When I first started playing Marathon, my initial reaction was that there was a really good game somewhere inside it, but it felt buried under a lot of confusing systems.
Now that I’ve spent more time with the game after launch, I’m starting to feel much more positive about it.
I’ve only really gotten into extraction shooters recently, thanks to Arc Raiders, which ended up becoming my GOTY for 2025.
Because of that, I already knew I liked the tension that comes from trying to survive a run while managing inventory, avoiding other players and deciding when to extract, so I knew I’d have to try out Marathon.
One thing that stood out to me immediately was the art style. Marathon looks incredible. The environments, characters and overall aesthetic feel very different compared to most other extraction shooters and, honestly, most games in general.
The gunplay also feels great, which isn’t surprising considering Bungie’s history. It feels very similar to Destiny in a lot of ways. While I could never really get into Destiny, it has always had some of the best-feeling shooting mechanics around.
The hardest part early on was understanding everything the game throws at you.
There are a lot of items, weapons and mods to keep track of, and it’s not always obvious what everything does right away. The user interface (UI) didn’t help much either. While the visual design looks cool, it can sometimes feel a little overdesigned and harder to read than it probably should be.
After spending more time with the game, though, I’ve gotten a lot more used to it.
The interface still isn’t perfect, especially on controller, where some menus and inventory actions feel pretty clunky. However, once you start recognizing the icons and understanding what certain items do, the whole system becomes a decent bit easier.
The enemies were another thing I originally underestimated. Early on, they felt like watered-down versions of player encounters, but after running into more of them, it’s clear they’re more varied than I first thought.
Some of them can actually be more unforgiving than other players if you’re not careful.
Marathon, like many extraction shooters, also seems to succeed at creating some pretty ridiculous matches.
One of my first matches was a perfect example of how ridiculous this game can get. My teammates and I spent almost the entire 30-minute match wandering around the map collecting gear. By the time we had decided to exfil and escape the map with our loot, the time was basically gone.
We reached the exfil point with only about 10 seconds left, which triggered the game’s overtime period and gave us one extra minute to escape. It turned into a frantic last-second fight, but somehow we managed to get out with everything.
My very next match went a little differently.
We had spent another long stretch gathering loot and eventually made our way back to the exfil point together. Right before we were about to leave, one teammate suddenly decided he didn’t have enough gear and wandered off to grab more.
As the timer was about to end, he started yelling “Wait for me!” over the mic, but by then it was too late. The other teammate and I exfil without him, and he ended up getting eliminated less than 30 seconds later.
Once everything starts to make sense, the matches become much more interesting. The maps feel easier to read, you start recognizing where fights are likely to happen and you get a better sense of when it’s actually worth pushing further for loot instead of heading to exfil.
There are also some small quality-of-life touches that help during tense moments. One feature I really appreciate is the button that automatically uses the recommended healing item. It sounds minor, but when things start going wrong in the middle of a fight, it’s extremely helpful for healing on the fly, and it’s something I wish Arc Raiders had.
Overall, Marathon feels like a game that asks for patience.
The first few hours can be confusing while you figure everything out, and the UI could probably still use some improvements. But once the systems start clicking, the game becomes much easier to understand and a lot more fun to play.
Right now, it feels less like a game that immediately grabs you and more like one that slowly grows on you, and I think that’s starting for me.
Whitford can be reached at [email protected].
