Pathways Into Darkness (Bungie BEFORE Halo)

Before Halo: Episode 1. Exploring how Bungie went from nothing, to one of the biggest game developers in the world. Before Halo is a four-part mini series uncovering Bungie's history and past games, including Pathways Into Darkness, Oni, and the famed Marathon and Myth franchises. This is Episode 1: Bungie's Origins.
Starting out as a game developer for the Macintosh, Alex Seropian and Jason Jones introduced Operation: Desert Storm and Minotaur to the world, calling themselves "Bungie". Ultimately seeking world domination, they expanded their staff to include artist Colin Brent, together creating their first hit: Pathways Into Darkness, a first-person RPG. This gave them enough motivation and money to move onto bigger and better projects.
Huge thanks to Joe's Classic Video Games for the classic footage of Pong, check out their channel for more retro games and equipment: / @lyonsarcade
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Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:56 - Gnop!
2:39 - Operation: Desert Storm
3:44 - Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete
5:58 - Designing Bungie's first FPS
7:40 - Pathways Into Darkness
11:32 - Legacy
13:15 - Thank you!
Sources:
www.bungie.net/en-us/News/Art...
thecore.uchicago.edu/fallwinte...
kotaku.com/before-they-were-f...
marathon.bungie.org/scrapbook
web.archive.org/web/201205271...
pid.bungie.org/IMGjasonintervi...
• O Brave New World
www.chicagoreader.com/chicago...
• G4 Icons #56: Bungie
halo.bungie.net/inside/histor...
archive.org/details/MacUser93...
archive.org/details/Computer_...
pid.bungie.org/IMGmakingofPID....

[@jdp174]

It pissed me off, stuff like this. Token probably put days maybe even weeks, into editing the footage, audio, writing a script, researching, and recording all of this. And this is one of the coolest things ever. I’ve only ever really been into game lore, but tokens time and effort, and his interesting take on things made this video amazing. This deserves wayyyy more than just 4K views and 500 likes.

[@micahjoshua8827]

Agreed. I was sad when the video was over and I realized part 2 wasn't out yet.

[@eggisfun4217]

ik i like lore videos like this it makes it easier to understand

[@redrockbro3679]

Oh man, glad you are gonna be taking a look at Bungie's past BEFORE Halo, I'm very interested to see the rest of the episodes!

[@logdog6762]

Just go an play the Marathon Trilogy (the Aleph One driver should still be freely available), Durandal is one of the best written characters in video games, and you will see all the things they carried over into the Halo series.

[@KrotowX]

Before Halo there was also Marathon trilogy. Which badly need a remake IMHO. I still remember interlude pictures and concept art from Marathon - it would look and feel on par with Halo MCC.

[@TheRealAmericanMan]

I bet a sealed or boxed copy of Operation Desert Storm popping up would be worth a fortune these days

[@Brawler_1337]

That or Minotaur. Hell, Minotaur might fetch a higher price due to its multiplayer focus being so far ahead of its time.

[@kjj26k]

I've seen plenty of Early Bungie History videos on KZbin, but this series looks to be the best by far. I've learned so much I didn't know in just 13 minutes and it has the quality of an expensive tv documentary! Well done again SameToken.

[@SameToken]

Glad you enjoyed, thank you!

[@TheGovnnah]

why does this guy not have more subs? He's literally amazing lol

[@MiyaTime]

because unless youre very lucky, content like this doesnt attract tons of new subs. the majority of users on youtube want mainstream trendy stuff. this is niche content even though it is very amazing.

[@thetrickster9885]

I m sure that within 1 year his channel will be over 500k

[@revolverdesign1039]

Great to see Pathways Into Darkness gameplay again - I remember playing it when it first came out. Really interesting piece of history - looking forward to the next episode!

[@tychopfhor9665]

i never got past the room that closed on you and locks you in. apparently you had to wear a cape?

[@frills333]

I played the marathon trilogy recently, and i think marathon infinity has genuinely become one of my favourite games ever made and undoubtedly one of if not my favourite story in any piece of media. Bonus points for it helping me through a very very rough period of my life after suffering from an existential crisis/full blown mental breakdown.

[@ImGrim2JZ]

Marathon is a game my dad had before he owned combat evolved

[@115zombies935]

The story and lore of Destiny are VERY HEAVILY inspired by and even directly taken from Pathways into Darkness and its sequel the marathon series. To the point where there are countless direct references and callbacks to the previous series all over the place, as well as the universe of PiD and Marathon being confirmed to exist in the multiverse of Destiny.

