Marathon's Nightfall Refresh wipes every player's progress, with permanent PvE pushed to 8 December

Bungie's 6 October update reset levels, ranks and vaults in Marathon, added a free reward pass and switched ranked play off. The bigger Symbiosis update follows on 8 December as the game drops fixe...

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Bungie reset Marathon on 6 October. The Nightfall Refresh, version 1.1.9.2 (update 1.033 on consoles), wipes Runner, Cradle and Faction levels, Priority Contracts, Rank, Vault contents and Zone access, according to the patch notes summarised by MP1st. Everyone starts again at the same point. Inven Global quotes game director Del Chafe III as saying the reset means "all players can start again from the same starting line."

The extraction shooter from Bungie, which Sony owns, launched in March 2026 on PS5, PC and Xbox Series X|S. PlayStation Universe notes that player numbers have struggled since, and that game director Joe Ziegler left in July.

What the refresh changes

A new NuCaloric Reward Pass is free to everyone who owns the game. Weapon schemas and materials from the Season 2 pass have been swapped for Credits. Most Armory prices drop by 30 percent and most barter salvage costs by 20 to 50 percent. Cradle XP is up 30 percent for the length of the refresh, and Faction rank reputation requirements are lower to fit what Bungie calls "the shorter duration of the Nightfall Refresh release."

In solo playlists, UESC forces are less aggressive and deal 20 percent less damage to runners. Sponsored Queues run every weekend from Thursday to Monday, starting with Sponsored Perimeter from 8 to 12 October. C.A.R.R.I. returns on 20 October, Vault Breaker runs from 20 October to 9 November, and Ordnance Heist from 10 to 23 November. Among the weapon changes, the Magnum MC's base damage drops from 41 to 35.

Ranked play is off for the whole refresh. Inven Global reports that Chafe would rather rework the mode than reopen it in its current state, and no return date has been given.

No more seasons

The reset was announced in September alongside a delay. Content planned for 22 September moved into an update called Symbiosis, now due on 8 December, and Bungie said it is "moving away from a strict seasonal schedule" so that the team has "more flexibility to build, test, and improve features before they are released."

Symbiosis brings Marathon's first permanent PvE mode, a new Runner shell, a reworked Perimeter zone, a social space with a firing range, an experimental Team Deathmatch mode and changes to onboarding for new players. Inven Global reports the new shell is called Bishop and that a fight with a boss called the Tick Queen is teased. Bungie has also pointed to a further update in March, which Inven Global says will tie PvE, PvP and PvPvE together into one connected system. It does not give a year, though the timing points to March 2027.

Sources

Image: Bungie

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