Marathon 2: Durandal

***Marathon 2: Durandal*** was the first sequel in the *Marathon* series of science fiction first-person shooter computer games from Bungie Software. It was released on November 24, 1995. The game is mostly set on the fictional planet of Lh'owon, homeworld of the S'pht, and once again the player takes the role of a Security Officer from the Marathon.

## Description

*`The mad AI Durandal spirits you to Lh'owon, the homeworld of the S'pht, where you must once again battle the Pfhor and search for the secrets of the mysterious Jjaro.`*

## Story

Seventeen years have passed since the events of the first game. Durandal, one of the three AIs from the Marathon, sends the player and an army of ex-colonists to search the ruins of Lh'owon, the S'pht home-world. He does not mention what exactly he is looking for, although he does let it slip that the Pfhor are planning to attack Earth, and that being on Lh'owon may stall their advance. *Marathon 2* brings many elements to the game that can be considered staples of the series such as: a Lh'owon-native species known as F'lickta, the mention of an ancient and mysterious race of advanced aliens called the Jjaro, and a clan of S'pht that avoided enslavement by the Pfhor - the S'pht'Kr. At the climax of the game, the Security Officer activates Thoth, an ancient Jjaro AI. Thoth then contacts the S'Pht'Kr, who in turn destroy the Pfhor armada.

## Leak and Demo

On July 18-19, 1995, press releases were sent out by Power Computing Corporation and Bungie announcing that people who attended Mac World Expo '95 (August 8–11) would receive an exclusive, playable demo of *Marathon 2: Durandal* entitled "The Disc."

One day later, two people posted to the *comp.sys.mac.games* newsgroup on Usenet claiming they had seen and played the demo. Nine days later, the demo was leaked. Fans believed it to be an intentional leak by Bungie due to the excitement surrounding the first game's leaks and "in an attempt to screw their competition," but Matt Seoll denied this, claiming that it was caused by employees at Power Computing.

As players would soon discover, "The Disc" was actually a preview of the game, not a demo. An actual demo would be released after MacWorld.

## Releases

*Marathon 2* is the only game in the series to have been officially released for Windows 95 in addition to the Apple Macintosh. In 1996, it was combined with its predecessor *Marathon* into a port for Bandai's short-lived Pippin @WORLD console, titled *Super Marathon*, which is a rare collector's item today. It was re-released as part of the *Marathon Trilogy* box set for Macintosh on May 1, 1997. As of 2009, it is also the only one from the series to be officially released for the Xbox 360.

Bungie released source code and game content from the entire *Marathon Trilogy* in 2005. An open source project, *Aleph One*, was launched to allow the three games to be freely played on Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, and other platforms. Other features were added, including online play and support for higher-resolution graphics. The engine was also updated to support Bungie's previous work, such as *Pathways into Darkness* and the *Marathon Zero* beta.

In 2012, the entire Marathon Trilogy was added to the iOS App Store as free downloads.

## Legacy

The *Marathon 2* engine was licensed for three non-Bungie commercial games: *ZPC*, *Prime Target*, and *Damage Incorporated*.

## Media

**Concept Art**

Concept Art can be found on Bungie's website via archive.org.

**Print Art**

Print Art can be found on Bungie's website via archive.org.

**Wallpapers**

Wallpapers can be found on Bungie's website via archive.org.

**Screenshots**

Screenshots can be found on Bungie's website via archive.org.

## External links

* *Marathon 2* on Pfhorpedia, a Marathon wiki
* *Marathon 2: Durandal* on Wikipedia
* Bungie.net (archive.org) Project Home

## References

1. ↑ Bungie.org (backup) - Power Computing Corporation & Bungie to Release "THE DISC" at Macworld Boston '95 - featuring an exclusive, playable demo of Marathon 2: DURANDAL (July 18, 1995)
2. ↑ Bungie.org (backup) - Marathon 2 You asked for it (July 19, 1995)
3. ↑ Bungie.org (backup) - Just Saw Marathon 2 Demo (July 20, 1995)
4. ↑ Bungie.org (backup) - Marathon II Beta on FTP sites (July 29, 1995)
5. ↑ Bungie.org (backup) - Re: Intentional Leak? (August 12, 1995)
6. ↑ Bungie.org - Marathon 2 Preview Screen
7. ↑ Bungie.org - Blasts from the Past: The DISC
8. ↑ Destructoid.com - Bungie's Marathon Trilogy now available on iOS for free