Premise
Marathon is set on the planet Tau Ceti IV in the year 2893, 99 years after the events of the original game, where human colonists from the UESC Marathon, a colony ship constructed out of the Martian moon Deimos, have started a new colony. The colony and its ship have gone dark after multiple attacks by alien forces and devastating biological agents over the years. A distress call from one of Marathon's AIs has finally reached the UESC government. Earth and its many factions and mega-corporations, who have a stake in this endeavor, are blindsided by the colony’s total blackout. These factions and corporations have hired "Runners", humans who have given up their body in favor of specialized cybernetic ones, to infiltrate the colony, fight against UESC forces, rival Runners, & aliens on the planet and the orbiting UESC Marathon ship with the goal to retrieve valuable artifacts, data, and resources. [1] Aboard the UESC Marathon, Runners discover the ship to still be under the control of Durandal, one of the ship's AIs that had gone rampant and turned against the human colonists, helping to direct the alien S'pht aboard the ship. [2]
Gameplay
Marathon is a first-person multiplayer extraction shooter, with players taking the role of Runners. Each match centers around deploying into a shared environment, searching for loot, and attempting to successfully exfiltrate ("exfil") before being eliminated by enemy players or environmental threats. Gameplay is primarily focused on player-versus-player (PvP) encounters, though the game also features player-versus-environment (PvE) elements, including AI-controlled enemies and hazards. [3] Rather than a traditional single-player campaign, Marathon incorporates evolving narrative elements that are shaped by player actions and decisions over time. [4] These changes unfold across in-game seasons and events. [1]
The game features solo (with other solos facing each other) and three-player teams in each match, players can also participate as a duo at a competitive disadvantage. [5] [1] Marathon includes full cross-platform play and cross-save functionality across platforms. [6]
Players navigate a hostile world, balancing risk and reward. Items collected during a match are permanently lost if the player fails to extract successfully, while items collected on successful extractions can be used for future matches. [7] [1] Prior to launching into an extraction mission, players select a runner shell, which offers different attributes and abilities. The player also selects weapons, armor, ammunition, healing and support items, and various upgrades from their vault of gear that they have looted from previous extractions or purchased with in-game credits; except for the shell, all selected items can be lost if the player fails to exfil from a mission. Optionally, players can use a pre-packaged gear kit with basic equipment without risking their existing gear. One runner shell, the Rook, allows a player to enter the game as a single-player team with abilities to help them survive and avoid combat, but which cannot use vault gear nor can be used to progress quests, designed to be used to scavenge from the environment. While most players load into a map near a fresh instance with up to 25 minutes to exfil, the Rook player is loaded into a match that is already in progress, giving them the opportunity to scavenge from the fallen shells of other players downed earlier in the instance. [8]
From their faction allegiance, players will get specific contracts, including one-time priority contracts that advance the game's narrative elements, and standard repeatable contracts, selecting one of these contracts before entering a mission. Completing objectives one's own contract and those players in their current squad earns general experience towards the players' level, as well as reputation towards the faction that offered the contract. Gaining faction levels allows the player to buy permanent upgrades for their runner shells from an upgrade tree for that faction, as well as gaining access to special pre-packaged loadout kits that a player can use instead of risking gear from their vault. [9] Players can also complete Codex entries, achievements for completing various goals within the game, which also provide cosmetic rewards as well as lore entries pertaining to the Marathon setting. [10]
Marathon will have seasons that last three months. Each season will wipe all players' progress, outside of progress with the factions and the Codex, and earned cosmetic rewards, which Bungie said is designed to ensure "the game stays dangerous, loot feels meaningful, and there’s always a good opportunity to get back into the game or bring a friend in without feeling behind the curve." [11] All players have access to all maps, runner shells, and other gameplay items for the current season, eliminating any pay-to-win aspects in the monetization model. A seasonal battle pass is available to purchase for each season, from which players can use in-game currency Silk, earned by upgrading their season level, to unlock cosmetic items, like runner shell and weapon skins, and player profile customization items. Once purchased, battle passes do not expire, and players will have the ability to buy older battle passes and gain those rewards. A separate in-game store uses premium currency Lux, which is purchased with real world funds, for specialized cosmetics. [12]
Development
Marathon is Bungie's first major new title since becoming a subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2022, and its first project in over a decade following the Destiny series. [13] Bungie revealed Marathon at the PlayStation 2023 Showcase on May 24, 2023. [14] [15] In August 2024, Bungie underwent a restructuring, resulting in the layoff of approximately 17% of its workforce, which impacted the development timeline of Marathon. [16] Development has spanned more than 4 years, and involved over 300 developers. [17]
According to game director Joe Ziegler, Marathon is not intended to replace Bungie's ongoing Destiny 2 , which is primarily focused on player-versus-environment (PvE) rather than player-versus-player (PvP) combat. Ziegler said "We believe that Destiny 2 has a future, and the team working on it has been working really hard to understand what players' needs are. But if you like Destiny, and you happen to like a lot of PvP sandbox experiences, and those are other games that you play, then we think that Marathon could be something very exciting for you." [18]
The developers of Caves of Qud , Brian Bucklew and Jason Grinblat, and Rob McLees, considered the "keeper of the Halo story bible", served as narrative consultants for Marathon. [19]
In January 2026, Bungie announced the game's voice cast, which includes Roger Clark, Elias Toufexis, Ben Starr, Jennifer English, Neil Newbon, Nika Futterman, Rich Keeble, Erica Lindbeck, and Erin Yvette. [20]
Plagiarism controversy
In May 2025, Scottish independent artist Fern "Antireal" Hook posted screenshot comparisons between in-game designs from Marathon and her publicly posted designs from 2017 that she alleged were either used in an unaltered or in a highly similar form. Antireal said that Bungie had not obtained her permission to use the designs in question. [21] [22] In an interview with The Washington Post , Antireal said that despite being suspicious after initial release of marketing material in 2023, she only decided to speak out after she was able to review gameplay footage from the April 2025 alpha. [23] Bungie affirmed on social media that a former Bungie artist had included Antireal's designs without the company's knowledge. The company also confirmed they were reaching out to Antireal, were "committed to do right by the artist", as well as performing a full review of the game's assets to verify their origins. [21]
In December 2025, Antireal announced that the matter had been resolved to her satisfaction by Bungie and Sony Interactive Entertainment, [24] and upon release, she was credited as a visual design consultant. [25]
Release
In April 2025, Bungie launched an alternate reality game (ARG) that teased art assets and information about Marathon. Players solved the ARG to discover the date for a planned gameplay reveal livestream on April 12, 2025. [26] In addition to the gameplay trailer, Bungie unveiled a longer narrative trailer for the game directed by Alberto Mielgo. [27] During the event, a release date of September 23, 2025, was announced. [28] A closed alpha test took place from April 23 to May 4, 2025; while the test was originally to require players to not disclose anything about the game under a non-disclosure agreement, Bungie lifted this restriction as they felt it was necessary to get feedback for the game. [29] The closed alpha was met with disappointment, with many critics and players believing that the game's release should be delayed. [30] [31] [32] [33]
In June 2025, Bungie announced that the game had been delayed indefinitely. [34] [35] At the presentation of Sony's financial results in August 2025, Sony CFO Lin Tao mentioned that the game is planned to release within that fiscal year. [36]
Marathon was released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows on March 5, 2026, with full cross-play and cross-save support. [5] [37] The game does not require a PlayStation account for playing on Windows or Xbox systems, in contrast with several other Sony-backed games published in 2024 such as Helldivers II . [38]
