I Don’t Care What Anyone Says, Marathon is Awesome

Games like Elden Ring, Baldur’s Gate 3, Clair Obscur, Alan Wake 2, Indiana Jones, Cyberpunk 2077, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Crimson Desert, and Marathon all stand out as truly exceptional. While they each have their strengths and aren’t the only great games released recently, they’re remarkable because they go beyond being simply well-made and enjoyable—they’re inspiring, either through their bold vision, fresh ideas, or confident execution. It’s surprising, though, to see how much criticism some of these, especially Marathon, have received online, and it makes you wonder why.

I haven’t received any payment or sponsorship related to this game, but I’ve played it for over a hundred hours, so I’m definitely biased. Despite that, I think the reasons people dislike Marathon are pretty obvious: there are many different issues. Some of these criticisms are fair, others aren’t, but unfortunately, none of them change the fact that Marathon is a genuinely great game, objectively speaking. These issues unfairly harm a game that deserves better.

Marathon Soars Above Any Existing Standard

It might be impossible to be completely unbiased, but we still need ways to evaluate things. Those methods depend on what we’re evaluating – for example, judging the game Marathon as a general video game is different than judging it as a specific type of game, like an extraction shooter. When compared to other video games, Marathon is exceptionally well-made. Its refined details, imaginative world, immersive sound, storytelling through the environment, satisfying gameplay, and how good the weapons feel all rank among the best in the industry.

It’s hard to evaluate Marathon as an extraction shooter because there aren’t many games of this type to compare it to. There are only a handful of core games in the genre, and even those are quite different from each other.

ARC Raiders
Escape from Tarkov
Hunt: Showdown
Delta Force
Arena Breakout: Infinite

When it comes to quality, Marathon is right up there with the best extraction shooters like ARC and Hunt: Showdown. It launched in much better shape than Escape from Tarkov, but Marathon strikes a nice balance – it’s more challenging than ARC, yet easier than Tarkov or Hunt: Showdown. This makes it hard to declare a single “best” game. Marathon is a fantastic extraction game, and so are the others – or maybe none of them are, depending on your perspective.

Marathon’s Actual Problems

While Marathon has some definite issues – like an uneven playing field, cheating, bugs, and performance problems – these aren’t problems unique to the game. The biggest threat to its success right now is the amount of cheating, especially in ranked matches.

Trends will come and go, and the game will keep getting better, with Bungie fixing bugs in Marathon more quickly than before. However, cheating remains a major problem that will ruin the experience for many players until it’s effectively addressed. Bungie has had an inconsistent history with anti-cheat measures – they’re willing to invest heavily, but usually respond to problems after they happen, rather than preventing them. This reactive approach needs to shift towards prevention.

Subjective Concerns About Marathon

Honestly, even putting aside all the technical issues, I just can’t get into Marathon. I’ve tried, but I fundamentally disagree with a lot of its design choices. It’s really a game for a specific type of player – it’s a ‘live service’ game, meaning it’s constantly changing, and it’s tough. It’s complicated to learn, hard to stay motivated in, and like a lot of these online games, there’s no promise it will even be around for very long.

The same criticisms often leveled against Tarkov apply to Marathon – people don’t like them because of how they’re designed, and that’s understandable. While aspects like the confusing interface and difficult learning curve in Marathon are debatable, most of the game’s challenges aren’t necessarily flaws. They’re intentional design choices that make the game appeal to a specific audience. Players can choose to adapt to the game or move on, and either option is perfectly valid. This game shouldn’t receive the strong negative reactions it has.

Marathon As a Bungie Product

Marathon is facing a tricky situation that I understand: some people simply aren’t fans of Bungie, the company behind the game, due to past issues. And that’s understandable – I don’t necessarily share those feelings, but the criticisms are valid. For example, Bungie used art assets without permission when creating Marathon, and they’ve been criticized for prioritizing profits over player feedback in the past. Some people will never look past these things, and that’s perfectly reasonable. However, a lot of the negativity surrounding Marathon seems excessive and unfair.

Manufactured Concerns about Marathon

The biggest and most damaging issue facing Marathon has existed since before the game even launched, and it’s frustrating because it started with legitimate concerns that have been exploited by malicious actors. It’s perfectly reasonable to question how long a live-service game will last – in fact, smart players expect that, especially in a specialized genre like extraction shooters. However, discussions about Marathon‘s ability to keep players and succeed financially have been hijacked by people who benefit from spreading negativity online.

Genuine interest in games has been warped by those who profit from attention. Now, player numbers are often used as a quick measure of a game’s worth, and anything less than being the most popular is seen as a failure. These individuals demand games either revolutionize their genre or achieve massive sales, otherwise they’re quickly dismissed as irrelevant. Ironically, many of these critics never actually intended to play the games they’re judging, and expecting a game to be a runaway success before acknowledging its quality is an unrealistic standard that very few truly great games ever achieve.

Going to Bat for Marathon

Games focused on ‘extraction,’ like Marathon, are naturally slower-paced, more difficult, and require a lot of time and effort from players. Therefore, it’s unrealistic to expect a game like ARC Raiders to reach the same level of popularity. Marathon doesn’t need to be better than or replace games like ARC Raiders or Escape from Tarkov to be successful. It just needs to be enjoyable enough to stand alongside them, and based on key design elements, it already achieves that.

Marathon definitely has its flaws – cheating is an issue, and it could be easier for new players to pick up. However, even with these problems and knowing it won’t appeal to everyone, Marathon is a daring, well-made game that feels solid and is often truly exciting, something many modern multiplayer games struggle to achieve. That alone makes it worth playing, and I recommend trying it out without letting social media influence your opinion. It might not be for you, but that doesn’t diminish how well it delivers on its own vision.

2026-04-12 20:35