Say what you will about Bungie, Destiny 2, the studio’s ups and downs through the years, and whatnot, but Marathon saw various impressions over the weekend. Based on its classic sci-fi FPS trilogy, the predecessor to Halo, this marked the first gameplay reveal. However, the team went further, announcing that Marathon would launch on September 23rd for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.
The brilliance of the cinematic short, written and directed by Albert Mielgo, earned universal praise. The mood around the gameplay is a different story altogether. Some praised the art direction; others found the assets flat and the smattering of colors unusual. Content creators lauded the gunplay and responsiveness, and considering the studio’s pedigree, you can at least be assured that pulling the trigger in Marathon will feel good.
However, others noted the lack of narrative, with Bungie itself confessing (at least per Skill Up) that there isn’t much story right now and that it would evolve with time. Character progression is tied to completing missions for factions and slightly improving your character’s actions. They don’t seem particularly at odds – forget their relative aim, you don’t even really interact with them, much less other players outside of matches.
Granted, all of these impressions are based on an alpha build, and there’s still plenty that Bungie could add or change in time for launch, which leads to another stickler – the price. Marathon isn’t a free-to-play title, but it’s also not full-priced (whether that means $60 or $70 is unknown). Its retail price is unknown, with more details coming this Summer, but the monetization is set, with a Battle Pass and seasonal model in place.
As director Joe Ziegler explained in the Friends Per Second Podcast regarding the decision not to go free-to-play, “Everyone’s got their own definition of the right price.” However, that’s doubly so when it comes to value. Some people may enjoy Marathon at launch even though it will only have six playable characters and three maps, with a fourth arriving after, which is valid.
It’s just as valid for fans and newcomers alike to look upon the current work and mildly despair for lack of content or game-changing features, much less anything that really sets it apart from the crowd outside of its visual style.
As someone who poured over a thousand hours, maybe more, into Destiny 1, and hundreds of hours into Destiny 2, Marathon isn’t necessarily meant for me, and Bungie acknowledges that. It advises against jumping in if you’re looking for a PvE-only experience since you eventually have to fight other players. There are some PvE elements since you can battle hostile NPCs and complete random field objectives, but it’s a far cry from the current structure in Destiny 2.
I’m not necessarily complaining because, despite all the doom and gloom post-The Final Shape, it’s still getting content updates and “expansions,” even if raids and long cinematic campaigns may be a thing of the past.
That’s not the biggest issue, though. Neither is the fact that PvP is much more grounded than the power fantasy in the Crucible or the lack of an underlying hook that really sets Marathon apart in today’s extraction shooter market. Or the fact that this has been in the works for over four years with more than 300 developers involved, among rumors of troubled development.
It’s that Bungie is shipping what’s seemingly the framework of a title, however nice it feels to play, and asking fans to foot the bill. No early access tag to tie it down and ensure some systemic level of obligation either (for whatever that’s worth in this day and age).
It sounds harsh but that’s pretty much what described the Year 1, Destiny 1 experience. Lackluster story, satisfying gameplay saddled with repetitive mission design and objectives, a laissez-faire faction system, and relatively simple character progression. Bungie can talk as much as it likes about building the game alongside players, taking feedback and whatnot, but charging them to essentially serve as testers is a little iffy.
And while Ziegler and his team are pretty upfront about what you should expect from Marathon at launch, plenty remains nebulous. The idea behind the seasonal model is that “every season should be a moment to go on adventures, commemorate them, and then, some of those commemorative elements you can use as expressive elements for yourself in the future, whether they be skins or titles or things like that as a new season starts – a new opportunity to go on a new adventure,” as told to GameSpot.
The onus is on the team to “make sure every adventure that every season offers is in and of itself different and feels different to create those new stories.” Let’s not get into the seasonal wipes where players’ inventories are reset to zero to ensure a clean slate.
Marathon could very well end up as one of Bungie’s biggest risks – not because of some major revolutionary feature that will forever change the genre (which it could very much do with). Instead, as a Destiny player from the outside looking in, it seems like yet another project that the studio wants you to stick with, through thick and thin, before it really becomes something. Anything.
If the first season doesn’t land, maybe you’re encouraged to stick around and see where things end up. Perhaps you’ll like certain elements, and they could improve with enough feedback. For all the backlash and outright hatred Bungie gets, it has shown a willingness to respond to player complaints, even if that can sometimes take months or years.
While there are plenty of negative reactions to Marathon for being an extraction shooter and yet another live-service title, which has been confirmed for a while, there’s also a significant section who are more confused than anything. Imagine newcomers watching that sleek cinematic and then watching the gameplay to see this basic-bones extraction shooter with a few intriguing mechanics (like not being able to immediately transfer items from other players’ death boxes, instead waiting for them to “decrypt”).
After a decade on the Bungie-certified rollercoaster across two titles and multiple expansions with dramatic upswings and mind-boggling dips, I’m unsure if I want to go again. However, that practice offers some kind of excitement for some long-term fans and new players – that they could indulge in something that feels good to play right now and will fundamentally improve with time. And credit where it’s due, Bungie does have a habit of pulling out the stops and surprising people, even when it’s seemingly on the back foot.
For the foreseeable future, I’m keen to take a “wait and watch” approach with Marathon. Forget its immediate competitors, who already have years of support and content to go with unique gameplay loops – it’s also competing against other major releases for your time and money. Whether its newness will be enough to carry the signature Bungie gunplay further into the future remains to be seen.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.