This past weekend Bungie finally revealed their reboot for Marathon, the upcoming Extraction Shooter coming to PlayStation, Xbox and PC on 23rd September. Today I want to round up all the key information they shared about Marathon, plus go into some of my thoughts about the game.
Marathon isn’t a new brand for Bungie, the original games released in the 1990s for Mac (they are available for free on Steam if you are interested in checking them out). However, this version of Marathon is vert different. Original Marathon was a first person shooter, similar to Doom and Quake. Bungie’s new version of Marathon releasing this year is a PVP focused extraction shooter where teams of three runners battle it our against each other to take home the loot and the glory.
When is the Marathon release date?
Marathon launches on 23rd September 2025 on PlayStation, Xbox and PC and it’s coming with full cross play and cross save. Bungie’s big showcase this past weekend was the first major showing for the game since it’s reveal in 2023. The game and the studio has been battling against it though with Bungie making a few rounds of layoffs, plus the game director for Marathon was replaced. Joe Ziegler, former lead for Valorant, it now spearheading the proejct for Bungie.
When is the Marathon alpha test?
Bungie announced during the presentation there would be a north american focused alpha test coming in April 2025. You can sign up in the official Marathon discord. Bungie will likely host more playtests as we ramp up to the game’s launch with a public beta being heavily rumoured, however this has not been confirmed by Bungie yet.
What did Bungie reveal about Marathon?
Bungie debuted their gameplay trailer, as well as a deep-dive with press and content creators. Once the reveal stream was over, many gameplay impressions went up from creators like Dr Lupo, Skarrow9, SkillUp, Gamespot and Polygon, so there are plenty of impressions out there. The overriding sentiment I am seeing is the game has potential, however, it’s not ready for primetime just yet. We still have 5 months to release, and Bungie have a crew of 300 working on the game, so I am confident the game will ship in a good state.
What do we know about the story?
Marathon takes place in the year 2893, where you and other runners are battling it out on the planet Tau Ceti IV. 30,000 people once lived on Tau Ceti have disappeared and only a few resources remain. What happened to them is mystery, and no doubt we’re going to be uncovering the secrets of the UESC and what happened throughout our matches in Marathon. It’s highly likely Bungie is going to take a different direction with story-telling in Marathon compared to Destiny and Halo, I would expect much more ‘found lore’ compared to big cutscenes.
Marathon gameplay
From what we saw from the gameplay reveal and the content creators play sessions, this looks like it’s got the traditional Bungie shooter polish. Halo, Destiny, even original Marathon back in the day were cutting edge shooter, and I don’t doubt Marathon will have what it takes in the gunplay-feel department.
This is a high-risk, high-reward gameplay loop. Extraction shooters are tough and can be very unforgiving. The matches are roughly 20-25 mins long, and the idea is to drop in with your crew, pick up as much loot as possible and get out without dying. Teams of 3 will be battling it out for survival. When a runner dies they loose all their loot. That immpacts decision making where you have to balance PVE enemies, puzzles, bosses and of course, teams of other runners too.
What else do we know about Marathon?
- Marathon will have dedicated servers, disconnect protection to some degree, plus BattlEye anti-cheat.
- Marathon is built for three-person teams, but you can switch autofill off and queue as a solo or duo.
- Ranked play is on the roadmap, but Bungie won’t have it ready until after launch.
- Seasonal reset occurs every three months. New seasons add zone updates, runners, weapons, events, and story beats.
Runners
Runners are Marathon classes, each have a Prime and Tactical ability, plus two traits. A runner’s kit gears them toward a distinct playstyle and fulfills a need in the squad, for example intel support, hunting enemies, sniping etc.
Here’s more about each runner.
Blackbird
Prime: Echo Pulse
Tactical: Tracker Drone
Trait 1: Interrogation
Trait 2: Stalker Protocol
Glitch
Prime: Amplify
Tactical: Disruptor
Trait 1: Microjets
Trait 2: Power Slide
Locus
Prime: Search and Destroy
Tactical: Riot Barricade
Trait 1: Thruster
Trait 2: Tactical Sprint
Void
Prime: Smoke Screen
Tactical: Active Camo
Trait 1: Shadow Dive
Trait 2: Shroud
How many maps are there?
Getting acquainted with the maps on Tau Ceti is going to be crucial for success in Marathon. We’re going to have 3 maps at launch. Two are going to be featured in the Alpha playtest Perimeter and Dire Marsh. Perimeter caters for 5 teams, and Dire Marsh 6. Outpost is a close quarters map and the UESC Marathon ship is due to arrive post-launch.
What are the factions in Marathon?
You can pick up contracts for factions, and you have different incentives as you are extracting in a match. You can build reputation with the factions and unlock the faction passive perks throughout the season. So far we have 6 factions including Cyberacme, Arachne, Sekiguchi, MIDA, Traxus, and NuCal.
My thoughts
I came away from the showcase impressed by what I saw from Marathon. I haven’t played the game, and I probably won’t get to play until there is an open-beta, but what I saw and what I heard from content creators and press sounded promising. The art style is gorgeous and is distinct. The extraction gameplay is harsher than what I am used to in Destiny for sure, but it’s something I would like to try. Bungie have a habit of creating amazing sci-fi worlds, and I am looking forward to jumping into a new world they create.
I do have a couple of concerns. The game is still in development, and it sounds like players expected the game to be further along in the development cycle. While I think it has a distinctive look, it sounds like Bungie needs to work on unique features for it to stand out in the crowd. The gameplay deep-dive with Dr Lupo and Skarrow was very good, although hearing about the game in their own words made it sound like there is still plenty of work to do.
I’m concerned about the price, reception and baggage Bungie carry with their games. PlayStation had a couple of high profile games in 2024, for very different reasons. Helldivers 2 took the world by storm early in the year and sold for $40. Concord completely flopped later in the year, again at $40. I’m concerned with the pricing here, and perhaps Bungie need to consider putting this out as a free to play game and then recoup costs another way. The reception from the event wasn’t entirely positive either.
I’m going to keep a close eye on this one, and I’ll be playing the first chance I can.
Let me know what you think in the comments.