From Marathon to Halo to Destiny to Marathon

The name Bungie evokes mixed feelings in me. The first Halo games weren’t innovative at the time, but they made shooters playable on consoles and also managed to tell a good story. After handing over the series to Microsoft, they teamed up with Activision and created a new game: Destiny. A looter shooter with a deep backstory and a focus on multiplayer. The first videos had me excited, but due to a lack of a console, I didn’t get started until Destiny 2.

But before that, specifically between 1994 and 1997, Bungie had another franchise: Marathon. I personally didn’t know it and had never played it. Since the game was released exclusively on Mac at the time, its popularity was generally limited. The three games are now also available for free on Steam. Just search for Classic Marathon.

As is well known, Bungie’s current situation is a bit difficult. Destiny 2 no longer works well as a flagship title, especially since the story arc of Light and Darkness has concluded with The Final Shape. Many players are taking this opportunity to turn their backs on Destiny 2. Whether they will return with the next expansion is uncertain. What is certain, however, is that the game is currently almost impossible for newcomers to understand, and therefore struggles to attract new players. It’s probably thanks to Sony alone that Bungie isn’t in financial trouble yet.

Another flagship title is supposed to ease the situation. The dependence on Destiny alone forces Bungie into rigid structures on the one hand, and on the other, the entire studio hangs by a thread. A thread that is sometimes thicker, sometimes thinner, and cannot be stretched indefinitely. That’s why Bungie has dug up the Marathon brand and has been developing a new game in the series for several years.

From Single-player to Multiplayer

The first three Marathon games were single-player shooters in the style of Doom. Graphically quite impressive for their time, but of course, heavily outdated today. For the reboot, Bungie has decided to change the genre to an extraction shooter like Escape from Tarkov or Hunt: Showdown. As a player, you choose your gear before a round and are then dropped onto a map with two other players. The goal is to collect items and reach an extraction point with them. This is made more difficult by computer-controlled and human opponents. If you die, you lose the gear you brought and collected.

The game principle is exciting, but it also gets monotonous quite quickly. Dynamic events are supposed to liven things up a bit. Nevertheless, the maps are static, the points of interest hardly change, and the goal is always the same - escape alive. Sure, that can be fun, and there is a loyal player base for the genre. This group just isn’t huge, making the genre more of a niche. Other latecomers, like the now-discontinued The Cycle: Frontiers, also had to realize this, as they couldn’t hold their own against the aforementioned top dogs.

What’s Marathon’s Motivation to Switch?

That’s a difficult question to answer. Marathon’s only unique selling point seems to be its setting. While Escape from Tarkov is set in the present day and Hunt: Showdown in a mythical Wild West, Marathon is set in a science fiction environment. There are futuristic weapons, you play as a cyborg, and the graphics, apart from the vegetation, are very simple and colorful. The latter is at least unusual, but also takes some getting used to.

In the first videos, I, and many other players, didn’t see any standout mechanics. The most striking thing is the graphics. The colorful design is debatable, but the simple animations and slow flow are less well-received. With Destiny, Bungie already has a game with a great movement system. In Marathon, this was completely discarded and significantly slowed down. This certainly makes it more accessible, but also very similar to the competition. Gameplay-wise, I expect few differences from other extraction shooters.

My Prediction

The new Marathon is polarizing. The graphics are controversial and the mechanics show no innovation whatsoever. Bungie is known for good shooters, and the name certainly generates some appeal. But is that enough to make the game a success?

The extraction shooter niche is not for me. I played a few rounds of The Cycle: Frontiers and as a solo player, I didn’t have much fun. But I don’t see any unique selling point for Marathon apart from the science fiction setting. Is that enough to convince players to try the game? The extraction shooter market is small and already heavily occupied by two good games. Anyone who enjoys the genre is likely already playing one of those two games and has surely invested many hours and made a lot of progress.

I just can’t imagine what Marathon offers that would convince players in this market to give up their progress and switch to another game. I see nothing in Marathon that sets it apart from existing extraction shooters. Since the game will be a full-price title, costing at least 60 euros, the barrier to entry is also damn high. Just dipping your toes in is not an option.

As sorry as I am for Bungie: Marathon will not be able to establish itself in the market long-term. With a bit of luck, there will be an initial hype, although I can also imagine a launch similar to Concord’s. If Sony is just as decisive then and shuts down the game after a few weeks, things will look bleak for Bungie. And consequently, for Destiny 2 as well. So, I don’t actually want Marathon to be a flop. I just don’t see how Bungie can make the game a success.