Marathon is looking very much like a colorful cybernetic riff on Escape from Tarkov, but with Bungieâs unique spin-on the extraction shooter genre and hopefully some big surprises along the way. The studio behind Halo and Destiny pulled back the curtain today to reveal a bunch of new information about its next big game, including that itâs out later this year. Will be it be Destiny PvP reskinned into an even more hardcore mode, or something that feels both more fresh and more approachable? Hereâs everything weâve learned.
A Bungie livestream on April 12 offered a deep dive into Marathon including a new gameplay trailer, extended overview of how the shooter works, and a cinematic short (directed by Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verseâs Alberto Mielgo) that poked at the promise, possibilities, and nightmare of a game thatâs fundamentally about corporations cloning gig workers and subjecting them to repeated carnage in order to eke out marginal gains. It was all narrated with incredible gravitas by Balatro clown Ben Starr and culminated in a September 23 release date on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC with full cross-play. (Yes, Marathon is going head-to-head with Borderlands 4).
The top-level pitch is this: You play as a cybernetic mercenary called a runner who takes contracts to scavenge the remains of a lost colony on Tau Ceti IV. Itâs PvPvE, so players will have to fight one another as well as AI-controlled UESC security forces and âotherworldly threatsâ to loot facilities and complete their objectives. If they successfully extract, they grow in power and new gear gets added to a vault to be taken out and used on the next mission, but if they get wiped on the surface everything gets left behind. Thereâs also a tease for higher-stakes gameplay aboard the derelict Marathon ship orbiting the planet, potential endgame content that calls back to Bungieâs original trilogy by the same name that suggests linkages that long-time fans will have fun unraveling.
The overall structure of Marathon sounds like it will be familiar to Escape from Tarkov players and fans of other extraction shooters, with some unique wrinkles. By default players will be grouped into squads of three but can also play solo, with up to 18 total appearing on a given map at once. Every match has its own time limit forcing players into action, and dynamic weather and other random events will add extra chaos to the proceedings. Any loot you extract with gets added to a vault to be used in future runs, though if itâs ever lost in a team wipe, itâs lost for good.
What about the moment-to-moment gameplay? The core of Marathon will be Bungieâs snappy and crunchy gunplay, which if itâs anything like Destiny 2‘s will be top-shelf when it comes to first-person shooters, but with a bunch of new tactical and strategic elements to take into consideration given the battle-royale nature of the showdowns. Players are downed instead of immediately killed, and a revive system means death isnât the end of a run. Bungie also said that âsponsored packagesâ from various corporate factions will give players a baseline loadout needed to stay competitive.
And of course there will be custom builds and abilities. We saw four different runner charactersâLocus, Blackbird, Glitch, and Voidâeach with unique looks, playstyles, and abilities that can offer an extra edge. There will be unique stats for different characters, as well as customization when it comes to implants, cores, weapons, weapon attachments. A toxin upgrade by poison opponents, or players could equip something to boost their resistance to it. And Marathon will have itâs own version of Destinyâs rarest Exotics loot that offers the âbestâ version of a particular archetype.
The gameplay footage shows one sniper character turning invisible, similar to Hunters from Destiny 2, while equipment like grenades, shields, and medkits offer other characters different support roles. âYouâre always free to experiment with team compositions, and the only limit to how you want to play your runner is your loot and imagination,â Starrâs narrator voice promises. It sounds like a lot to balance, and the proof will be in whether player experimentation proves to be truly viable, or if Marathon quickly coalesces around a narrow range of try-hard build-crafting metas.
Player progression will be another interesting test. Most of it will be account-wide rather than class-dependent, with faction ranks unlocking access to different upgrades and black market merchandise (all purchased with in-game currency) and completed contracts expanding vault space. Beyond the matches themselves, there are endgame challenges, ranked play, community events, and seasonal storytelling. Perhaps the most dramatic thing about Marathon is that it will largely reset playersâ vaults at the end of each season to provide a more level playing field going into the next. Itâs the logical thing to do for fairer play but might also be exactly the type of thing to turn off more casual fans.
Marathon will be Bungieâs first new project in over a decade and its first new game as part of PlayStation, where the reported underperformance of Destiny 2 led to multiple rounds of deep cuts in the last two years. (The previous game director was also fired in early 2024). Marathon is facing an uphill climb for sure, especially a year after Sonyâs other big live-service push, Concord, proved how brutal the multiplayer space is these days. But maybe Bungieâs extraction shooter will be more like Helldivers 2âinfectious in its uncompromising focus on one hardcore gameplay loop. Marathon certainly looks like it has the juice. Hopefully, it ends up playing like it does too. A closed alpha test is set to begin on April 23.
