16 Super Short Stories That Prove Marathon Is One Of 2026’s Best Games

Marathon is a great video game. What makes it so damn good isn’t the excellent shooting or the striking visuals. What makes Bungie’s newest sci-fi shooter one of 2026’s best games is how its cutthroat, high-stakes design creates unforgettable moments of triumph, defeat, friendship, and surprise. It’s the kind of game that has me thinking and talking about it long after I’ve put the controller down. The next best thing other than playing it is swapping stories with other Marathon players, like old war buddies sharing tales from past battles and glories.

So, I asked the internet to share with me some of their short stories from playing Marathon over the last two weeks or so. The response was amazing, and I was flooded with something that has quickly become one of my favorite parts of 2026: Cool stories from Marathon. Now I bring them to you, lightly edited and formatted for your reading enjoyment. Oh, and if you have a Marathon story or two to share, feel free to drop it in the comments!

No shots fired

“I was trying to exfill. 2 mins left. Another Rook appeared and shot at me. I scurried away. Healed. I heard a lot more gunfire. Bots got him. He was down and the exfill was active. I ran in and in-game chat said: “If you didn’t shoot at me, I would have let you live,” and then finished him. Exfilled” – Zack (me lol)

“Played a fill game in Outpost. We tangled with a player, but when we realized it was a Rook, we called out and made a truce. Went into Pinwheel Base, cleared it of aggressive Runners, and called Rook in to loot. Turns out, it was *two* Rooks, who were also working together. The five of us exfilled.” – Phil

“Playing solo, I climbed a ladder and heard footsteps through a door at the top. Other runner must have heard me. We both froze silently for a full minute while I waited for my echo pulse to recharge, then I pinged and confirmed someone was there. I hit that friendly emote and RAN. No shots fired.” – ‪Korlis

“I was playing as Rook on Outpost and came around a corner and was deleted with a WSTR shot. The other guy runs out and says over prox chat, ‘Oh no, I’m sorry, little Rook, you startled me. I feel bad.’ Then he threw me a self-revive so I could get back up and continue on.” – Justin

©Bungie

“Joined a random trio match and one of the Runners was clearly a younger boy and he said he hadn’t extracted once. Me and the other Runner gave him some blue loot, and we extracted successfully. He was screaming and freaking out, and it was very sweet and adorable.” – Wesley

“Playing solo, drop into a run only to meet a fellow runner fifteen seconds in, they open fire immediately, I do not return fire. I’m able to communicate without comms that I’m friendly, I turn around, going back the way I came, turning a corner, only to be gunned down by a different runner.” – idyllicghost

“This absolute legend carried our crew through multiple fights and all our contracts. We had to take the guarded exfil. i got downed by the bots immediately and started crawling into the exfil. The other duckling and I watched as the legend got knocked right as it activated and was left in the dust. I’ll never forget his sacrifice.” – Ada

They did not have a shotgun

“A complete mirror match. I traded with a runner, both of us emptying our Shotguns on sight. We rezzed ourselves in sync, neither of us hesitating to immediately charge back in the second we were up. I was quicker on the draw, punching them back down. We both laughed, said ‘GG’, and I ended them.” – Nate

“Playing with my buddies, and we exfiled… except, I apparently wasn’t close enough, and I didn’t get pulled into the sky with them. With 8 minutes left, managed to travel halfway across the map, while taking out 3 other players by sheer luck, and managed to exfil.” – Keith

“After clearing out a security box on Perimeter, I noticed that a Thief Drone was shadowing me. I shoot it down, but need to reposition fast otherwise I’m as good as dead. I sprint to an overhang. Their footsteps stopped above me. Only a shotgun would beat my knife. They did not have a shotgun.” – Raxtian

“Early after release me and another solo managed to down each other at the same time, my knife and his pistol. “Fuck you man, you scared the shit outta me!” “Same to you!” We sat bleeding before realizing I had triggered exfil right before the fight. We crawled together and both made it out!” – This One Guy, Tom 

“Doing a Rook run on Dire Marsh. I take a couple shots at what I assume is a lone runner, when I realize it’s another Rook. I stop firing as he aggressively shakes his head. He teabags. I teabag. We go our separate ways. I hope he made it out of there.” – Rumble Pack

“One time playing Outpost, we bumped into a friendly team in the first minute… then another… then a 4th squad ran up asking “whoa a friendly server?”. We ended up with a fully friendly match and all coordinated to get into Pinwheel. The only threats were a couple of Rooks who showed up later for 1v12.” – Thomas

©Bungie

Cowards

“As Triage in solos, I spot a Vandal, we start shooting. Middle of the gun fight they say “we don’t have to die”. We stop shooting, and I apologized. We both do our objectives. I call ’em for an experiment to see if they can use my med bot. I throw it and they hack it. I learned you could hack them!” – Ass Ass In Kraid

“Last night running with Jessie and another friend. Another team swept in and took out me and our third, leaving Jesse to hide in some grass in a corner, keeping perfectly still, waiting for them to leave while they were directly above him. After a few minutes, they left, and we got out.” – Kam

“I’m playing with two buds, we have been orbiting another team all match. Finally run into them, they outgun us, and my one friend runs away, waits for them to stop chasing them, then turned around and revived us both. Cowards exfil motherfucker.” – Gita