Marathon Review: A Difficult but Rewarding Game

By now, everyone has heard about or seen something from Marathon, and if you haven't, maybe you're still on the fence about what you think of the game. Bungie, as always, nails a lot of things overall, but there are still some things that could be improved.

I put about 30 hours into Marathon since it came out. I learned a lot about the game and the extraction shooter genre. There are a ton of reasons to love this game, from its amazing and visually stunning cinematic moments to the environments that strike a solid balance between similarities and differences.

If you're a Bungie fan, then you already know what they're capable of when it comes to story, worldbuilding, and gameplay. Of course, those things look a little different in Marathon, but they're here, and they're still top-notch. The only question left is whether Bungie put those talents to their best use in a new genre that they haven't explored before.

What is Marathon?

To keep it short and simple, Marathon is an extraction shooter that combines a futuristic sci-fi story with hardcore PvEvP gameplay to make something that hasn't been done before. There are some similar games, like Hunt Showdown or Escape from Tarkov, but there haven't really been any games exactly like Marathon.

It works similarly to other extraction shooters, but Marathon has its own take on the genre by adding in quests that feel solid and having them relate to an overarching story that players can latch on to. These also give players clearer objectives to complete when going on runs, which provides some good structure for those who may be new to the genre as a whole.

If you've never played an extraction shooter before, it basically works like this: you load into one of the available maps, either with a premade kit or one of the free sponsor kits. From there, you move from POI to POI, killing NPC enemies and maybe some real players as you grab all kinds of tasty loot. The ultimate goal here is to extract or exfil from the map and make it back successfully with your loot.

Marathon does have some map events that occur as a way for you to get some better loot, but actually completing them is a different story. At its core, Marathon is a game that creates tension and pushes you to be better. It has some ways to soften the blow of losing an entire loadout, but it's still a game where death is breathing down your neck every single run.

The World of Tau Ceti IV

In most games like Marathon, there is minimal effort at having a story or narrative that moves forward. Bungie changes that by having a story that not only moves forward, but also includes players in that movement. This is what really separates Marathon in terms of story from other games like it.

Each faction has a focus, like Arachne and their focus on PvP, and that contributes to the kind of story experiences you'll get after completing their quests. It was an interesting way to deliver the story, with some very choice cinematics when you first unlock the factions. They have their focus, and they'll eventually tell you why they're doing what they're doing.

While the world and overall story are very interesting, it can be a bit difficult to follow. And of course, in true Bungie fashion, the vast majority of the information you might be interested in is locked behind completing certain challenges or exfilling with certain items. It's certainly not as bad as the days of Vanilla Destiny, but it's also not something that seems to be placed front and center.

That being said, what is placed front and center is good and gives you a moderate connection to each of the factions. Beyond that, the story is a bit more obscure, especially if you haven't played the original Marathon games. Luckily, playing those games isn't a requirement to enjoy what's already there.

A Visually Striking Game

I don't think anyone would be able to say that the visuals in this game aren't done incredibly well. That said, it's likely that for some people, the visuals here may not appeal to them. The color palette and overall design can be very eye-catching, but to some people, it might be a bit straining. There's nothing wrong with that at all.

To me, though, the visuals were incredibly well done. Each mini cinematic you get for the factions, and even the one you get for Cryo Archive, is both striking and memorable. Bungie certainly outdid themselves with these intros and really made each faction unique in terms of how they're presented, but that isn't the only thing that's done well visually.

Each map looks and feels just a little different, but not so different that you're unsure of what you're looking at. That's a pretty tough thing to do, and not many games accomplish such a feat. The maps have their own identities, like Dire Marsh is mostly open wetlands between POIs, and Outpost is effectively one massive location where almost everything is inside.

They all contain the same sort of visual acuity, though that makes playing them feel incredibly similar. That's a good thing since it means you aren't attempting to relearn an entirely new area. There aren't many visually stunning moments on the maps, but there are certainly some places where you're greeted with a grand vista as you're perched atop a building.

