cranky when that happens and he doesn’t want to deal with it. I parted ways with another bill then went into the closest theater, catching about two thirds of that last Avatar movie, the one with the fire in it. There was only one other person in the theater, sitting near the front. They were there when I’d walked in and they didn’t move after the film had finished. I left the theater and went into a washroom. Took a piss, splashed my face with cold water while looking at myself in the mirror, taking deep breaths. Now the anxiety was starting to break through. The fear as well. After I’d finished drying myself, the stall closest to the wall opened up. I looked over, seeing the door hanging ajar but with nobody emerging from behind it. Through the gap at the bottom, I could see a pair of dirty white sneakers. I guess whoever they belonged to was just standing there. Which was a really freaky thing to think about and I left the washroom shortly after, looking over my shoulder to make sure nobody tried following me out. And nobody did. There were a few more odd “occurrences” after this. I walked past an electronics store and this short, older dude came out from behind the counter with this big smile on his face and tried gesturing for me to come inside. “Cell phone, cell phone,” he kept saying. “Fix cell phone.” I told him my cell phone didn’t need fixing and his expression dropped like a stone in a lake. I watched him as he walked back into the store and rolled down the security gates and disappeared behind them. Then the lights went off inside. There was also this lady walking around with a metal tray, claiming to be offering samples of “cinnamon rolls”. The cinnamon rolls in question being dollops of thick, grey, bubbling sludge. Safe to say, I passed on it. At some point, I had what I believe was a panic attack. Never had one before, but I think this was it. Tightness in the chest, an overwhelming sense of dread. I found a bench somewhere and took a seat. Pulled up some breathing exercises on YouTube and tried to replicate them. To my surprise, they worked pretty well. I went back to the food court, spent my last $10 on a large peanut butter milkshake from Baskin Robbins with a bunch of chocolate bullshit blended into it. And that’s where I am now. Just sitting here, waiting for nine to hit so I can get the fuck out of whatever the fuck this place is. But I’m feeling better now, I think. Maybe it’s just the dopamine from all the sugar but I’m feeling alright. Enough that I think I’ll be able to get through this. Oh, shit, there’s a guy walking towards me now. He just sat down beside me. ***** The good news is, I’m back in my apartment now, mostly unscathed. The not so good news is that as much I need the money, I’m not sure if I can go back to that place. So about the guy in the food court. He was young, maybe early twenties. Tall and skinny, brown hair cut into a short fade. Looked like a bog-standard college kid. He sat next to me, started making small talk, asking how my day had been, was the milkshake good, etc. I tried ignoring him at first, but he seemed nice and normal and coherent enough that I started to feel bad about it. So we got to talking a bit. He told me his name was Daniel and that he used to be a copywriter but got laid off around 6 months ago and hasn’t been able to find anything since. So what’s what he was doing here. “What about you?” he’d then asked. “Why are you here?” Right at that moment, I felt comfortable enough to tell him the truth. I told him about the gambling, the debts, the collectors. It felt nice and cathartic airing out my dirty laundry to a complete stranger so I just kept on going. I didn’t stop talking until my eyes drifted down and landed on the shoes he was wearing—these really worn, scuffed white sneakers. Okay, I thought. Could be a coincidence. And even if it was same guy from the bathroom, then so what? But then I remembered Scott’s message, specifically his “instructions” about what was I supposed to do if somebody tried talking to me and the realization washed over me like a cold wave. I suddenly stood up, told him I had to get going. He started protesting, telling me that I should stick around because he had something he wanted to show me. I told him I was tired and I really needed to go home. He started grinning, showing off blocky, chiclet teeth. Really stretching his lips as wide as they could go and then a bit wider than that. Looking really uncanny. He asked me again what I was doing here. Shopping, I told him. Just shopping. He pointed out that I didn’t have any bags, so what could I have been shopping for? I started scanning the floor around me before remembering that I’d left the Under Armor bag in the washroom. He started laughing in this jovial manner, though there was something clearly ominous beneath it. “You’re not here to shop, are you?” he asked. “Then what? Why are you here?” I snuck a glance at my phone and saw eight fifty. I repeated that I really had to leave and then I turned around, started heading for the exit. To my dismay, I could hear his steps keeping pace behind me. Once I got to the doors, I checked the time again. Eight fifty-five. I turned and “Daniel” or whoever the fuck he was, was still there, standing about a half dozen feet away. “Don’t you have to go home?” he questioned, holding onto that grin. “Door’s right there. Why don’t you leave?” By now, I was checking my phone every few seconds, no longer making an attempt to hide it. He laughed again, said that if I wasn’t going home, I may as well come and see what he wants to show me. Now the panic had returned, and I really had to force myself to stay put for just a few more minutes. Minutes that seemed to be stretching into infinity. But I told myself that I was ready to sprint the second he tried making a move. I started wondering who I was more scared of. Renzo or this fucker right in