Let's Sperg Marathon 2025 - Bungie's new AAAA Extraction shooter

[ScurvyRat]

Bungie is at it again, bringing a pre-Halo lore game to a post-Halo world.

Marathon 2025 is an extraction shooter, based on the lore from the classic Marathon Trilogy from 1994.

There was an attached ARG leading up to the release of the teaser trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwlrL6FURy0

It seems like they're staying consistent in the lore established in the original trilogy. You play as one of 4 named "runners" who are also androids. Tying this into the lore, its possible the runners are working for a rampant AI fighting for/against UESC, which also explains the life/death cycle. Also from the trailers, you can identify the original "Marathon" space station, which is a hollowed out moon of Deimos.

Opinions are pretty split, people ranging from excited and optimistic, to comparing the game to recent massive flop, Concord, based on the hero-shooter feel and the general aesthetic. Others on X and in comment sections are comparing the animations to Destiny 2, some claiming they're re-using animations.

Trailers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvbEnWLRo1s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZRGDZCl9pg

The game is currently about to enter Closed Alpha, allowing applications via its discord server.
So will the game be trash? Good? AAAA slop? The next best extraction shooter? Will Bungie be able to do what CoD failed to do, by bringing the extraction shooter genre to the mainstream?

 

[Breadbassket]

Curious to see how this game will perform considering what happened with Destiny 2.

 

[Not A 3.14]

Concord 2 baybee let's go!

 

[ScurvyRat]

Also linking video from YT channel Riloe, who got to play the game with the devs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZqoVNjfOHo

 

[Daddy's Angry Juice]

I hated it when it was announced, but honestly, I actually like what I saw. Looks like a fun shooter and Im personally a fan of the minimalistic/flat/apple aesthetics, its not something you see very often and if it has a solo mode I might consider picking it up, still have absolutely no idea why the fuck they wanted to call this Marathon tho, it really doesnt appeal to anyone, plus they already proved they can just release a new IP and have it be successful with Destiny. Anyways, looks good, hope it doesnt suck.

 

[ScurvyRat]

if it has a solo mode I might consider picking it up,

Solo mode is confirmed, but they want you play as a 3 stack, by design

still have absolutely no idea why the fuck they wanted to call this Marathon tho, it really doesnt appeal to anyone, plus they already proved they can just release a new IP and have it be successful with Destiny. Anyways, looks good, hope it doesnt suck.

There is a lot of lore and love that the Bungie devs have with this setting. It is technically the same setting as Halo.
The first Marathon, especially, was a labor of love that they put way, way too much effort into for what was essentially a Doom clone.

 

[The Last Stand]

I thought Marathon was canceled and evolved into Halo proper. I guess I was wrong.

 

[Daddy's Angry Juice]

Solo mode is confirmed, but they want you play as a 3 stack, by design

There is a lot of lore and love that the Bungie devs have with this setting. It is technically the same setting as Halo.
The first Marathon, especially, was a labor of love that they put way, way too much effort into for what was essentially a Doom clone.

i didnt even know there were still bungie employees that worked on those games.

 

[Dan of Steel]

Artstyle looks like completely uninspired slop, looks more like Overwatch 3 than a modern Marathon sequel. If Jason Jones and Greg Kirkpatrick aren't involved then I'm not interested. This goes to a larger problem with gaming/media as a whole, nothing can just fucking die and stay dead. The Marathon trilogy was a cool niche trilogy of shooters that has its place in history and still has its fans. I learned about them in the early 2000s thru Aleph One, and I think they're great games, but they don't need a sequel. How much blood from the stone of the Marathon IP do Bungie's shareholders think they can extract out of it by slapping the Marathon IP on a new game? Also the new Marathon logo looks like shit too.

 

[ScurvyRat]

If Jason Jones and Greg Kirkpatrick aren't involved then I'm not interested.

Jason Jones is still listed as Bungie's CVO

This goes to a larger problem with gaming/media as a whole, nothing can just fucking die and stay dead. The Marathon trilogy was a cool niche trilogy of shooters that has its place in history and still has its fans. I learned about them in the early 2000s thru Aleph One, and I think they're great games, but they don't need a sequel.

