Bungie Marathon Review: Is This Extraction Shooter King?

Our first foray onto the Perimeter map turned out to be a whole lot less straightforward than we initially thought. Designed to be the most beginner-friendly zone in Marathon, it only took a few minutes for our squad to be cornered inside the first building, under attack from every other team of “Runners” in the game lobby.

For GameSpot senior producer Jean-Luc Seipke, this was a baptism by fire in Bungie’s new online first-person extraction shooter, and he was in it with a random matchmade ally. We were careening through corridors, reviving each other non-stop and flanking enemies at every turn. We managed to scrape together narrow escapes multiple times – just about staying ahead of disaster.

In one pretty intense moment, I was running on fumes – out of ammo – so I opted to jump over a railing and drop down to a lower level to sneak past an opponent. Sneaking back up the stairs, I found them completely distracted and managed to get in close and take them out with a melee strike. Later, an invisible Assassin just vanished into thin air, and I ended up busting through shattered windows to flank, only to find them waiting for me with a claymore set up on the stairs – Talk about being set up. They never even saw me coming, though – I just started firing away.

We got caught up with one enemy squad, and before we could even get our bearings and replenish our ammo, a second team showed up on the scene, then a third – it was a real free-for-all. Miraculously, we managed to make it through the whole thing.

By the end, our hearts were racing – we’d cleared the map of all players, fighting non-stop for over ten minutes. Jean-Luc pulled out a win, racking up five kills and a whole bunch of revives – basically carrying the team to victory. That kind of high-stakes action is what keeps players coming back to Marathon.

High Stakes Extraction Gameplay

Like most extraction shooters, Marathon is all about living on the edge. You parachute onto a massive map set on an abandoned extrasolar colony on Tau Ceti IV with nothing but the gear you’ve picked up, and your job is just to scavenge for better stuff or take it from other players that get in your way. The problem is, whatever you scavenge, you only get to keep if you get out alive. Every game ends with either your team escaping on a matter transport beacon or you and your team being wiped out.

The thrill of getting wiped out or – and more likely – coming out on top with a massive haul is what makes the game so exciting. Marathon also features proximity voice chat, which can lead to temporary truces or alliances, but make no mistake – at its core, this is a competitive shooter where every team is out to take down the other.

Retro-Future Gunplay and Aesthetics

The game’s arsenal of bulky, boxy weapons is straight out of a retro- future movie. It’s all part of the retro vibe Marathon has going on – a nod to the original 90s Mac games that Bungie used to make. The guns are heavy and feel great in your hands, & thanks to a super-quick time-to-kill, even the absolute worst gear is still effective. Battles are super-fast and intense – just long enough to get you pumped up, but not so long that they drag on too long.

The weapons are completely modular – you can swap out mods to make ’em better, either in the field or in the armory. The whole loot system is designed to keep you on your toes, making sure every gun is either trash or a super-expensive killing machine. The mods entirely determine what kind of gun you’re dealing with – whether it’s a total no-brainer or a game-changer. This makes it super easy to master the basics of each gun without having to worry about all the ‘frilly’ extras. And if you want, you can always customise any gun to your heart’s content – right in the middle of a firefight or back at home.

Shells & Character Abilities

Marathon takes gunplay to the next level with its character classes, known as Shells. There’s a bunch of different ones to choose from – each Shell is like a unique role within your squad, offering up different abilities that set it apart from the rest. Some Shells have their own special moves like dashes or double-jumps, all the while still sporting a lower-powered Tactical ability and a high-powered Prime ability.

·         Tactical Abilities: think healing med drones or dropping energy barriers that absorb a bunch of fire – pretty useful stuff.

·         Prime Abilities: these are basically your “ultimates” – the kind of thing that can swing a fight in your favour, but use ’em too much, and you’ll be waiting a while for ’em to recharge, which is a bit of a bummer.

You can turn invisible as an Assassin or blast off some missiles as a Destroyer – but once you use up your Prime Ability, you’ll be sitting around for what feels like an eternity waiting for the recharge to kick in. As it stands, there are six different Shells on offer, plus a special solo-only Rook Shell – and each one is different enough to make it worth trying out. The key is to play to your Shell’s strengths to really make your team shine – even if you’re not exactly racking up the kills.

Factions & Progression Systems

Your main goal is going to be completing contracts – these are your main quests, and they earn you experience, rewards, and a good chunk of reputation with the game’s factions. But you’re not the only one trying to complete these contracts, oh no – the UESC, Earth’s government, has sent in an army of robots to try and take the colony back. These robots are like ambient threats that’ll pop up and try to flank you with grenades, making them a bit of a nuisance.

