Bungie has revealed gameplay of its upcoming multiplayer first-person shooter Marathon, a reboot of its classic 1994 FPS franchise of the same name, offering early details about the game’s futuristic aesthetic and core gameplay loop.
First announced back in May 2023, Marathon will mark the next evolution for the franchise, although its premise is set to differ dramatically compared to the original 1994 game for the Apple Macintosh, which was an FPS centred on a security officer fighting aliens in space. The most notable change of all is the upcoming title’s genre, shifting from its more conventional shooter roots to a team-based extraction shooter with PvP and PvE elements.
As seen in its gameplay overview trailer, the title sports a striking neon aesthetic, an immediately noticeable departure from the studio’s previous work like Destiny and Halo. Players take on the role of Runners, cybernetic mercenaries controlling bio-synthetic shells to retrieve valuable items from an abandoned colony on the planet of Tau Ceti IV.
Much like many recent games of the type, Marathon will feature different Runners with their own personalities, with players able to choose their loadout and upgrades to build characters to match their playstyle. Matches play out between up to 18 players spread across three-man crews, with teams exploring and looting items across the map while fending off AI-controlled enemies and other teams. Each round has a time limit, with the goal to extract as much loot as possible to use for subsequent runs.
While all this might seem pretty bog-standard for anyone with experience playing extraction shooters, the game does try to shake things up by adding special equipment and abilities to freshen up gameplay with a tactical element, such as cloaking for stealth, a pulse that reveals objects of interest and a shield for defence.
In an overly saturated market of extraction shooters, only time will tell if Marathon will do things differently enough to stand out from the crowd, with the game targeting a 23 September 2025 release for the PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, with eager players able to join the game’s community Discord channel for a chance to participate in early playtests.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
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