There are a total of seven runner shells that all fill out a certain niche. Each one has a tactical and an ultimate ability that helps to define their role in a team. Figuring out which one you like best can be helpful, but you'll be limited to the weapons you can find or buy. Finding weapons on the maps is pretty easy if you know where to look, but getting them out is another problem altogether.

The weapons and shells all feel good to use. They have solid animations, and it's fairly clear how they all work from the jump. There's no denying that actively playing and shooting feels incredible in Marathon, and the problems surrounding these things are not directly related to actually using them during a run.

I prefer to mostly use the Triage shell since I'm not particularly skilled at PvP combat in this game. It makes for a great way to contribute to the team without having to rely solely on getting kills. This was a nice way to give players like me a way to make up the difference in combat situations where we might be outskilled by our opposing team.

While it is helpful, unfortunately, it isn't enough a lot of the time. If you aren't skilled in PvP shooters that are similar to Marathon, you'll end up dying a lot more often. That's really just a byproduct of the kind of game that Marathon is. Luckily, the game does have some systems in place to make sure you aren't too far behind everyone else.

Death is Imminent

You are going to die a lot. There really isn't much else to say about it. No matter how good you are, there's always a chance that you could die to either an NPC or another lower-level player. It makes the game significantly more tense and means that there's always a chance for a fight to turn in favor of the "worse" player.

Even when it doesn't, the game provides a lot of ways to get back some of what you've lost through completing quests or playing as Rook. It's an interesting way to sort of combat the losses that most players will endure as they get up to the harder maps of the game. While this is a good thing, it isn't without its own problems that stem from other places in the game.

Playing as Rook can be a great way to get yourself some salvage or other items you might need, but it's also a dangerous gambit, as you'll be totally alone when playing Rook. That's a lot of pressure to put on yourself, but it makes the game more enjoyable when you succeed and a little more difficult to swallow when you fail.

Dying as often as you do will be a big barrier for this game with a lot of players, since it's so different from other kinds of games. In something like Arc Raiders, dying isn't too bad thanks to the safe pocket and how easy it can be to recraft a loadout you have. In Marathon, it can be a bit more of an uphill fight, with how difficult the game is.

Is It Too Difficult?

This question has been posed a lot, and with the endgame content finally in the hands of players, it gives a pretty good idea of what kind of skill level you'll need to reach that point. This was something that was on my mind as I played the game, especially as a more average player. My answer? No, Marathon is not too difficult, but that difficulty will not be for everyone.

Marathon is not a game that is willing to meet you on your level. It is a game that will force you to rise to its level, and if you can't, then you'll just have to try harder. It is the definition of "git gud" and that's both really awesome and utterly terrible. That might sound a little silly because there are lots of games like that, including the infamous Souls games, so why does it matter in this game?

Well, Marathon isn't a single-player game. It is strictly a PvP game where you will likely get into games with people who are, frankly, a lot better than you. You'll need to outplay them to succeed, and it makes the game significantly more interesting to play as the stakes can be extremely high, especially when you have a fancy loadout.

The NPCs, for the most part, aren't all that tough, but it can be easy to get overwhelmed when you aren't focused. For the most part, these NPCs serve as fodder and a way to attract real players to your location. If you're smart, you might be able to use them to your advantage to surprise an enemy or learn their location, but beyond that, most of them just exist as bullet sponges for you to mow down.

That's the part that ended up feeling a bit half-baked to me personally. The enemies didn't really feature any kind of uniqueness beyond being stronger or having better shields. Some can turn invisible or use shields to protect themselves, but it really only ever feels like the boss enemy, the Warden, that spawns on the map, has any sort of unique way of fighting.

The Economics of a Progression

Without delving too much into the weeds of this stuff, the economy in this game can feel a bit demoralizing early on in the game. There is an Amory where you can purchase supplies and things of that nature, but most everything gets pretty expensive pretty quickly. You can instead opt to trade in materials for these items, but you'll have to scavange those materials during a run and make it out safe.

