For many gamers, hearing the name Bungie brings to mind the Halo franchise. But the origins of Halo go a bit further back. In 1994, Jason Jones, Greg Kirkpatrick, and Alex Seropian released the first entry in the Marathon trilogy—roughly four years after Bungie was officially established. Released for the original Mac OS, the trilogy marked Bungie’s first real moment of fame. It was a first-person shooter set in a sci-fi universe with both compelling storytelling and exciting gameplay.
However, the thing that suddenly pushed Bungie into the spotlight wasn’t any of these features.
When the third installment of the trilogy was released, players encountered a critical bug that became the biggest crisis in Bungie’s history. If triggered, the bug didn’t just delete the game—it wiped the entire hard drive of the user. This catastrophic error sparked outrage from all sides. Bungie urgently needed a powerful team with the knowledge and financial means to help fix the issue. That’s when Microsoft, the software giant, stepped in and proposed a historic deal: We’ll help you solve this problem, if you make an exclusive game for our new Xbox console.
Naturally, Bungie agreed. The result was the creation of the legendary Halo franchise—and the rest, as they say, is history.
Reviving Marathon After 30 Years
Nearly 30 years have passed since the original Marathon trilogy, and Bungie is now owned by Sony. While the Halo series appears to have reached its end, its successor, Destiny, continues—eight years have passed since the launch of Destiny 2. Now, Bungie is ready to wipe the dust off the old Marathon name and bring it back to life in a brand-new way.
The newly announced Marathon is a multiplayer online extraction shooter where players must fight both environmental enemies (PvE) and other players (PvP). The story is set in the distant future, where the inhabitants of Tau Ceti IV have mysteriously disappeared. Nearby human colonies have since replaced their mortal bodies with cybernetic ones, becoming Runners hired by corporations to extract, steal, and survive.
You choose from a set of unique heroes, each with their own traits, and join your squad to fight for survival. Depending on your playstyle, you can use team-based or solo strategies, taking roles like support, assault, or even go rogue. Betraying teammates is even an option if you want to take all the credit for yourself.
The Trailer and Early Reactions
Ever since Bungie officially released the game’s cinematic trailer, conversations have been heating up among gamers, critics, YouTubers, streamers, and the media. Some longtime fans were excited to see the return of Bungie’s classic roots, while others responded with cautious criticism.
Fortunately, alongside the trailer, gameplay footage and early impressions from critics who were invited to Bungie have also been released—giving us a better idea of what to expect.
GameSpot’s Tamoor Hussain: “Great Gameplay, Weak Narrative”
Tamoor Hussain, senior editor at GameSpot, spent around 7 hours playing Marathon. His verdict?
“If you love Bungie for its gameplay, you’ll like Marathon. If you love Bungie for its stories, you probably won’t.”
He praised the fluid, satisfying gunplay but noted that it lacks that “sharp hook” to keep players emotionally invested. He described it as a solid, standard extraction shooter, but not compelling enough to pull people away from their current multiplayer favorites. He compared Marathon’s weak story to the early days of Destiny 1 and 2, which both started with shallow narratives and improved over time with updates.
Shroud: “Simplified Gameplay May Hurt Long-Term Appeal”
Popular streamer Shroud offered a different angle. Unlike Tamoor, Shroud focused his review on gameplay mechanics. Comparing it to Escape From Tarkov, he explained:
“Tarkov has tons of friction. It’s messy, brutal, and complex—but that’s why it’s so loved by its hardcore community.”
He pointed out that simplifying a game to attract more players often leads to short-lived appeal. In Marathon, for example, all item prices are displayed clearly, but in Tarkov, players learn item value over time through experience. That learning curve is what keeps players hooked.
The Balance Dilemma in Modern Multiplayer Games
Shroud’s critique touches on a key challenge in today’s multiplayer games: balancing simplicity and depth. For example:
- Fortnite removed complex weapon attachments but added building mechanics to maintain depth.
- PUBG allows average-skilled players to find strategic ways to win.
- But Marathon, being a shooter in a highly competitive and hardcore genre, risks alienating both ends of the spectrum.
If veteran players from games like Tarkov or Hunt: Showdown flood Marathon, it could become a hostile space for newcomers, even though Bungie designed it to be more accessible.
Sony’s Risky Investment and Bungie’s Pressure
Another challenge facing Marathon is Sony’s recent financial struggles. Sony acquired Bungie for around $3.6 billion three years ago, but so far the studio has dealt with layoffs and hasn’t generated the expected profit. Destiny 2 is still a success, but not enough to justify the full cost.
What’s worse, Sony’s recent $400 million investment in Concord was a disaster. So now both Bungie and Sony need Marathon to succeed—not just creatively, but financially. Whether or not that happens depends on whether Bungie listens to player feedback before the game launches in September—something they don’t seem eager to do.
Joe Ziegler Responds: “Marathon Isn’t Destiny 3”
Joe Ziegler, the game’s director, addressed fan concerns in an interview with GamesRadar. When asked about the game’s heavy PvP focus and the lack of PvE content, he said:
“We don’t expect Marathon to become Destiny 3. If you’re not into PvP, Marathon probably isn’t for you.”
That, combined with no free-to-play option, in-game purchases, and premium battle passes, puts Marathon in the same lane as Helldivers 2, Foamstars, and Concord—Sony-backed titles that have struggled, with only Helldivers still holding on. What saved Helldivers 2 was its player-respectful design: non-expiring battle passes and the option to unlock premium items through grinding, not just spending money.
Marathon: A Chance at Redemption
Marathon isn’t just a nostalgic return to Bungie’s roots. It’s a bold attempt to innovate within the extraction shooter genre. Led by Joe Ziegler and backed by a team of over 300 developers, Bungie is drawing on its legacy with Halo and Destiny to build a potentially major title for 2025.
This is Bungie’s opportunity to prove that it still knows how to create engaging multiplayer worlds that players want to explore for years to come.
Final Thoughts
As of now, Marathon looks like a fun, promising extraction shooter with a unique visual style and accessible design. But to become a landmark title for Bungie or Sony, it still needs a lot of work. Until we play the final version, it’s too early to pass judgment.
Still, we can hope Marathon becomes a commercial success, giving this legendary studio the momentum it needs to move forward—and giving players another great Bungie experience to enjoy.
Marathon will be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, and it will support cross-play and cross-save features.