[@CaptainPilipinas]

the Destiny type 4 multiverses are indeed near-infinitely vast. with Marathon having their own familiar supernatural dealings almost as felt like what is happening back in the territory of Destiny. and with Halo being quite smaller compared to the 2 verses'.

[@lucaschudleigh7193]

I remember installing a demo of Marathon off the monthly Mac magazine.... Blew my mind to have genuine story behind the action. I grew up with Myth, Abuse, and Marathon as gaming staples. Seriously take me back in time...

[@SameToken]

Thanks for watching! Episode 2 (Marathon) is out now: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fXTRaHyvr9eBqLc

[@ElSeventhSon]

You are hands down the best narrator I've seen in a very long time. I first met your channel with the Halo 2 retrospective video and I gotta admit I was very emotional because you reminded me of my childhood. So I just hope you keep up the amazing work, and I'd suggest you to cover even more epic videogame series and their lore, like Half life, Return to Castle Wolfenstein etc or those games and developers that shaped our current gaming world.

[@SameToken]

Thank you so much, really appreciate it! I’m definitely looking into expanding my topics in the future

[@DistortionUltra]

If you haven't already, you should do a deep. dive into the early halo series mysterious deep marketing. The cortanna letters. The marathon connections. The incredible passion of lore creation and dedication to making a interactive intricate mystery of threads to follow and drag yourself into the world of halo. It's is God damn amazing, and we've not had that level of dedication to a game world since the release of halo reach.

[@SameToken]

Really interesting video idea, will definitely note this down thanks!

[@criticalhalo5435]

It’s a good day when same token uploads! (; Also quality video mr token good job!

[@Skjetch]

This stuff is fascinating. I really had no idea about the history of bungie before the original halo. I was a kid when it came out but I've been a fan ever since. Can't wait for the next video!

[@LAZURCATZ]

One Christmas, many years ago, my pops bought me a copy of the Mac action sack. Marathon trilogy, Minotaur, pathways into darkness and abuse were in that collection. Good times!

[@cnmnnaturalist]

I was around eleven to thirteen years old when I first played this, after discovering the Marathon trilogy. I distinctly remember how I was a bit terrified of the atmospheric quality of the game. You'd be low on health or ammo, and you could hear monsters that were in the darkness just out of your view. You had no idea how many there were, and some of them had projectiles, and it just seemed like this horrible dead end. I was overwhelmed by the various menus on the screen and had a hard time managing everything, never really getting to play it past the first couple levels. Bungie put so much effort into crafting a compelling world and story for so many of their games. I spent hours delving into the rich storyline of the Marathon series and still check out the Marathon's Story webpage regularly. Sadly, now that I have the time and patience to enjoy it, the visuals of games like this and Marathon cause me a lot of eye strain and dizziness.

[@spendle]

Sadly, I only had the demos for Pathways and Marathon when I was a kid, but I always enjoyed them back then and the references to these games in Halo.

[@kingclucky1622]

This was really awesome I've been a fan of Bungie since Marathon but I never even knew about the first two games.

[@words_under_fashion4775]

I love your videos! Underated for sure, can't wait for more content and for you to get the following you deserve.

[@goodguyfergie2071]

Such high quality work man! Keep it up!

[@SonStashu]

i wish this could be like 4 hours long

[@buckoboii]

Love the series man. This channel is gonna get big!

[@youdontneedtoseehisidentif4939]

As a fan of the _Marathon_ and _Myth_ series, but *not* _Halo_ , I am - for once - glad for the KZbin algorithm…

[@Dragzerg77]

Why was I not recommended this? It's great!

[@maframuba]

Man! I've been periodically searching for info about this game since years ago when I read its name on an EGM retrospective about shooters. This is just great.

[@jayceneal5273]

Can't wait for when you get to the myth games

[@talhahqureshi1222]

I'm absolutely lost as to why this doesn't have more views. Really hope we get Episode 2

[@sphtpfhorbrains3592]

Still waiting for episodes 3 & 4 of this awesome retrospective!

[@slamvsgames]

how does this video only have 15k views, this is great

[@theodoreandrews4961]

I love these documentary videos.

