Marathon review – I could never get into Destiny 2, but this is another beast

If there’s a hall of fame with marble statues for FPS genre legends, then Bungie probably has one of the biggest on display. From Halo: Combat Evolved to Halo: Reach, that run of games delivers a generational slam dunk the likes of which we’ll probably never see emulated again. For the last decade, the studio has focused on the multiplayer juggernaut Destiny, which has never been boring, even if it’s a series I personally can’t quite crack, despite hours of trying and over six installs. While it might share some foundational DNA, the truth is that Marathon isn’t Destiny, and that’s a good thing.

With a complete aesthetic overhaul and a shift to the extraction shooter, you might know that Marathon is acting as both a soft reboot and a sequel to Bungie’s titular Mac OS shooter. The original is extremely linear, going for Doom-like gameplay and cold, metallic locales. Its enemies evoke the intergalactic threats of Dune, wielding spears and strange armors. The 2026 iteration overhauls things drastically. Set within the harsh world of Tau Ceti VI, you inhabit the role of a Runner, a cybernetically altered mercenary that aims to collect precious loot and information for multiple factions. Along the way, sentient AI foes and rival Runners are out to cut, shoot, and burn you down in hopes of stealing your goods.

Rather than create your own character like genre rival ARC Raiders, Marathon is all about role-based options called Shells. Each Shell operates similarly to an Apex Legends or Overwatch hero, bringing in unique abilities, passives, and buffs you’ll need to learn quickly. The Triage acts as your team’s healer, dishing out drones labeled Capacitive Gauntlets that attach to your squad-mates that can replicate the healing effects you’re using on yourself. Assassin’s toggle Active Camo to become invisible, Solid Snake style. Destroyers use their Riot Barricade shield to deflect an incoming hail of bullets and explosives. I’m still learning the ropes with them all, but it’s a thrill to see what does and doesn’t work between my friends and me.

If you love getting granular with gear, weapons, and statistics, then Marathon is a heaven for number nerds. The game breaks gear down into implants, consumables, attachments, and miscellaneous faction items. What I dig about guns here is that, despite offering different tiers, the base damage of a weapon isn’t necessarily determined by what color it is. The advantage is purely attachment and implant-based, favoring tactical decisions over sheer firepower. Of course, some weapons feel better than others to wield – there are nearly 30 of them, after all.

All of your stuff sits in the Vault, a safe space for swapping items in your loadout. You’re going to lose it all eventually, because that’s the nature of the game. The good thing is, like ARC Raiders, you can pick up a Sponsored Kit (a freebie loadout) to get yourself back in the fight. In Embark Studios’ shooter, losing doesn’t actually feel like defeat. That’s not necessarily the same in Marathon, and I don’t mind that at all. Marathon makes it clear it’s catering to more hardcore players, and I’m curious whether this more brutal attitude will persist over the coming months.

In Marathon’s early hours, the lack of PvP encounters is sorely absent. Instead, your efforts focus on dismantling every kind of robotic threat the UESC can hurl at you. And these guys are tough as nails. It absolutely rocks how fierce they can be, but the real kicker is how clever Bungie’s enemy AI behavior is. UESC enemies will fake proximity chatter to lure you into fights. They’ll keep you engaged with a barrage of soldiers, while silent and invisibility-cloaked stragglers get the drop on you in an instant. They’ll obliterate you, but turning them into junk parts is deeply satisfying.

When the game’s quests begin to expand, you’ll get access to the game’s other regions, and that’s where the real tension rears its head. Once you move on to Perimeter and Dire Marsh, you can traverse to Outpost, the game’s masterclass in pushing you to embrace the hunger for fights. It’s similar to ARC Raiders’ Stella Montis in this way, with its selection of ship interiors asking you to make hard choices. Do you pursue those gunshots down the hall, or do you abandon them in hopes of keeping your valuables? Or is there a reason they’re fighting? Perhaps there’s a gold-tier UESC bot that you could scoop up the rewards from? If you’re going to make a move, Outpost chooses to punish you in other ways.

Molten rain creates a Heat Cascade, burning up any Runners that decide to make their way through it. I’d love to see more of these weather hazards in other maps, as they spice up the tactical choices my squad and I have to make. It’s a puzzling map in terms of extraction, with fewer options for getting out. As we approach the launch of Cryo Archive, the game’s next map, I’m eager for the spike in difficulty it’s already suggesting. A level requirement of 25 and relationships established with all of its factions? That’s already a task that will take you hours.

Bungie often applies pure pressure, especially when you’re alone. Solo runs are pulse-pounding descents into the unknown, dripping in sweat. Every decision counts here. It isn’t just about dropping in for a friendly journey to complete a few easy objectives. It’s an often ruthless environment where Marathon’s sensational sound design comes out to play. A common complaint in FPS games, especially multiplayer titles, is that telltale signs like footsteps and world-based interactions can’t be accurately telegraphed.

