Marathon server slam leaves fans convinced a multi-colored shellfish is Bungie's next big community puzzle, throwing back to some of Destiny 2's best moments

We just had the Marathon server slam, giving players their first proper look at Bungie's new extraction shooter. Being both futuristic and set on the far off planet of Tau Ceti IV, there's plenty of eye candy in the FPS, but it's a little shellfish that's commanded the community's eye, since it may hint at some form of puzzle or other.

As highlighted by streamer Aki on Twitter, there's a lobster whose color changes depending on your build. Playing as an Assassin, he found it to be blue, but the Destroyer on his team saw it as green, while the Triage got red. Hmm! Curious.

Absent any other context or clues, he simply noted the curiosity, posted about it, then kept playing as normal. But people who've played Bungie's wares before, particularly the Destiny games, know this could hint at something bigger.

The studio has a tendency to play little mysteries across its releases from time to time. Easter egg hunts, but deliberately laid out to thread a line between piquing your curiosity and just being esoteric.

A good example is the chess collection in Destiny 2. First, players found chess pieces scattered across the sci-fi shooter. If you find all of them, you can head to a chessboard in Eris Morn's throne world, to complete a puzzle using those same pawns and such. Neat, huh?

The Halo games are riddled with things like this, such as the skulls and the secret warthog race in Halo: Reach. It might be a stretch to say this crustacean points to something that elaborate, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. Players are also considering the idea it's part of the mythology surrounding the Runners.

"Manipulating the Runners memories," muses one fan on Twitter. Aki agrees, stating it's why he wanted this to be widely known. The full game arrives on March 5, and that lobster's going to have a lot of company during launch week, deeper meaning or not.

Valve says Marathon's Server Slam is the biggest Steam Next Fest demo, but I'm not sure that should count