In the early hours of the game, this will feel daunting and impossible to overcome. At first, I simply thought the game was making purchasing a basic loadout way too expensive, but really, it isn't so bad once you get yourself a bit deeper into the game. You can pretty much always scrounge together a decent loadout once you've unlocked some things in the factions upgrade section.

This seems to be intentional, so that as you progress you can focus on tackling some more difficult aspects of the game. There are just a few problems that arise when you hit a sort of middle-of-the-road skill level. You can't really progress much if you aren't consistently doing well, which seems a bit counterintuitive to the game's main theme of death being imminent.

This is where the contradictions in the game design seem to start coming out. You're going to die, and that's punishment enough, but you're also going to take longer to progress the upgrade trees because you can't get what you need. For some people, this won't be a problem, but for a majority of gamers, it'll be a serious barrier to overcome, and that leads to something that's a very touchy subject surrounding the game.

For the more casual players, the game plays much differently and will take a much longer time to progress. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean that those players and potential new players may bounce off the game when they don't understand the flow too well. Progression as a player who is about average at the game feels decent, but I can see how it may affect newer or less skilled players.

The Missing Quality of Life

While all the gameplay and game design feel great, there are still a ton of quality-of-life things that are missing from the game. These may seem a little innocuous since there are ways around them, but these are still things that need to be addressed. They aren't game-breaking or something that will prevent enjoyment, but they will be felt the more hours you put in.

There isn't a way to see what weapons enemies did damage to you with when you die, and adding to that, the game provides remarkably little feedback on post-game stats. This, combined with an inability to tag items that you need for items in the shop and a lack of multiselect, really began to wear me down after a while.

They aren't major things that absolutely need to be there, and they can be added later on, but it feels a little ridiculous that they aren't in the game already. KDR doesn't necessarily need to be a stat, but having stats around how much loot you're exfilling with and what your best weapons are can be valuable information that can help you improve.

From a much more personal standpoint, I'd like to see the matchmaking change a bit. Many times when I would make a run with a personal loadout, I would have teammates who had sponsor kits. They had much less to lose and, as such, played more aggressively, which is absolutely what they should do. It just felt odd to consistently get runs where we wouldn't have the same things on the line. That's something that can be adjusted, but it did rub me the wrong way when it seemed to keep happening.

The Floating Death Fridge That is Cryo Archive

Cryo Archive takes some of the raid-like elements from Destiny and fuses them into a single map with some extremely high stakes. There are some issues with it, but Bungie seems to be committed to iterating on the problems being brought up and are willing to test things out to make things more palatable for the playerbase.

It is absolutely endgame content that a majority of players will not experience. It is the pinnacle of what makes Marathon the game it is, from the high-intensity moments when you run into another team, to attempting to open a vault and get the exact item you need. It can be incredibly lucrative, or it can be incredibly unprofitable.

I got to make several runs on Cryo Archive, all of which ended in failure, which I wasn't particularly upset about. Cryo Archive is absolutely phenomenal and really showcases the game for what it's designed to be: a crazy free-for-all with top-tier gear. It's a great place to really test your skills, but it certainly isn't going to be for everyone.

This really encapsulates the best and worst parts of the game. If you're good, it's a great time, and if you aren't, it's basically something that becomes fun to try out, but not something you'll do very often. Since Cryo Archive will be coming on weekends, there's no reason for weaker players to rush it.

One major thing the skill check that is Cryo Archive taught me is that the game should be enjoyed at your own pace. I wasn't ready for it, and that's okay; maybe I'll be ready sometime in the future. Regardless of whether it's something I'll be capable of completing in totality, Cryo Archive is a fun and interesting addition to Marathon, and I'm sure it won't be the last.

Marathon is hands down the best extraction shooter on the market. From the gunplay to the way the game handles the distribution of story, there's a lot to love in Marathon. While the quality of life could be improved in some respects and some of the UI elements could be adjusted, the overall game stands as a testament that Bungie knows how to make a good game. The biggest issue the game will face is appealing to the less hardcore players and getting them to stick around, but with Bungie continuing to iterate on the game, things will likely work out just fine for this unbelievably fun extraction shooter.