We are in day three of the Marathon server slam, where the game certainly has its positives and negatives ahead of its March 5 launch. But one thing we can already see that Bungie has done is hide a number of not just easter eggs, but actually, periodically terrifying gameplay elements.
I have heard some out-of-nowhere voicelines at times, lore characters deciding to chime in randomly with some sort of unnerving message. But it’s now been recorded that the actual AI enemies you’re going up against, UESC bots, are doing something even creepier.
Normal bots are easy; higher-tier ones have grenade launchers or big shields. But these minibosses? There’s one called a Ghost Commander that is extremely difficult. Bungie has programmed it to run around like a player, go invisible like a Void shell, and make player-sounding footsteps. But not just that.
One player (Smojii) caught a Ghost Commander actually mimicking a player shell, pretending it’s speaking to the player. It’s the “I’m friendly” voice line that’s supposed to identify you as non-hostile to other players (this rarely works in Marathon). “Looking for a crew?” it asks in a distorted voice.
It’s real. If it were a player, the emote would appear on the screen to the left, where text chat/emote use goes from other players. And the voice is just…not a normal shell voice. If you want even more proof, the find was retweeted by at least one Bungie higher-up, Josh Deane, Head of Publishing. I doubt that would happen if it wasn’t an intentional element.
Marathon’s AI is generally considered one of its better aspects, featured in many of the clips popping up on social media. Not just this one, but the UESC are pulling off a few crazy moves, skating around a map, coordinated flanking. They’re quite tough, and many would argue more engaging than say, other metallic enemy AI units.
So far, the voice mimic is the wildest thing I’ve seen the AI do (it’s entirely possible you’ve heard this and just didn’t clock it), but it does make you wonder what else Bungie might have in store for the full release. Particularly when other enemy units show up like the alien Pfhor, theorized to be on or unlocked by the UESC Marathon “raid” map, which will be the hardest in the game near launch.
There are certainly player combat complaints now. There are too many AI and they burn too many resources (aim for the head, trust me) and PvP fights involve beaming players too fast for some (the small shields right now aren’t helping). But I do think that the AI is a good addition to the game, which is supposed to be more focused on PvP than others. But PvE may be its stronger suit at the moment, somehow.
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