If there’s one thing I was certain of going into Marathon, it’s that the gunplay would feel superb. While I’ve never been much of a Halo enjoyer, I’ve sunk an embarrassing amount of time into Destiny and Destiny 2, and I am more than familiar with Bungie’s prowess when it comes to the first-person shooter. On that front, Marathon does not disappoint.
After a handful of playable alphas, an art controversy, various delays, and a whole ass ARG to boot, Bungie’s newest online shooter game is finally here. Unlike its previous outings, however, Marathon isn’t a story-driven/PvE-focused title. Instead, it’s a new player in the extraction shooter genre, which means that your entire gameplay loop will be centered around dropping into a zone, staying wary of other players and PvE threats alike, while scouring the map for loot before safely exfiltrating. Die, and you lose all your loot. Oh, and like most other extraction shooters, Marathon is a season-based game where all your progress resets at the start of a new season.
I’m fairly new to the extraction shooter genre myself, having only dipped briefly into The Division‘s Dark Zone mode and the more recent ARC Raiders, but it’s already plenty obvious that Marathon isn’t going to have the same kind of mass appeal that Destiny had. Whether this hard multiplayer pivot will pay off for Bungie and Sony remains to be seen, but for now, I find myself fairly impressed with what I’ve played so far.
Right from go, Marathon‘s aesthetic is striking and unique. It’s unlike any other game I’ve seen, and I’m a huge fan of its creepy, slightly disproportionate looking characters, the muted yet vibrant color palette, and the whole cyberpunk vibe with these obviously evil tech corporations and factions trying to use you for their own benefit.
While I do largely agree that the UI could use some work — trying to navigate the menus is way more painful than it should be — I found that I was able to adapt pretty quickly after just about an hour of play.
The Assassin is my Shell (read: class/job) of choice, with her abilities centering around sneaking and subterfuge. I’m able to throw down smoke bombs to cut off sightlines and provide cover for my teammates, and also turn invisible when I’m in the smoke, allowing for a quick escape. The Triage is my second pick, and one that I’m looking to spend more time with, as he’s the dedicated healer of the bunch. There are a bunch of other Shells to choose from too, including ones that specialize in looting, disruption, and just straight up bruising.
To my surprise, the Shells that I’ve played around with all felt quite distinct from one another, which I didn’t really expect. With this being an extraction shooter, I imagined that all of the Shells would eventually start to blur together, with their abilities serving more as flavor than anything else. But at least in the early hours, when everyone’s upgrade levels are still low, your squad formation does feel impactful, as having a Triage on your team could mean the difference between life and death.
I suspect that as the season wears on, though, the margins between the Shells will start to narrow. After all, you do have an upgrade tree that allows you to improve virtually all aspects of your Shells, including looting speed, damage mitigation, and the like. It’ll take a while to get there, but I can certainly see a scenario where Shell selection starts to matter less as you level up.
The good news, then, is that no matter which Shell you decide to go with, the shooting and gunplay in Marathon never disappoint. I’ll say right off the bat that I definitely found myself missing the unique quirkiness of the guns in Destiny, and Marathon‘s weapons feel much more ordinary in comparison. You won’t find any Sleeper Simulants in here, which is a bummer, but you’ll quickly see that every shot fired from every gun in Marathon feels crunchy and impactful.
Even on PC with a mouse and keyboard setup, Marathon‘s guns are weighty and I was mighty pleased with the immediate feedback I’d get upon firing a shot. Combat encounters often feel like life-or-death situations too, as your health bar is pitifully small and healing resources are scarce. You’ll deal plenty of damage to your foes, but they can do the same to you, which makes the gunplay feel that much more frenetic and terrifying.
I did find that the PvE enemies were a lot bullet spongier than your typical player-controlled foe, which can make solo play feel like an exercise in futility. This eventually becomes less of an issue when you’ve played long enough to accrue and craft better weapons, but it’ll take some time to get there.
Overall, my initial impressions of Marathon are that… it’s fine. It’s certainly fun to shoot things, and pulling off a successful exfiltration with tons of loot in tow feels good because my lizard brain loves watching numbers go up and progress bars get filled. My concerns with the game aren’t specific to Marathon, but to the extraction shooter genre in particular. The reason why games like Destiny were able to hold my attention for literal years while something like Fortnite could not, is that there are so many different types of activities and ever-evolving challenges to look forward to. Not to mention a story that you can plow through with friends, even if you’re only gonna do it once for the clear and never think about it again.
Bungie’s expertise with the first-person shooter shines in Marathon, but I’m left wondering if another online shooter game is what we need in a world that’s oversaturated with online shooters. Look, maybe I’m just being pessimistic here. After all, if ARC Raiders could turn into a huge hit, surely a game with a prestigious studio behind it like Marathon could do even better. I’ll be playing more of Marathon over the next few weeks and reserve my full thoughts for a final review, so stay tuned for that.
A review code for the game was provided by the publisher. You can check out our review policy here.
