10 Video Games You Didn't Realise Were Secretly Sequels
6. Marathon - Pathways Into Darkness
When you hear the name Bungie, you likely think of the seminal FPS series Halo. However, years before Bungie was helping to evolve combat, they were producing the excellent Marathon games, another collection of thrilling sci-fi shooters. The first instalment of this series also served as their first-ever sequel. Although, it wasn't quite written on the box.
Marathon 1994 featured numerous links to their previous title, Pathways Into Darkness, a military-style Lovecraftian FPS. One of the biggest pieces of connecting tissue was the Jjaro, an ancient race of advanced alien lifeforms who are named in both games. These extra-terrestrials give humanity a warning in Pathways Into Darkness about a "Dreaming God," which fully matches the description of a primordial entity known as W'rkncacnter that appears in the Marathon series.
The Jjaro race is determined to contain this world-ending threat, which plays a significant role in the narratives of both titles. It seems that Bungie was obsessed with world-building lore decades before Destiny - with some even theorising that Halo and Destiny are also linked to this world, but those connections are far less convincing.