front of me. It came up inconclusive. As the seconds ticked down, he continued goading me to come with him, each request insinuating more of a threat than the last. The grin slowly fading, twisting into something more outwardly malicious. The moment that the clock hit nine, I tried to bolt. Though I didn’t get far. The bastard grabbed onto my collar, started dragging me back. I tried yanking myself away, but the fucking freak had this inexplicable iron grip. It was nothing but luck that I’d been wearing one of my old, cheap shirts, the fabric of which was already starting to tear. I jerked myself forward a few more times until it shredded off my back. Once free, I lunged ahead and pushed the door open, vaulting myself outside and tripping over my own feet, elbows planting hard onto the concrete. A searing pain jolted up my arms, and I think I heard something crack. But I wasn’t too worried about it in the moment, more concerned about making sure Daniel wasn’t about to drag me back inside. I scrambled to my feet and spun around to face the doors, bracing myself for, well, I don’t know what. Maybe for him to be charging towards me like a bull. Which he wasn’t. He remained inside, his face now pressed up against the glass, features pancaked into this odd, grotesque visage. Staring at me with wide, bulging eyes, relentlessly dragging his tongue across the glass in a circular pattern. Like he’d suddenly forgotten how to act like a human or maybe he just didn’t care anymore, no longer felt the need to keep up the front. I just stood there and stared back, convinced that the second I tried to move, he would do the same. I’m not sure how long this little stalemate of ours went on for, but I remember my heart racing the entire time, beating faster and faster, approaching a point where I thought it might just explode. But eventually, he did leave. Detached his face from the glass and spun around and just walked off. I doubled over, puked up some bile and took several deep breaths before walking over to my car, cold and shirtless, watching the sun dip into the horizon. I wasn’t expecting to find that my tires had all been slashed. All four of them. My stomach dropped. Then it dropped even further once I looked around and saw that my car was now literally the only one in the entire lot. I tried calling for an Uber but the network out there was so shit that the app wouldn’t load. I could’ve gone back into the mall and used the Wi-Fi. But fuck that. I just leaned on the hood of my car, mulling over my options. Feeling a bit numb. My apartment was about eighteen miles away. Theoretically walkable. But the bigger problem was, I really didn’t know the way. here was a good chance that if I tried walking, I’d end up in the next town over. Especially in the dark. Which was something I thankfully didn’t have to risk. A few minutes later, the front door swung open and out came a woman, maybe in her thirties, dressed in jeans and a windbreaker. She didn’t seem all too dangerous, but my expectations were up in the air at that point so I backed away regardless. She walked halfway across the lot before stopping, looking over at me. It seemed like she was about to say something but then hesitated, looking away for a second before looking back. Then she called out, asking if I needed a ride. I told her I’d love one, but could she first prove to me that she wasn’t with the maniac that I’d just escaped from. She said she wasn’t with him, but that she didn’t know how she was supposed to prove that to me. And that she wasn’t going to wait around. So, if I wanted a ride, I should make that decision soon. I shivered. It was starting to get cold out. She never questioned why I was shirtless. I then asked her where her car was. She told me to follow her, but not before flashing the Glock attached to her hip. She said she didn’t think I was a threat but that she absolutely would not hesitate to shoot if I tried anything. I assured her that I wasn’t going to try anything. She’d parked about a half mile away from the mall, on a dirt patch in the forest, well hidden from the road. I asked her why she’d parked all the way out there and not in the lot. She told me the first time she’d left her car in the lot after 8 PM, her tires had gotten slashed. I then asked her how long she’s been “working” at the mall. She said she didn’t really want to talk about it. That she’d prefer it if we just sat in silence for the duration of the trip. So we did. Once we were back in the city, she dropped me off at a train station. I didn’t have any cash for a ticket, but it was pretty close to my apartment—only about a ten-minute walk away. I thanked her and hopped out. Before she took off, I asked her what her name was. She just shook her head, said it’d be pointless for me to know. When I got home, I drained the rest of the vodka in my fridge and passed out on my couch. When I woke up this morning, I checked my phone and saw a notification from my bank. I’d been e-transferred $3,000. I also had another email from Scott. Hey man, I heard you might’ve a rough first day, so I sent you a bit extra on top of the promised amount. Your hours are the same for today. 2 to 9 PM. And also man, just remember what I said before. You’re a customer in there. So act like it. It’s about half past ten AM right now and I’m just lying on the couch, sipping some Clamato juice. Not really wanting to move. Especially not to go back to that place. I spent some time trying to calculate how far $3,000 could get me if I skipped town and concluded probably not very far. Then I tried conjuring up some other ways I might be able to cover the last $7,000 before asking myself who I was kidding. I really don’t want to go back there. But I know I’ll probably have to. submitted by /u/Mr_Outlaw_ to r/nosleep [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/Suspicious_Post_8167 to r/AnalBestie [link] [comments]