Steam Users Get Another Classic Game for Free
Another classic Steam game that's 100% free to claim.
Everyone that uses Steam has another free game to claim this week thanks to the return of a classic that's never actually been on Steam before. That game is called "Classic Marathon 2" and is a rereleased version of the similarly named "Marathon 2: Durandal" which was developed by Bungie just under 30 years ago now. This is the second part of Bungie's classic trilogy that started with Marathon, and just like the first one which was also rereleased for free on Steam, you can claim the second at no cost right now.
Classic Marathon 2 landed on Steam on July 12th and is developed by Aleph One, a studio Bungie partnered with to release new versions of these classic Marathon games. Originally released for Windows 95 and Mac devices before getting ported to several other platforms later on, the second game in the Marathon series takes place years after the events of the first Marathon if you're familiar with that one either from playing the original or the rerelease.
"Fresh from your triumph on the colony ship Marathon, you are seized by the rogue AI Durandal to do his bidding in a distant part of the galaxy," an overview of the game via Steam said. "Within the ruins of an ancient civilization, you must seek the remnants of a lost clan and uncover their long-buried secrets. Battle opponents ancient and terrible, with sophisticated weapons and devious strategies, all the while struggling to escape the alien nightmare... "
As you might have imagined given the nature of the game and the original's age, Classic Marathon 2 requires pretty much next to nothing to run in terms of PC setups, so anyone interested should be able to play it. It's also got some newer features like "optional widescreen HUD support, 3D filtering/perspective, positional audio, and 60+ fps interpolation" for those who want to clean up the experience a bit compared to how the original looked.
With the first Marathon game and now Classic Marathon 2 both free on Steam as of this week, that leaves one more game in the trilogy to go. That game is Marathon Infinity which already has its own Steam page set up as "Classic Marathon Infinity" as well as an option to wishlist the game.
All these Marathon games are being given away in part because Bungie is making a Marathon reboot, though we haven't heard much about the game recently aside from rumors that it might've been delayed internally.