[@marijn639]

Oni is Bungie's best game imo, I'd like to see an episode on that, relight the fires that lit my childhood. I still have that game installed on my PC lol. The first time I played Halo CE, I immediately recognized the resemblance of the the Spartan and Marine armor design style from the Oni TCTF troopers.

[@karlcantarella7982]

This is great! We’ll done, interesting, and a fun walk down memory lane. Look forward to the rest. Thank you!

[@Tamed_Delirium]

Thank you for this solid summary and deep look into bungies past. I was very curious when i learned that marathon wasnt their first game!

[@donutdave95]

Token, you should have more subscribers. All of your videos have this sense of pease almost therapeutic. Keep it up friend

[@tychopfhor9665]

0:19 Yes! Tycho LIVES! I am Tycho and I have come for Durandal!

[@bdiddy20128]

this is such a good video and great topic for a series. really hope sametoken keeps up with it

[@juanvelez4246]

Very cool video, I subscribed, looking forward for the next one

[@user-me1gc6gc2k]

I was shocked to see how few views this video has. It's amazing. You deserve more subs

[@kevinj131]

This is amazing

[@olympian3]

the coolest concept for a story. I think it could be made into a famous movie.

[@CommanderSammer]

Hey I know you're probably busy, but it'd be cool to see the rest of this series!

[@MarcioGianotti]

Your work is fenomenal!!

[@WuBrotherNumbaOne]

Hope this blows up cus its so good. This is a high quality video.

[@insaned4666]

I remember writing a letter to the company when Pathways kept on crashing my computer. This was before the internet, so I didn’t know this was a known issue that they were working on. I received a phone call asking for Mr. (me) who was all of like 12 at the time. My dad had taken it and handed it over to me. The dude sounded scared, then confused. My letter must have been worded more professionally than I thought because he had no idea I was just a kid. Anyways, he apologized profusely and ended up sending me the update disk that fixed the crashing and a free hint book!!! I had no idea how small of an operation they were. I coulda been talking to one of the devs themselves! I’ve always respected them due to that personal phone call all those years ago.

[@Pontus95x]

subbed, you are awesome man! cant believe how you only have 63k

[@human22265]

Wow, I really like these kinds of videos :D You did very well on this video :) I subscribed and eagerly wait for episode 2 :D Meanwhile, I'll check out your other videos :) Thank you

[@derekk.2263]

9:24 they charged 70 buck for Pathways, as well as all the marathon games. This was the normal price of a PC game at the time too, people who complain about games being too expensive these days don't know what they're talking about.

[@Argroh]

also there's a version of Pathways into Darkness running on Aleph 1, also a freebie, check Mandy's video.

[@StephenAMCook]

Nice! I can't wait for episode 2.

[@Dvrkstvr]

I'm genuinely interested in the next IP Matter. Maybe it's codename of a new Marathon Game?

[@derneuethomas]

Very good Video. Your narration is excellent. I really like this series. You got an other subscriber

[@vlweb3d]

*Don't forget to include the fact that HALO was originally meant to be an RTS game before Bungie changed their minds and decided to go with the First Person Camera instead. This is how Master Chief was born.*

[@justchilling704]

And you don't forget that after they moved on from RTS they were going to make it a third-person adventure game.

[@gouthamp4019]

Bro thanks keep the good work

[@jahraltoad6848]

i still play marathon and myth. Pathways was ported to marathon i believe and most can be played with an x box controller now

[@ericjosephgarand8585]

Someone should port “Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete” onto browsers using HTML5, preferably in time for its 30th anniversary in 2022.

[@Atraira]

here I'm looking for part 2 and apparently this JUST came out?? more!!

[@user-dq6pm6sg8z]

Hey man!!! I just saw part 2, will part 3 be out??🎉 "Part 3" Finish the Fight!!

[@clinthives]

1:57 also the ball is upside-down and the left and right sticks are inverted. 😅

[@mynameisozymandias7150]

Imagine a remake of this game, something like Resident Evil 7.

[@lucascoval828]

I've had that same idea as well. Gruesome and Lovecraftian Abominations in a creepy environment.

[@CaptainPilipinas]

["I was gonna send you off with a pithy joke, but Eris started droning on about the 'Pathways into *[Darkness]* ' or some damn thing. Got distracted. Anyway! one more beacon to go, if you'd be so kind." - Guardian Hunter Vanguard Cayde-6 from the Destinyverses.]

