{"id":5266,"date":"2026-03-04T06:22:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T06:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beteja.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/04\/marathon-isnt-a-bad-game-but-it-is-a-tragic-one\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T06:22:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T06:22:34","slug":"marathon-isnt-a-bad-game-but-it-is-a-tragic-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beteja.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/04\/marathon-isnt-a-bad-game-but-it-is-a-tragic-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Marathon isn’t a bad game, but it is a tragic one."},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

No game is currently as hotly debated as Bungie\u2019s Marathon. We\u2019ve already played it extensively and can well understand the controversy.<\/p>\n

It seems easy to hang Marathon out to dry. For months, it has been scaring people away with its unusual look, and Bungie is obviously chasing the current extraction shooter trends, charging an entry price of $40 on top of all the microtransaction hype after release.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s just the tip of an iceberg that has been growing for months. Marathon already had a plagiarism scandal, emergency brakes had to be pulled and massive changes announced even before release, and many fans suspect another Concord or Highguard disaster. And Bungie\u2019s reputation is already at a record low: after massive layoffs and major mistakes with new updates and DLCs, Destiny 2 is in worse shape than ever before.<\/p>\n

Marathon is currently free to play<\/strong>. In the so-called Server Slam, you can explore three maps of the extraction shooter in almost their entirety a few days before release. And many people are angry. YouTube is full of headlines like \u201cGame Over for Marathon,\u201d \u201cBungie\u2019s Downfall,\u201d and \u201cDisgusting Slop.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there is also opposition \u2013 and plenty of it. Many fans are defending Marathon tooth and nail, praising the game\u2019s strengths and resisting premature judgment based on all the bad omens. It\u2019s been a long time since a shooter has been so hotly debated in the community.<\/p>\n

And that naturally makes me curious! So I dive into Server Slam myself and, after a weekend, already have almost 10 hours of playtime under my belt. And indeed, I\u2019ve found much more enjoyment than expected<\/strong>. And significantly more problems than hoped for.<\/p>\n

Important disclaimer<\/strong>: I am only reviewing the current free Server Slam, which is essentially an open beta immediately prior to release. A proper review with a rating will only be available once we can play the actual full version after March 5, 2026. Nevertheless, Marathon will logically not change radically in the next few days, so a lot can already be deduced about the final launch version from the Server Slam. border-left: gray 1px solid\u201d height=\u201d315\u2033 src=\u201dhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uiUSN0IWcno\u201d frameborder=\u201d0\u2033 width=\u201d560\u2033 allowfullscreen=\u201dallowfullscreen\u201d><\/p>\n

Marathon\u2019s problems: Menus<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s talk about the tragic side first: Technically, Marathon is Bungie\u2019s worst game \u2013 by far. Apart from the actual gunplay (more on that in a moment), I have to search with a magnifying glass for the production genius that made Halo so immortal and Destiny so successful. Sure, I\u2019ll find it somewhere in the nooks and crannies, but Marathon has forgotten so much of what Halo knew over 25 years ago.<\/p>\n

A concrete example: everything in Marathon that has to do with conveying information is a disaster. Many people will run away screaming within the first 20 minutes because of this. And I\u2019m not just talking about the menus, but also the menus.<\/p>\n

Somehow, all AAA shooter studios seem to be forgetting how good menus work \u2013 we saw it with Call of Duty, Battlefield 6, and now Marathon. You maneuver your way through a daunting jumble of ugly tiles, index cards, and incomprehensible icons. For example, this is what one of the upgrade screens looks like:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The story is presented in dull slideshow cutscenes or walls of text like this:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Sure, other extraction shooters don\u2019t necessarily shine as Spielbergian masterpieces of staging, but we\u2019re talking about a studio that 16 years ago staged the demise of Reach so unforgettably that you only have to show Halo fans a cracked helmet and they burst into tears.<\/p>\n

But the lousy menus are Marathon\u2019s smallest problem<\/strong>. As dull as everything may seem here, over time I learn the paths by heart and know how to get into the game. The big problems come after that.<\/p>\n

Marathon\u2019s problems: player guidance<\/h2>\n

All extraction shooters face the challenge of having to convey tons of information to their players in a flash. They enter a room and have to immediately see which cabinets, safes, and suitcases can be looted. They rummage through a shot enemy and have to immediately separate the wheat from the chaff, because the clock is ticking. While you\u2019re checking inventories, you yourself are a defenseless victim.<\/p>\n

Every extraction shooter deals with this in a different way. Hunt: Showdown almost completely dispenses with loot. Despite its sci-fi setting, Arc Raiders uses fairly classic designs \u2013 such as World War II-style weapons \u2013 to remain easy to understand. And Arena Breakout sorts enemy inventories into different areas so that I know immediately: I\u2019ll find ammunition in the chest rig, valuable stuff in the backpack, the helmet on the head, and so on.
Marathon simply throws everything together here. For comparison:<\/p>\n

To make matters worse, Marathon\u2019s minimalist art style means that I can\u2019t intuitively recognize what almost any of the icons are supposed to be. Here\u2019s an example of different weapon attachments side by side:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