Seems like it's taking place in parallel with the first game, possibly the 2nd game. Considering how there's more than half a dozen timelines, there's a lot of possibility for the lore.

How much blood from the stone of the Marathon IP do Bungie's shareholders think they can extract out of it by slapping the Marathon IP on a new game?

The core gameplay loop of the runners dying and reviving at the whim of the Rampant AI, ties directly into Marathon: Infinity. That, including the hollowed out Deimos tells me that the lore is front and center in this project.

Also the new Marathon logo looks like shit too.

Old on the left, new on the right.

The old logo had some problems with copyright, I know it was ALL over the old halo games, but that has mostly been scrubbed.

 

[Nicholas Gur]

Every time modern bungie makes a pvevp mode in their games everyone hates it and it flops, now they want to make a full game on the premise and charge for it. What the -Blam!- are they thinking?

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole 2]

Artstyle looks like completely uninspired slop,

I think they're going for a kind trendy 90's Designers Republic etc kind of style. I liked the announce trailer because of that, it was quaint and fun to look at for a 3 minutes but I can't imagine that a huge amount of people would want to look at it for 300 hours. But what do I know, maybe it will do well.

 

[DeadwastePrime]

i mean if they can pull it off and the game is good and not complete shite, by all means best of luck to them

 

[OutInTheRain]

I don't really like the art style, and absolutely hate the colors of everything. No one wants to play hideous characters. You have to have that power fantasy where you can look like a badass, or else what is the point? How do you do progression? Get new armor? Who cares you still look gay and ugly. No one wants to look like a rave reject as designed by an acid trip.

 

[ScurvyRat]

I don't really like the art style, and absolutely hate the colors of everything. No one wants to play hideous characters. You have to have that power fantasy where you can look like a badass, or else what is the point? How do you do progression? Get new armor? Who cares you still look gay and ugly. No one wants to look like a rave reject as designed by an acid trip.

Exact same art director as Concord btw
Joseph Cross

 

[Cat tit bingo]

As someone who adores marathon I have zero expectations. It's neet that you play as battleroids, corpse cyborgs, and there seems to be a flippy shotgun so there some connections but the actual game has very little of what I loved in the original trilogy. The tag line "escape will make me god" is invoking recon 54's ascension in infinity and duruandals goal of escaping the end of the universe but that stuff was so incredible and impactful because how the story was told not just the content of the story. Its literally impossible to recapture what made marathon so incredibly special. It's funny, almost every bungie space game is connected to marathon but when they finally said fuck it and made another marathon game its the least marathon feeling of all of them. I don't know maybe If they still had a crack house behind there studio they could recapture those creative juices.
The only thing that could possibly win me over is that when they inevitably add a level on the marathon you have to ask out loud for duruandal to open every single door you pass though. That and also getting craig Mullens to make so art for the game, even if it's just small promo stuff

The old logo had some problems with copyright, I know it was ALL over the old halo games, but that has mostly been scrubbed.

pretty sure the issue with the halo games was not wanting the logo connected to 343 and Microsoft, now It could be a problem with warhammer since the tau logo is identical. They'd probably be fine since marathon predated the tau by a decade but I could understand just not wanting to deal with it.

 

[Mary the Goldsmith]

I want it to be good but the concord art director is a massive red flag.

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

That sounds familiar.

Smash JT: Is Marathon the Next Concord? (archive)



Hands up, don't shut!

 

[ScurvyRat]

As someone who adores marathon I have zero expectations.

As someone who has really barely touched the games, I feel the same.
As someone who was hopelessly addicted to Tarkov for years, I have the itch that can only be filled by a butthole clenching extract with high value.

I want it to be good. But the tranny marks are all over this game.

With 18 players in a map, they're going to need a LOT of players to hit critical mass

 

[ShahOfIran1979]

From what I know, there are very few devs left from even the later Bungie-Halo days. I know for a fact that they got rid of the two legendary composers (Marty O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori) even though they were some of the best in gaming. They might as well be a different studio now.