[@GymMasterAlex]

I've watched this several times now, and I'm only now noticing that Marathon font in the title card. I'm rather disappointed in myself for missing that. 😐

[@Makifo]

This needs to blow up

[@samz8691]

I'm hoping this sees some sort of updated re-release for Windows, like on steam, same with Marathon and Oni.

[@MicroRuben17]

SameToken posts a new video *happy boi noises*

[@jonshepherd832]

HELL YEA! Can't wait for the next one

[@theowl2134]

yo 65k subs???????? and only 800 likes woooww this guy is underrated i thought he was like very famous among the halo community until i looked in the sub count and likes I just subbed

[@themedivaltrainerdawson4951]

"So, naturally, he completely ignored this"

[@chipius]

This game change my life

[@mayanalien]

This was fantastic

[@nassim1173]

RESPECT 💖🔥👍

[@K4LKing]

How do u edit your videos

[@SameToken]

Used a mix of Premiere Pro and After Effects for this one :)

[@danybackstone]

Only a few can really understand what it means at the time, kids played on mac were forced to, mainly because their parents were in need of a mac for their work. My true friends today are the same that those with I played in 1990's. It was war at school between mac and pc user. They (pc users) had redneck rampage, duke nukems, doom, little big adventure, falcon, warcraft... We had patways, marathon, F/A-18 and Factory as long as a sh* load of indie games. Fortunately, Aspyr and Macsoft were specialized in good PC ports. AppleTalk, this network interface who can transfer 24MB in 30Min! But at least marathon 1-2 on LAN and custom maps were the best sundays we could have for a decade (apart moving a 15Kg hardware). Quake 3 and Unreal tournament were not as fun as the Waldo World Arena with fusion pistols. Good story Token

[@sk.mahdeemahbubsamy2857]

Wolfenstine "frighteningly realistic" LMAO🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@RedTigerBlood]

Do Myth The Fallen Lords I and II!

[@KrotowX]

I remember this game from my job in publishing house with Mac's at 1994. Had better graphics than Wolfenstein 3D on PC. But was awfully hard to survive and permanent darkness through all game was depressing. Didn't finished it.

[@Gat720Dua]

I'll never understand why people back then thought the graphics look "realistic" it's certainly impressive at the the time but it looks colorful and cartoony.

[@arranlad176]

How’ve you been through these tough times man?

[@civilwarfare101]

This game sounds super brutal for me.

[@MrTheta-lc8zy]

I completed the aleph one remake today, I really recommend using a guide.

[@AdrianArmbruster]

The way I heard it, 'Bungie' was the punchline to an unpublishably dirty joke.

[@Sitharos]

Oh man, I have to tell you. This game was the SHIT back in the day! I spent entire weekends playing it! Too bad they never made a sequel.

[@darkreddust2135]

damn even in 1993 games were expensive af... 70$!?

[@spinz7306]

My one question is are any of these still playable?

[@lionocyborg6030]

Kudos to you for pronouncing Jjaro correctly. :) There's quite a few people on the story page who insist it's pronounced "yrro" (yaro) even though that's only the name of Marathon's counterpart to the Didact, not the whole species.

[@Fruffles71]

Wild

[@michaelkeaton5394]

I could listen to anything this guy tell, i could listen to 60 minute of video about the culture of potatoes by the grunt as long as it would be Token who told it,how can he only have 60k sub!!!

[@jimmy12347654]

Lol I have not seen gnop in almost 30 years!

[@cardinal_chaos6848]

Next video: halo games before 343

[@XXXXD]

Where part 2 ?

[@Kriskazam]

they should remake this game

[@goldengod90]

Bungie before Halo? Looking forward to your myth vids then, don’t forget to point out how the myth players who designed 3rd party were then hired to make that behemoth of a Xbox capstone!

[@alwaysangry2232]

no complicated plot for bungie first game...just a funny ball floating around

[@gkf411]

$69.99?!

[@williamdunbar2802]

Bungie would of released Halo infinite on time

[@derekk.2263]

Only by cutting 30-50% of the intended content like they did for the first 3 halo games. Bungie was actually notoriously terrible about not reigning in their ambitions until way too late in the development process and then living at the studio to create an entire game in 2 months.

[@The_Grox]

second

[@johndavies2030]

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