REVIEW: Marathon (PS5)

Bungie built its reputation on Halo and spent over a decade with Destiny. Now it’s back with Marathon, a full-price extraction shooter set in a sci-fi universe that demands patience, rewards persistence, and will absolutely not be for everyone. After spending a few weeks with it, here’s where things stand.

Marathon drops you into Tau Ceti IV as a Runner, a mercenary-class android, where you gear up, drop into a map, scavenge for loot, complete contracts, and try to extract alive. It’s a straightforward premise on paper, but the systems layered around that loop are anything but. The gunplay is sharp, the tension is real, and there are genuinely exciting moments buried in here. Getting to them, however, requires a meaningful investment of time and patience.

Story

Marathon takes a lore-first approach to world-building that will feel familiar to Destiny veterans and alienating to almost everyone else. There are no cutscenes. Instead, the story unfolds through faction contracts, item descriptions, and short lore entries you read after completing runs. It’s an exposition-light style that asks you to piece things together gradually rather than being told anything directly.

It works better the deeper you go. Starting contracts for the Traxus faction, for example, is where the world starts to feel like it has real texture. Small environmental details, like a cat figurine that turns out to be AI-placed to stop colonists feeling lonely, add genuine character to Tau Ceti IV. But the overall narrative asks a lot for relatively modest payoff, at least in the early hours. If you’re someone who wants a story delivered to you rather than hunted down, Marathon is going to be a tough sell on this front.

Gameplay

The core loop is where Marathon earns its keep. Drop in, scavenge, fight, extract. The tension that comes from loading out with good gear and trying to survive long enough to bring it home is genuinely compelling. A strong PvE AI keeps constant pressure on you, and that noise draws attention from other player squads. The result is a game that rarely lets you feel comfortable, and that’s by design.

Weapons are a highlight. Early impressions suggested the guns felt too samey, but more time with the game reveals clear differences in playstyle. The Overrun AR is satisfying to use against both AI and players alike. The BRRT SMG suits fast, aggressive players, while the Hardline PR rewards more disciplined trigger control. Building loadouts around attachments and implants is genuinely enjoyable once the system clicks.

The problems mostly live outside the gunfights. The UI is cluttered and takes time to parse. Item descriptions lack clarity, and most loot sorting ends up coming down to colour tier rather than informed decision-making. The skill tree doesn’t offer defined paths, which blunts the excitement of progression. Objective markers can also be frustratingly hard to locate, shifting the tension from exciting to irritating. These aren’t minor complaints. They affect the experience regularly enough to matter.

Solo players have the option of Rook, a dedicated mode where you drop into an in-progress match as a lightweight Runner Shell with a basic kit and two abilities: invisibility and gradual health recovery. It plays more like a single-player survival experience than a standard extraction run, and it’s a surprisingly effective addition for players who aren’t ready for the full squad experience.

That said, Marathon is at its best with a coordinated squad. Playing with randoms who don’t communicate almost guarantees a bad run, and the game doesn’t do much to bridge that gap beyond proximity chat, which most players seem to ignore anyway.

Visuals

The maps are functional rather than spectacular. Perimeter and Dire Marsh, the two beginner-tier maps, are serviceable but unremarkable. The real visual and structural improvement comes with Outpost, a night-set UESC facility with vertical encounters and more dynamic gunfights. The problem is that Outpost doesn’t unlock until level 12, which means players have to commit significant time before the game’s most interesting environment opens up.

The Runner Shells have distinct visual identities, though balance is uneven. The Assassin’s invisibility feels overpowered, and the Thief’s wall-vision ability can feel oppressive. These will be tuned over time, but right now the visual fantasy of each Shell doesn’t quite match the functional reality.

Overall, Marathon has a consistent and reasonably distinctive visual style. It doesn’t push PS5 hardware particularly hard, but it’s clean and readable, which matters in an extraction shooter.

Conclusion

Marathon is a game that improves the more time you put into it, and that’s precisely why it won’t land with a broad audience. The gunplay is genuinely strong, the tension of a good run is real, and there’s a satisfying loop buried underneath the friction. But the UI needs work, the progression lacks clarity, and the story demands more effort than it currently returns.

Bungie has a roadmap in place. Season 1 brings ranked modes, new weapons, and an in-game event, with Season 2 adding a new map and further systems in June. Whether that support is enough to build a sustained player base remains to be seen.

If you’re willing to sit with it, learn its rhythms, and ideally bring friends, there’s a solid shooter here. If you’re looking for something more immediately accessible, Marathon will frustrate before it rewards.

Marathon Pricing & Availability

Marathon is available now for €39.99 on the PlayStation Store for PS5. It is also available on Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam.