Bungie, the studio behind the Halo and Destiny franchises, has launched its latest title, Marathon, on PlayStation 5. The extraction shooter, a reimagining of the developer's 1990s Mac trilogy, arrives as a high-stakes, player-versus-player experience set on the abandoned colony of Tau Ceti IV.
While critics on OpenCritic have awarded the game an average rating of 70, the title has triggered a sharp divide among its player base. Steam users have offered 90% positive reviews for the game’s mechanics, while Metacritic users have responded with a wave of negative reviews, highlighting a significant rift in how the game is being received.
Refined combat meets a brutal learning curve
Bungie has maintained its reputation for technical excellence in movement and weapon handling. Testers report that Marathon features some of the best gunplay in the genre, with each weapon offering a distinct sense of weight and tactile feedback. Players choose from six specialized classes—Thief, Destroyer, Vandal, Assassin, Recon, and Triage—to navigate hostile environments.
However, the game provides little guidance to new players. The user interface is frequently described as "incomprehensible," and the narrative setup is delivered through a rapid, fragmented collage of media that leaves many players lost. For those unfamiliar with the extraction shooter subgenre, the initial hours of play are often defined by frustration rather than discovery.
"The game assumes you know what you are doing and throws you into the void," one reviewer noted. This onboarding process serves as a major barrier to entry, often pushing newcomers away before they can engage with the more rewarding aspects of the gameplay loop.
The game is explicitly designed for coordinated three-person squads, leaving solo players at a severe disadvantage. Without a team, players are consistently overwhelmed by lethal AI and rival squads. While a "Rook" mode allows players to enter maps with no equipment to practice without risk, the lack of solo-focused content remains a primary point of contention.
Despite these hurdles, the game offers a persistent, tension-filled loop. Players must decide whether to deploy with high-tier gear, risking total loss upon death, or enter with minimal equipment. Bungie has opted for a non-predatory monetization model, ensuring all maps, classes, and gameplay items are accessible to everyone. Season passes are purchased with in-game currency earned through missions rather than real-world cash.
This release follows a period of corporate instability at Bungie. The studio laid off 220 employees in July 2024 and another 200 in February 2025, following the conclusion of the long-running Destiny 2 narrative. The company’s CEO resigned in January 2025, and the project’s art director departed months before the game’s launch.