The factions are what really give Marathon its character. Each one’s got its own cold, corporate vibe – and each one’s got an AI representative that you’ll meet through some pretty snarky, satirical corporate ads.

But it’s not all just about looting – your real goal is going to be leveling up your reputation with the different factions so that you can access their upgrade trees. Each tree’s got its own set of perks, like enhanced melee damage or improved fall resistance, plus some new unlocks for the Armory. The way the factions system works is that you’re not just earning reputation by winning – you’re also getting it by looting, fighting, or just plain old escaping with your gear. It’s a really cool way to play the game – and it’s something that’s going to let you grow your character in all sorts of different ways.

And of course, there’s also the loot, which is just a never-ending tidal wave of stuff. Level up your character, and you’ll be getting care packages full of gear, which is great, because it means that even if you lose some of your better gear on the battlefield, you can just pick up some more and be good to go. In our first 25 hours or so, we found ourselves often just leaving faction rewards uncollected because our inventory was so full already – but the flow of free stuff just keeps on coming, so you’re never really going to feel like you’ve been left high and dry.

User Interface & Learning Curve

The faction system is actually part of what makes Marathon so tough – its user interface is just as complicated, and often overwhelming. When you’re not in a match, you’re going to be digging through menus to find your inventory, buy gear, look for contracts, customize your Shells, and just plain old read some lore. Now, it’s not as bad as some people made out in the beta – but it’s still a bit of a pain in the backside. And then you add in all the loot with all its different uses… well, that just makes the learning curve even steeper. You’ll spend more time reading than actually shooting.

Endgame Content & The Future Holds A Lot of Promise

What sets Marathon apart is its potential to grow as a game. Weeks after release, Bungie added a Duos mode – and only added one map at a time. Even in its basic form, it brings a fresh tactical angle and makes getting into games a whole lot easier.

Endgame stuff includes the intense, weekend-only Cryo Archive map, which is only open to players who are level 25, as well as a Ranked mode that demands a minimum amount of gear. Ranked mode is tough, but Cryo Archive is the real showstopper. It seriously amps up the PvE aspects such as public events and boss fights, and throws in tougher robots, puzzles, and events to boot.

The experience isn’t quite up to par with Destiny 2 raids yet, but the depth of the game is a major plus in the world of extraction shooters – and that’s before you even factor in other players trying to steal your stuff. It’s aspirational, making it feel like there’s always something new to aim for. Now, to be fair, some people do find the endgame content to be a bit much – a bit too sweaty. But the thing is, you don’t have to do it. You can just pop into Cryo Archive, grab some loot, and bail.

Cryo Archive also suggests that we might be seeing a future where the game continues to grow. And not just because of the game’s mechanics, either – it contains all sorts of cryptic references to characters from Bungie’s original 90s Marathon games. And the icing on the cake is the boss fight at the end against an alien creature that we haven’t seen since the original games. It’s got us wondering what kind of other possibilities are waiting in the wings for future maps.

Marathon vs Arc Raiders

Marathon often draws comparisons to Arc Raiders, another popular extraction shooter. On the surface, the two games have a lot in common, but Marathon takes the lead when it comes to presentation and the factional systems. Embark Studios’ use of AI for their faction characters looks pretty cool and all, but Marathon’s take blows them away when it comes to personalities and story.

The way you get loot in Marathon is also a lot cleaner than in Arc Raiders. Arc Raiders has loads of junk that just doesn’t seem to have a point – whereas pretty much every piece of gear in Marathon has a clear use. Which means you spend a lot less time juggling your inventory.

The main difference is really down to what kind of experience you’re looking for. Arc Raiders tends to be more of a social experience, with players working together against the environment. Marathon, on the other hand, is all about competition, with a focus on shooter mechanics. You know, the kind of thing that makes people shoot first and ask questions later. Socialising is possible, but as it stands, Marathon feels more like Fortnite or PUBG.

Pros And Cons

Like just about all extraction shooters, Marathon can be pretty frustrating at times. Tough matches and bad luck can leave you playing with low-tier gear against better-geared opponents and just losing. It’s not uncommon to find yourself trying to clear the same contract for the fifth time. And that can be a real pain, especially when you’re stuck with a bad team.

Gaining momentum can also be a real challenge. And to make things worse, the contract system means you can only have one active contract at a time. So if you’re heading into a zone for a specific objective and then die, that’s it – no progress. It feels like a pretty arbitrary restriction just to stretch out playtime.