Bungie nerfs Marathon's slide cancel movement tech, says no movement freaks allowed: 'Unbounded movement, while expressive and clip-worthy, is ultimately unhealthy for the pace of play'

With its latest patch for Marathon, Bungie has decided that the haunting, derelict expanse of Tau Ceti IV is stressful enough without any adrenaline-crazed acrobats launching themselves across your screen like frenzied, gun-toting cybergibbons. Marathon is now, officially, a No Movement Freak Zone.

In its patch notes for Marathon update 1.0.5.2, Bungie says it's fixed a movement exploit that had been allowing players to generate unintended levels of momentum by sliding into and cancelling equipment or ability animations like the Thief's grapple device. And the studio says we should expect a similar zero-tolerance policy on movement exploits going forward.

Bungie said that by allowing players to launch themselves at high speeds with little drawback, the slide cancel exploit broke a central tenet of its design theory: Nobody gets to engage in freak behavior for free.

"One of our core philosophies for Marathon is that rapid repositioning and aggression must always have a meaningful cost. That cost can be an ability charge, heat buildup, or increased risk but it must exist and be understandable to an observer," Bungie said in the patch notes. "Unbounded movement, while expressive and clip-worthy, is ultimately unhealthy for the pace of play we want to maintain for Marathon. To set expectations early, we will be looking at any future movement exploits through the same lens."

Thief players can still use the grapple ability for a one-off boost of momentum, but doing so will now incur an ability cooldown where the previous movement exploit hadn't.

While we should spare a moment of silence for those in the Marathon highlight reel ecosystem who must once again remain within intended velocity margins, I think I speak for many when I say: Thank god. Nothing turns me off a shooter like the idea of having to contend with high-intensity combat contortionists. I'm an honest man and I expect to be murdered in honest ways.

If I ambush you with a shotgun, I guarantee it'll be at a respectable, pedestrian pace. Hopefully you'll return the courtesy. It's only neighborly.