You only need to play Call of Duty: Warzone to get a whiff of that kind of audio stink. Whether I’m playing through my SteelSeries headset or turning on my speakers, Marathon is an audio buffet I can’t stop gorging on. Due to the game’s favoring of mountainous locales, gunshots ring out from afar, soaring through the skies to let you know, and the high heavens know danger is ahead. Interiors are just as menacing, with doors opening, windows smashing, ladders climbing, and ventilation shafts dismantling, triggering my fight-or-flight response.

Even on the ROG Ally’s serviceable onboard speakers, it still sounds excellent. Asus’s portable gaming console is where I’ve been spending a lot of time in Marathon. After getting hands-on with it during my Marathon preview at the Server Slam, the signs were already there that it could hold its own against the ROG Ally in terms of performance. However, like the Server Slam, playing Marathon on handheld PCs right now isn’t entirely smooth. I already knew Marathon’s system requirements were on the beefier side. First of all, if you’re banking on 1080p, I’d temper your expectations.

Even with AMD FSR set to Performance on a 30W TDP, Marathon hovers in the low 30s frame rate-wise. Dropping to 720p makes things a bit steadier, with the framerate lingering in the 40s and peaking at 50fps during action. It doesn’t look entirely awful, thanks to the game’s exceptionally slick art direction. Changing to a lower TDP of 15W is still playable, although I’d probably toggle CPU Boost if you’re playing on ROG Ally handhelds. You can opt to use other tools like Lossless Scaling, at the risk of input latency spikes, with the LSFG 3.1 preset hitting 70 fps.

The bottom line with Marathon’s handheld PC performance is that it’s going to take a fair bit of meddling to find that sweet spot. I wouldn’t say it’s optimised incredibly well at the moment, and you’ll definitely struggle on the Steam Deck if Bungie ever breaks down the barriers for it to run on Valve’s console. It’s a shame that while Destiny 2 is older, it runs well on the other platforms like Asus’ ROG Xbox Ally. With future updates, I hope more consideration goes to handheld PC performance.

When I’m finding myself immersed in it beyond technical hiccups, there’s a lot to sink your teeth into if you’re like digging for secrets. Bungie resurrects the lore of previous entries, and in the developer’s traditional fashion, there’s a metric ton of stuff to research. There’s no traditional campaign to blast through. What you learn is all down to environmental storytelling, searching for clues, and piecing together the relationships between each faction.

Pre-release events like Marathon’s ARG serve as a testament to Bungie’s meddling, as the studio sits back doing its best Mr. Burns impression as players scramble to stitch together every possible clue. There’s a lot to chew on here, and I really dig that, despite the feeling of isolation Marathon’s gameplay hones in on, that the world itself feels extraordinarily lived in.

However, Bungie’s ‘throw it all at the wall’ approach can impose some daunting barriers to overcome, too. Just like Destiny, Marathon continues the tradition of minimal onboarding. The tutorial is brief and covers only the absolute basics. Because of that, it can often feel like Marathon is setting you up for failure. That’s because it’s mechanically and informationally dense, teaming with all sorts of gameplay trickery that you’ll likely miss in your first few hours of playing. I wouldn’t blame you if you resort to booting up a MrRoflWaffles guide to learn a couple of foundational tips.

Questing comes down to interacting with the game’s factions. Bungie splits Marathon’s skill trees across them, encouraging you to adapt and focus on what factions are going to benefit your playstyle. Most skills unlock new craftable items, while others increase traits like fall damage reduction or improved heat capacity for moveability. You can even choose to unlock boosts related to the current season. Most quests push the crumbs of lore you get forward, while others supplement how you interact with Marathon’s maps. There’s a surprising amount of challenges within the game’s Codex that reward exploration, NPC combat, and changing up the choice of weaponry. Because of this, I don’t feel that Marathon is as strong on ‘gear fear’ as other extraction shooters.

Unlocking spare guns and resources is quite common and also occurs with levelling up your faction rank. If you don’t like using a Sponsored Kit, then you’ve probably got heaps of guns ready to clear out of your Vault. To that end, I’m enjoying that Marathon pushes me to keep bringing in things, suggesting that I bet on my own success. It’s a small ego booster that feeds into the loop of its player psychology. As for the factions themselves, Bungie imbues them all with striking visual identities while relishing the horrors of corporations. It reminds me quite of the fictitious companies present in The Finals.

In my first hours with Marathon, I wasn’t sure if I actually liked it. Sure, the thrill of playing with my friends can do a lot of heavy lifting, but I found myself wondering whether it was fun. The truth is that Marathon can be enthralling and frustrating in the same moment, but that’s part of the learning curve. It’s a game that demands you meet it on its terms, and for a lot of players, that’s going to be a massive red flag. Marathon doesn’t care if you’re here for casual sessions after work, as it’s an experience with no interest in rewarding friendly players. You won’t find the pleasantries of ARC Raiders here. If you’re yapping on proxy chat, you’re probably catching a bullet next.

Yet, even when Marathon feels like it’s trolling me, I still want to push on and learn what I’m missing. For all of its barriers stopping you from engaging with its hostile nature, there’s no doubt about it: Marathon is one of the most sensational shooters I’ve played this decade. Bolstered by Bungie’s delicious gunplay, an engaging universe, and a steadfast commitment to embracing its niche, Marathon is a vital rejuvenation for the FPS space.