A Weekend Marathon with Marathon
Hands-On With Bungie’s Final Pre-Launch Beta
Over the weekend, Marathon, Bungie’s latest FPS extraction game, hosted a server slam to prep their servers for the game’s upcoming launch on March 5th. After PlayStation’s recent closure of Bluepoint Games, and Concord — one of the worst releases in video game history by Firewalk Studios — it’s probably safe to say this is Bungie’s last opportunity to get things together. Otherwise, Sony will probably come down on them hard. Fortunately, after checking out this weekend’s beta of Marathon, it’s clear that Bungie has a sleeper hit on their hands.
Marathon kicks things off by throwing you into a battle against bots that’s supposed to serve as a tutorial to the basic mechanics. With no difficulty options and aggressive enemies, I’m not ashamed to say I didn’t complete the tutorial. It was too unforgiving since you had to start over at the very beginning every time your character died. That turned me off and made me question if this was for me, but thankfully you could skip it. Hopefully, they’ll bake the tutorial into a real-stakes mission in the future instead of isolating it like this.
After the tutorial, you’re placed into some overly complicated menus that expand the lore through cinematic videos as you navigate between screens showcasing different characters you’ll be completing contracts for. Contracts are Marathon’s in-game missions. Each person on your squad has their own, so depending on how greedy you are, you may try to complete everyone’s contract — or maybe you’ll tackle one and extract early. Either way, you have 25 minutes to decide how to play things out. With unpredictable AI and other players in the mix, chances are you’ll dip out way before the 25 mins are up. Most of my games lasted about 15–20 mins unless things went catastrophically wrong and my entire team was dead within the first 5. These moments are what make Marathon feel special.
Although this was just a beta, there was still a lot of content to explore. There were two maps available before matchmaking, with a third teased but grayed out. There were about 6 different characters referred to as “shells.” Each shell has unique special abilities that activate over time, along with a passive that can trigger more frequently. For example, the shell I used could temporarily sprint faster, whip out a shield to block incoming damage, and unleash several homing rockets after dealing enough damage.
And although you lose everything upon death, successful extractions reward you with permanent perks if you collect the required materials. That gives you even more incentive to bounce immediately after finding key items instead of digging yourself into a hole you might not climb out of.
This is where Marathon really shines. You search for materials or tackle contracts within large zones packed with randomness. Areas have multiple layers to explore — buildings with upper floors, hidden lower levels, and AI bots spawning from drop ships sporadically to keep you on your toes. Contract checkpoints drop in additional threats, and all of this happens while the extraction timer ticks down. It constantly makes you rethink your next move.
Ammo and rations are scarce. Throughout most of my runs, my team and I were desperately looting for meds or dropping ammo for each other. You’ll probably survive the first few fights against waves of bots, but eventually resources run thin. And that’s when Marathon’s biggest wild card enters the picture: other teams.
In a world where you’re listening to every footstep and distant gunshot, you’re forced to make judgment calls about whether to trust other players. In some sessions, other teams were chill. They dropped resources, gave us hints, or helped us complete contracts. Most times, they were ruthless. On sight, they’re gunning for you. Resources are limited, so people want as much as possible for themselves. Some players’ contracts even require them to eliminate other squads.
In one game, my squad ran into another team of three and a solo player at the same time. Everything was fine initially. The team helped us complete a contract while the solo player barely spoke and just moved around quietly. They weren’t AFK, but they weren’t engaging either. Marathon’s proximity chat creates fun moments when meeting other teams — but once that squad left and got out of chat range, the lone player gunned us all down and left us for dead. After that, you start playing a lot more careful.
Marathon’s server slam open beta showed serious promise. The servers didn’t show signs of lag, none of my games disconnected, and everything felt responsive. I didn’t feel outmatched by PC players while playing on PlayStation. Matchmaking was quick, and everyone I randomly got paired with was cool. There were minor bugs — like quest items occasionally not appearing — but nothing critical.
All in all, it was a strong glimpse into the depth of the lore and left me confident in the game’s potential. Bungie is known for building expressive, unique worlds in Destiny, so I’m not surprised they’re delivering a balanced PvPvE experience here with Marathon. Hopefully Sony remains a believer after this weekend’s beta.
Marathon releases on March 5th.
