After “going dark” over a year ago, Bungie is again talking about Marathon—the PvP extraction shooter based on its ’90s classic—although it hasn’t brought along the gameplay footage it promised, and is being about as vague as you can be while still technically using words in an order that conveys meaning.
In the development update video embedded below, game director Joe Ziegler—who we learned earlier this year has replaced Marathon’s previous director—embraces the Halloween spirit by vamping for 10 minutes, first describing what an extraction shooter is, then describing the concept of loot and gear and loadouts, and later revealing that Marathon will feature “objectives.”
We do technically learn one detail: If you fail to extract, you’ll lose “the things you have on you,” which isn’t always the case in more casual extraction shooters. Ziegler also reveals some character art: The first is a runner codenamed “Thief,” whose abilities Ziegler says have resulted in “hilarious” and “crazy” moments—which he declines to describe—and the second character is codenamed “Stealth.” That one’s stealthy. (I assume the thief character is stealthy too, but who can say?)
The most substantial part of the update is Ziegler’s impression of where Marathon’s development is at right now. Back in May 2023, Bungie said that it would resurface when it had gameplay to show, but alas, there is no gameplay to show. Ziegler says that Bungie has been testing (including with players from outside of Bungie) and iterating heavily over the past two years, and that while the environments are “starting to come together in a really really beautiful way,” player and enemy models are less refined, and Bungie isn’t ready to show everything together.
This could all be a smoke screen for a surprise Game Awards reveal in December, but it seems more likely that we won’t hear anything more until sometime next year. Ziegler says that Marathon’s ongoing playtests will be expanded in 2025, and for now, you can wishlist the game on Steam if you want.
Although Destiny 2’s latest expansion was excellent, Bungie had been having a rough time since its acquisition by Sony, facing declining revenue, mass layoffs, and diminishing independence. A Destiny spin-off was reportedly cancelled earlier this year to direct more resources to Marathon.
It’s a little concerning that there’s no gameplay to show, but at least it sounds like there’s lots of community playtesting and feedback going on behind the scenes. Sony’s still feeling the hurt from Concord, which appeared out of nowhere, got just a couple brief playtests, and then went right back to where it came from. It’s probably reasonable to expect Sony and Bungie to steer the other way for Marathon, with some extended public test period before it’s deemed ready to go. Maybe next year.