I\u2019m giving you such a detailed explanation here to clearly illustrate that Marathon\u2019s broken information transfer is more than just poor interface design. It actively gets in the way of the game flow. And this loot presentation is just one problem among many. Here are a few (!) more examples:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Your teammates don\u2019t just have their names above their heads, but A1, B2, and C3. Which is doubly nonsensical, because there is no C1 or C2, so A, B, and C would be completely sufficient, and besides\u2026 just show me the names of my teammates so I can quickly assign callouts!<\/li>\n
  • When I activate an extract<\/strong>, I don\u2019t see a timer anywhere showing how many seconds until the exfiltration begins.<\/li>\n
  • Have fun finding the one terminal you need to hack for a quest in a gigantic facility full of flashing displays. You only get the quest marker<\/strong> when you\u2019re right in front of your target.<\/li>\n
  • One quest that is currently causing the community a lot of headaches: You are supposed to find rod items in the armory of a huge facility, but you a) don\u2019t know what an armory looks like, b) don\u2019t know what the item looks like, and c) don\u2019t know where it is.<\/li>\n
  • The\u00a0German translation\u00a0<\/strong>is still quite flawed. Even locations on the map are translated differently depending on the quest text.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    And I haven\u2019t even mentioned the elephant in the room<\/strong>: the art style, which takes some getting used to, along with the massive fog of war on all maps, means that in Marathon I often literally can\u2019t\u00a0see<\/em> what\u2019s going on. Everything flashes, sparkles, and beeps, the oversaturated colors create an incredibly restless image, and every game starts with such garish strobe effects that it feels like your graphics card is about to burn out. People in my squad actively get headaches from Marathon\u2019s color storm. And then many of the facilities you explore look pretty much the same.<\/p>\n

    Sure, these are all issues that you can mostly overcome with patience and a lot of memorization, but Marathon can\u2019t really afford so much friction in the first few hours of gameplay in such a highly competitive subgenre. And we\u2019re still not done with the problems yet.<\/p>\n

    The problems with Marathon: Balance<\/h2>\n

    Marathon works best when it\u2019s allowed to be what it wants to be: a fast-paced loot shooter with a focus on exciting PvP battles, in which Bungie\u2019s gunplay can show why it\u2019s among the best in the genre. Currently, however, the uneven balance still stands in the way of this too much.<\/p>\n

    An example: Marathon\u2019s AI opponents hit like Mike Tyson in the 90s. Unlike in Arc Raiders, bots are not really the focus of the game; they are just there to distract you a little, as they hardly drop any interesting loot. But they pursue you relentlessly, often spawn right next to you, and laser you like the Death Star, so that in many matches you have already used up all your shield and healing items before you encounter the first real human.<\/p>\n

    All environmental hazards in Marathon seem overpowered in terms of their \u201clethality.\u201d For example, if you stumble into a poisonous plant during a battle, you might as well pack it in. Don\u2019t get me wrong: an extraction shooter can of course offer deadly surroundings, but Marathon\u2019s PvP battles are already so intense with an extremely low \u201ctime to kill\u201d that it\u2019s incredibly frustrating how often I die due to environmental bad luck, for example because some bot has spawned behind me again.<\/p>\n

    And why is it still fun despite that?<\/h2>\n

    I deliberately listed all these problems in great detail first to make it clear that I\u2019m not just some deluded fanboy when I say:\u00a0I like Marathon<\/strong>. I really like Marathon. So much so that I actually want to keep playing without interruption.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

    Because after the first few hours of getting used to it, all the construction sites and problems fade away and the game can show off its real strengths:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • The look<\/strong>: Yes, the art design, which takes some getting used to, may have a negative effect on player guidance and visibility, but I think it\u2019s great how fresh Marathon feels within the shooter sci-fi genre. The whole style is strongly reminiscent of the old System Shocks, with over-stylized hacker punk instead of the usual military gray-brown.<\/li>\n
    • The atmosphere<\/strong>: Especially when playing solo, Marathon sometimes feels like half a horror game. As in Armored Core 6, I act as a robot shell, interacting only with spider-like, faceless megacorps on a deserted colony somewhere in no man\u2019s land. If you pause and take a look at the stories the environment actually tells, you\u2019ll find an amazingly exciting game world.<\/li>\n
    • PvP<\/strong>: The shootouts in Marathon are great fun, and Bungie\u2019s strengths here are just as evident as they were in Halo. Each weapon has clear strengths and weaknesses, the \u201ctime to kill\u201d is quite low, and the game is really good in human-versus-human multiplayer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      In general, Marathon hits a sweet spot for me that no other extraction shooter can match: thanks to the fast movement and even faster shooting, the matches are much more entertaining than Arena Breakout or Tarkov, and I also prefer the PvP focus to the cozy PvE pacifism of Arc Raiders. The maps strike a nice balance between large and compact, allowing me to quickly get into the action, but also to avoid it if I want to. Marathon is a really good and fresh shooter, but that\u2019s the tragedy: many people will never get to see it because all the problems (understandably) scare them away. What\u2019s more, I\u2019m very skeptical that the game will be able to find its place in the competitive extraction shooter landscape with such major points of friction, a steep entry price, a look that takes some getting used to, and competition that \u2013 and I\u2019m speculating here that the server slam issues won\u2019t be fixed in four days \u2013 has had a much smoother launch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      No game is currently as hotly debated as Bungie\u2019s Marathon. We\u2019ve already played it extensively and can well understand the controversy. It seems easy to hang Marathon out to dry. For months, it has been scaring people away with its unusual look, and Bungie is obviously chasing the current extraction shooter trends, charging an entry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[4943,206,4071,943,5193],"class_list":{"0":"post-5266","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-esports","8":"tag-bad","9":"tag-game","10":"tag-isnt","11":"tag-marathon","12":"tag-tragic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beteja.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beteja.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beteja.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beteja.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beteja.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/beteja.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beteja.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beteja.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beteja.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beteja.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}