Has Bungie Already Done Everything Wrong with Marathon?

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Bungie has officially unveiled Marathon, showcasing its fundamental gameplay structure, business strategy, and storyline. Essentially, it’s a standard extraction shooter with a twist – it aims to shake up the genre by incorporating innovative social features and a distinctive art style that is catching attention in the gaming world.

On the other hand, numerous individuals have dismissed Marathon, highlighting significant issues in its unveiling and subsequent news and speculation. Attempting to enter the extraction genre in such a way certainly takes nerve, but doing it with so many risky elements prominent is either incredibly brave – or reckless.

Has Bungie already done everything wrong with Marathon?

What’s Wrong with Marathon?

Marathon appears quite appealing as if it were a game. The combat mechanics seem engaging, feedback from previews is positive, and it’s developed by Bungie, a well-known and financially capable studio. However, upon closer inspection, issues start to become apparent quite quickly.

In the broader market, it’s seldom that extractor-based shooters can thrive. However, Escape from Tarkov stands out as the sole extraction game that has managed to maintain its popularity over time. The size of the Russian shooter market is particularly intimidating for new entrants.

One could also make the point that Bungie entered the competitive field of extraction shooter games a bit late with Marathon. However, other game developers are still attempting to solve the riddle of this genre. It’s reminiscent of the surge in battle royale games, but more of those have persisted through their rise than the scattered number of extraction shooters that emerged recently.

It’s been disclosed that Marathon will carry a premium price, deemed expensive by some, as they believe Bungie is taking a misstep. The general consensus seems to be that such a game should offer free-to-play access with optional microtransactions, which I concur with. Selling this type of game may prove challenging due to its niche genre and the fact that it’s an entirely new intellectual property (ignoring the original 1994 release).

Regarding the launch, Marathon is competing against another high-budget first-person shooter, set to drop on the same day as Borderlands 4. This game boasts a massive global fanbase, and Borderlands is renowned for its eccentricities and distinctive visual style. Given these factors, it’s likely that Borderlands 4 will surpass Marathon quite comfortably due to its existing popularity.

The variety of mechanisms and elements found in Marathon are impressive, but it’s arguably too intricate for introducing the extraction shooter genre, which fundamentally is quite straightforward. Essentially, you enter a level, you move around, and then you exit – that’s all there is to it. Contrary to its claim of being user-friendly, Marathon could inadvertently be making things more difficult due to its steep learning curve.

Given that statement, one might question who Marathon’s intended audience is, as it appears to be a difficult arcade game for dedicated extraction enthusiasts, yet potentially too complex for arcade shooter aficionados. So, who is this game designed for?

I’m more than ready to jump on board and give it a shot, keeping an unbiased perspective throughout. However, I can’t help but feel apprehensive about Marathon. After all, it’s been in development for quite some time at Bungie, and I hope the team doesn’t stumble when it eventually launches.

We’ll know more soon – the closed alpha is on the way.

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2025-04-14 22:48