Two flavors, no waiting! When Devil in a Blue Dress was first released for the original Marathon, it set all sorts of precedents. Noone had ever tried to make such an expansive scenario before (besides Bungie, of course). Level design was revolutionary, in many ways. For the first time, a non-player character was used as an integral part of level completion. Bi-directional staircases made their first appearance here. Marathon players were pushed far harder than ever before, and they responded admirably. The Marathon Map Making Guild didn't rest on its laurels, however. Within two months, two teams had formed, one to make the sequel, the other to create a Marathon 2 version of Devil, that took full advantage of the advancements in the Marathon engine. For the most part, level design was left alone... but you weren't going to be playing the same old map. Liquids, far more sophisticated lights, four times the available polygons per level... and we added harder monsters.
(Feel free to click on the screen pairs here... these screens were taken from roughly the same spots, but the levels are nothing like one another. This is not your father's Marathon.) You'll get all-new Marathon "firsts"... Engineering is the "first" example of a level that uses terminals to control more than the overall outcome of a level. Medlab contains the "first" example of "stacked" windows. Play it through, you'll find many more. We did our best to add new secrets to almost every level, and to make sure that all these secrets were actually accessible (albeit quite difficult to find). You might only get a few shotgun shells, or a congratulatory term... but you'll also get the warm glow of satisfaction that comes from succeeding as the level creators intended you to succeed. So take a look around, if you need to... there are a few representative screens below. We hope that whichever flavor you choose, you'll be back for the other as soon as you've killed your last pirate!