'Marathon' Review: One Battle After Another
From the outside looking in, Marathon seems like a straightforward game. It’s a first-person extraction shooter that leans heavily on the PvP (player vs. player) aspect of PvPvE (player vs. player vs. environment). During my early hours, I played the game like a straightforward FPS—see an enemy, kill an enemy—and it was solid, highlighted by its snappy gun handling and charming graphical style. Once I figured out it wasn’t like other shooters, though, that’s when the game’s brilliance began to come into focus.
Let’s start with the basics. You equip your loadout, select one of three locations (Perimeter, Dire Marsh, or Outpost), and either start your run alone, with up to two friends, or via a squad-fill option that pairs you with random runners. Each foray to Tau Ceti IV is sink or swim. Either you successfully exfil and retain your gear, or you die and lose everything. It’s a tad less binary than that, as you’ll gain experience and faction rank even if you’re killed, but in a game where loot is king, failures leave you stripped of your valuables.
Those stakes add weight to every match. Even if you equip the daily sponsored kit—a bare-bones free option that has a gun, ammo, and compromised healing items—you’re bound to pick up loot as you go, so any newfound fortune you’ve acquired is at risk. Each run lasts 25 minutes, with exfil locations loading after the first five. Once an exfil is used, it’s gone, and you’ll need to wait for additional ones to spawn. It’s a smart decision that ramps up tension as time winds down since you’re never sure where that last option is going to appear, or who else might be heading to the same spot.
Despite having modest story elements, the lore of Marathon is well laid out for those who care enough to listen to what various factions have to say or by reading entries from the codex that you’re constantly unlocking as you play. You’ll gain new customization options as well, allowing you to apply different skins to your weapons and shells, the game’s name for the half-dozen archetypes you can choose to play as.
There’s the Destroyer, a damage-dealing tank, Assassin, for sneaking and backstabbing, Recon, which allows you to track and identify threats, Triage, the medic class, Thief, the ideal option for looting with the ability to pickpocket other players, and Vandal, which has increased movement speed and a double jump. Each one is viable, though Triage and Recon feel more geared toward team play, and they feel different enough that strategies that work for one shell may not work with another.
Marathon also throws a bit of a curveball with a seventh playable shell, the Rook. This is the game’s version of a “free” loadout, preventing you from bringing anything from your vault or working on any contracts. It’s also solo-only and playing as a Rook means joining midgame in maps populated by three-person teams. You keep what you exfil, though, making it a good way to replenish your vault after you’ve gone through a tough streak.
Apart from those Rook runs, each time you start a match you’ll select a contract from one of the game’s six factions to work on. Some will task you with story-based goals, such as scanning an item in one area and then traveling to another in a single run. Others are more generic: kill 20 AI enemies or collect a half-dozen pieces of a specific type of loot. Finishing them will increase your faction and overall runner levels.
Leveling up the factions is key because that’s how you gain access to both additional abilities and improved loot in the armory. Unlocks are tied to credits, salvage acquired during runs, and your faction level. Some will do things like reduce the cooldown timer for your two abilities (Prime and Tactical) or improve melee damage, while others will grant you access to purchasing better backpacks and augments or provide daily free shield and health packs.
Figuring out what to loot is a process, and it’s one that’s made more difficult by one of the game’s few drawbacks, an unwieldy user interface (UI). Playing on a PS5 Pro, each time I loot a container, I’m required to use the analog stick like a de facto mouse with no ability to utilize the d-pad to toggle through available items.
Plus, even on a 75-inch TV, the icons are small, and the various boosts look very similar. That can be a problem as you can’t afford to spend much time in there, especially when solo (you’re completely vulnerable) or with randoms (when you might be competing with your teammates to snag the best loot).
It’s something you adapt to, but I could see it as a barrier to entry for new players looking to get into Marathon. The larger one, however, is frustration over lost loot. This circles back to my original point. If you come into Marathon expecting to run-and-gun, you’re going to die. A lot. The lightbulb moment for me was learning that knowing when not to pull the trigger was just as important as knowing when to engage. It’s what makes Marathon special, but it’s a potential double-edged sword, a shooter where you go long stretches without firing a single shot.
Despite having a limited number of maps, each run in Marathon feels unique. Every trip to Tau Ceti IV is made up of dozens of decisions. Do you take down some patrolling UESC bots or avoid them? Do you skirt the perimeter or cut through the buildings? Do you exfil with your current loot or push on to the next area? Do you pursue in-round opportunities that promise better rewards for additional danger? Do you engage other runners or try to slip away?
Success in Marathon is based on how you answer these questions and how you learn to read signs, many of which are audio cues. Gunfire is an obvious one, and it’s why you must weigh the risk and reward of engaging with the UESC, but there are others. Scatter a flock of birds, and they’ll caw loudly, alerting runners that a threat has entered their area. Inside buildings, the opening and closing of doors is a warning, as are footsteps. Over time, you’ll learn to distinguish between bot sounds and other runners.
Combat happens fast and engagements rarely last long. Bots can be a threat, especially in numbers, but more often they serve to give away your position and deplete your ammo and healing items. Facing off with runners, on the other hand, is as intense as anything I’ve experienced in a video game in years.
Opposing runners can be kitted out with better weapons and shields, and while that provides them an upper hand, it guarantees nothing. Getting the drop on your opponent is a huge part of victory, as are positioning—the high ground hasn’t been this advantageous since Obi-Wan fought Anakin—and adaptability if your initial foray doesn’t end the battle. Tactics change in solo and team runs as well, adding variety.
I’ve had numerous runs end in under two minutes by stumbling onto another runner or team, or even getting overwhelmed by bots when solo, and I’ve had others that have lasted nearly the full 25 minutes with chaotic multi-team battles that left me dripping with loot (and sweat). That you never know what awaits you is paramount to Marathon’s addictiveness.
Bungie has constructed a smart game loop as well with the introduction of a fourth location, Cryo Archive, which is a vast area with increased difficulty. This is a proving ground for runners where your loadout must be worth at least 5,000 credits, raising the stakes. It’s five minutes longer, contains no designated exfils (you must find your way out), and features the current boss in the Compiler. It’s also only available on certain days, setting up a scenario where you build yourself up with loot during the week and then test yourself when Cryo opens again.
For as much as I enjoy Marathon, there are things I’d like to see. Initially, two-player teams would run the same maps as three-player teams, putting anyone looking to run with a single buddy at a disadvantage—Bungie is currently offering “duo” lobbies on a trial basis, so hopefully those become a permanent addition.
Plus, in its current form, Marathon is almost entirely PvP. I can list the number of non-hostile interactions I’ve had with other runners on one hand. Here’s hoping eventually we get some sort of incentivized mode that leans into the PvE side of things, tasking larger groups of runners to band together to take down AI threats. Given the nature of Marathon as a game that will evolve over multiple seasons, there’s still time to make it happen.
Final Score (9.5/10)
Throughout this review, I’ve stayed away from comparisons to ARC Raiders, the current standard-bearer in the extraction shooter genre, because Marathon is a very different game. One area where it’s similar, however, is in creating experiences. I’ve had so many runs end in spectacular success and utter failure, and though the latter can be frustrating in the moment, they all lead to memories, fun stories, and above all, an insatiable itch for one more run. If a methodical shooter with tight gunplay that rewards patience and tactical thinking sounds intriguing, I simply cannot recommend Marathon enough.
Related: Taking a Look at the ‘Marathon’ Collector’s Edition