Bungie, Inc. revealed their newest game “Marathon,” a reboot of the developer’s first-person shooter from the 90s on Saturday, April 12, Bungie, the same company that developed the beloved franchises “Halo” and “Destiny,” plans for it to become more popular than “Escape From Tarkov,” the extraction shooter currently dominating the market. This science-fiction, hero-based extraction shooter game is set to release in September with distinct differences from the original.
The game takes place on a distant, abandoned planet called Tau Ceti IV. Players can compete as one of six heroes across four maps – looting, surviving against aliens, discovering secrets and fending off against the other players trying to kill you and steal your gear. If you make it out alive, then you’ll be able to go into the next match with the loot you acquired, beat the harder bosses and hunt down other players to take what they found. The gameplay appears fast-paced, intense and, most importantly, fun. But with such a close release date and the closed alpha starting soon, some major concerns have come up.
Bungie has confirmed that the game will not be free. While the exact price hasn’t been announced yet, some reports estimate that it may cost around $40. In the 2025 gaming world, where many similar games come out free-to-play and then the developers profit off microtransactions within the game, asking players to cough up that high of a price point up-front may turn them away. It’s possible Bungie hasn’t officially revealed the price to see what the reception is, instead opting to determine the final cost based on community feedback. But as of right now, “Marathon” will be launched at a premium price.
The game doesn’t have proximity chat like other semi-open world games such as “Sea of Thieves” or “Warzone.” Proximity chats have become a quality staple of gaming. For it not to be in “Marathon,” a game where you are chasing each other down to steal guns or valuables from another player, seems like a major loss. Bungie has claimed that proximity chat could be implemented rather easily. If this happened, then I can just imagine all the crazy, memorable experiences I’d have pretending to team with another player, only to backstab them at the last minute.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited for “Marathon.” – there’s no AAA-developed extraction shooter anywhere in the market. If Bungie plays their cards right and listens to what’s turning buyers away right now, then they could rile a massive player base and overtake “Escape From Tarkov,” the same way that “Fortnite” overtook “PUBG” in the battle royale genre.
At the end of the reveal stream, Bungie put out an eight-minute, cinematic trailer made by animators who worked on “Love, Death, and Robots,” showcasing the world, lore and atmosphere of “Marathon.” To say I was amazed by this would be an understatement. The digitized architecture and robotic hero design contrasted with the alien, otherworldly enemy and planet terrain make for an entirely new and curious experience that hasn’t been seen in any other form of media.
