As a Marathon fan, here’s what I like and dislike about the new game

Marathon is a sport collection by Bungie which will sound acquainted to those that performed first-person shooters on their Mac OS computer systems within the mid-Nineteen Nineties. Recognized by some on the time as ‘Doom on Mac, with sci-fi’, Marathon was a giant hit with gamers, due to its enjoyable marketing campaign mode, good enemy AI, and a story that saved you guessing all through.

So it was a shock when Bungie introduced a brand new Marathon in 2020 as an internet PvP FPS. As an alternative of a marketing campaign, gamers should drop right into a match, work with others, and be extracted safely with the loot intact. With a launch date of March 5, right here’s what I like and don’t like from the sport thus far, from somebody who has performed the earlier three titles.

Bungie clearly needed to go for a design in Marathon that extra mirrored the journal adverts of the late 90s, with brilliant colors, sharp-angled objects, and much extra. In each screenshot and piece of gameplay footage, you possibly can see how clear the person interface is, leading to a glance that feels fashionable but distinctive, setting it aside from different titles like Highguard.

Granted, it doesn’t really feel like an evolution from earlier Marathon video games, however that’s seemingly the purpose. Having performed these, you bought the sense that they have been closely impressed by Doom and System Shock. However for this new entry, Bungie is ensuring {that a} vibrant, trendy palette defines Marathon for 2026.

Again when Marathon was obtainable as an early entry title in April 2025, many gamers, myself included, have been vocal about its faults. The enemy AI wasn’t difficult sufficient, and there have been frequent glitches. There have been additionally too many uninteresting areas within the maps and barely any story, which took away what made Marathon nice to play again within the day.

However Bungie, because it has with the Halo and Future video games, took all of the criticism on board, and in July 2025, declared a mantra to give attention to varied issues. Quick ahead to 2026, and it seems to be like a much better sport, with an even bigger narrative focus, an easy-to-read person interface, and each map feeling extra assorted. It’s solely energised the hype as we method its March 5 launch.

Runners are a giant a part of what makes Marathon so enjoyable to play. There are 4 to select from, referred to as Blackbird, Glitch, Locus, and Void, every with particular person roles. This consists of skills resembling overcharging weapons, leaving a holographic path of an enemy, activating stealth camouflage, and extra.

In comparison with earlier Marathon video games, the place you primarily performed as a shipboard safety officer, it’s definitely a distinct manner of coming again into the world. For an internet PvP FPS, nonetheless, it really works and is smart. Every of those runners provides selection and other ways of working with a group.

The shortage of a single-player marketing campaign is the most important downside to me. What all the time pulled me in with the earlier Marathon video games was nice story. You might work together with sure AI terminals that would information you as to what was taking place, or not taking place. It saved you guessing as you ran by corridors and swam by water.

Contemplating that is Bungie, identified for iconic marketing campaign modes in Halo and Future, it’s a disgrace that Marathon will launch in March with out one. Hopefully, there are plans for one, as earlier titles supplied narratives that set them aside from different first-person shooters. If there may be, Bungie might supply a Marketing campaign that’s fully completely different in comparison with different titles in 2026.

Regardless of Bungie being owned by Sony since 2020, it’s nice to see Marathon coming to Xbox Collection S/X consoles in March, in addition to PlayStation 5 and PC. Nevertheless, I’m baffled that it’s not coming to the Nintendo Change 2. Contemplating the console’s graphics chip is corresponding to a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, a part of the minimal specs for Marathon, it seems like a missed alternative.

Bungie has but to launch Future to the Change 2, nor any of its earlier catalogue. Having Marathon on Change 2 might have been an effective way to play the sport on the go, in addition to for these in a position to play it on a Steam Deck. As somebody who takes their Change 2 wherever they go, it might have been nice to play Marathon on the practice. Alas, it’s seemingly not meant to be.

In equity, Marathon exhibits loads of promise, and that’s helped by Bungie taking 2025’s criticisms on board, and basically re-announcing it for a March 5 launch. The graphics come out extra, the AI-characters seem like they’re extra forceful as allies and enemies, ramping up the enjoyable, and each map has extra methods to achieve sure areas.

However I can’t assist however really feel {that a} massive a part of what made Marathon nice within the Nineteen Nineties remains to be lacking. Bungie might have given this title a very completely different identify, and gamers wouldn’t have seen. I can be enjoying the sport as soon as it’s out subsequent month, however I hope Bungie is trying right into a devoted single-player marketing campaign to mirror on Marathon’s narrative roots and why so many gamers acquired into the video games over 30 years in the past.