Marathon

The new extraction-shooter title from Bungie, the company behind the Destiny franchise, is surprisingly good. After some backlash during development, the stolen art assets fiasco, and several other stories that surfaced before launch, a part of the gaming audience had already declared this game Concord 3, or Highguard 2, depending on who you ask.

But if you look past the noise of the gamer herd, you will find a harsh and unforgiving game, with AI that hunts you down without mercy. Somehow, after every death, I still kept coming back for another round.

Marathon puts players on the planet Tau Ceti IV in the year 2893 and is set in the same universe as the original Marathon trilogy, released by Bungie between 1994 and 1996. With the previous year being hailed by some as the year of extraction shooters, thanks to the launch of ARC Raiders, the release of Escape from Tarkov version 1.0, and several other titles, Marathon manages to stand out with its unique art style and visual design, although not without flaws of its own.

Like most extraction shooters, the basic premise is familiar. You drop into a map, loot weapons and upgrades from containers scattered around the environment, and fight against other players or enemy AI. Unlike ARC Raiders, another title I have spent countless hours with, which also features robots and a PvPvE experience, Marathon is far less noob-friendly.

It takes time to get used to the gunplay, the different upgrades, and the amount of item tooltip reading required to understand what should be equipped on each weapon. If ARC Raiders is the starter-friendly entry point into the extraction genre, where even solo runs can sometimes feel approachable thanks to moments like hearing the iconic “Friendly, don’t shoot” voice line from other players, Marathon is the hardcore and brutal opposite.

Hero-shooter elements

Marathon borrows some elements from the hero-shooter genre. Before launching into a map, the first thing you need to do is choose which Shell to play as. Each Runner Shell has different traits and abilities, from turning invisible to using a drone that can steal items from other players.

On top of that, each Shell has different baseline stats. Combined with their abilities, this gives every Shell a different playstyle. Do you want to be an invisible assassin who sneaks up on enemies and sticks a knife in their back? Do you want to play as a tank with a shield, absorb bullets, and push forward while the enemy reloads? Or maybe you prefer a mobility-based playstyle, using a grappling hook to reach a vantage point and camp players trying to extract like a true extraction-shooter rat.

The choice is yours, but with it comes a steep learning curve.

Down with the corpos

Unlike many extraction shooters, Marathon features a skill tree-like upgrade system tied to six different corporate factions. It works somewhat similarly to the Syndicate system in Warframe, with each faction offering season-long unlocks such as Runner Shell upgrades, bonus storage space, additional weapons in the Armory, and more.

You earn points to improve your standing with each faction by completing contracts. A higher rank with a faction means more upgrades become available. However, visual clarity is a negative point here. The UI clutter and noise take some time to get used to, and navigating the menus can be confusing at first. After a few runs, it becomes manageable, but the first impression is not ideal.

A MaraTON of content

The gameplay loop in Marathon is as rewarding as it is difficult. The AI is harsh and very smart, and it will hunt you down. There is a variety of robotic enemies, including invisible bots, drones that slow you down with debuffs, and mini-boss enemies.

There are also many small activities on each map, such as hunting loot caches with waypoints or opening high-value crates with keys. You can enter a run with a free loadout, similar to ARC Raiders, but Marathon does not give you a safe pocket slot in your inventory. That means the bigger the risk, the better the reward.

The first-person perspective keeps everything tense and dangerous. Although the sound design feels somewhat weaker than in ARC Raiders, it still gets the job done. On a personal note, the music is great. It sells the futuristic vibe very well, and I already have some tracks from the synthwave-style OST on my playlist.

There are different guns, different upgrades for each gun, stat augmentations, ammo types, grenades, gear upgrades, and much more. You need to remember what to keep, what to throw away, and when to extract — or “Exfil”, as Marathon calls it.

The maps are dynamic and include unique events. One example is the Lockdown event in the Dire Marsh zone, where you need to defeat waves of robots to earn high-value loot. There is also a weather system, with conditions ranging from rain and thunderstorms, which can hit you if you are not careful, to hazardous damaging rain on the Outpost map.

Endgame activities are also present, such as the Cryo Archive map. This map has specific entry requirements, including being above level 25 and having gear worth more than 5,000 credits. It is only open on weekends and requires players to complete specific steps in order to reach a boss fight, all while other enemy players are also trying to kill you.

ARC Raiders has similar large-scale encounters, such as the Queen, but this boss feels more like a Destiny-style raid boss. There is a lot of loot, but also a lot of enemies. It took me some time and several deaths before I understood the steps needed for extraction, because there are no regular extraction spots here.

With solo, duo, and trio squad modes, you can play however you want. Just do not expect friendly players shouting “Friendly” over proximity voice chat. Most players shoot on sight, so you are better off doing the same.

After participating in closed beta tests and the open server slam weekend, I expected Bungie to tone down the difficulty a bit to make the game more appealing to the masses. To my surprise, Bungie locked in and doubled down on both the art style and the difficulty.

This is a game made for a very specific audience, one that might even be described as masochistic at times. And honestly, I love Bungie for that bold decision. Of course, the player count has dropped by more than 50 percent since launch, but I would still say Marathon has found its niche and a healthy player base.

The Verdict

If you expect a friendly extraction shooter with no learning curve, Marathon is probably not for you. You need to spend time with the game before you start getting the hang of things and learning how to navigate Tau Ceti IV. Alternatively, you can keep running free sponsored kits, but even then, the game will not hold your hand.

You will die a lot. Most likely, you will die to enemy AI robots more than you expect. But there is something about the unique art style, the visual design, the risk-versus-reward structure, and the gameplay loop that kept me hooked. After each death, I kept going back in for another run.

There is something compelling about finally completing a contract, extracting after a difficult fight, or joining a random squad and surviving waves of bots before barely escaping with almost no health left. Marathon scratches an itch that ARC Raiders, at least for me, could not always reach.

Did I enjoy it more than ARC Raiders? Not all the time, but sometimes, yes. Overall, it is a different kind of experience. The sense of random players grouping up will almost never happen here the way it can in ARC Raiders, but that is also part of what makes Marathon distinct.

Both games offer different experiences. Marathon is its own thing, with its own identity, better gunplay in my opinion, and a different set of mechanics and playstyles.

If you want a unique and brutal extraction-shooter experience, then Marathon is for you.