Marathon Ignores Extraction Shooter 'Rules' and Thrives

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Bungie's new extraction shooter Marathon is charting its own path, ignoring some of the standard conventions of the genre. By stripping away features like safe pockets, long checklists, and extended round timers, Marathon forces players to focus on the core PvP action, leading to a more intense and fast-paced experience. Despite initial skepticism, the author found Marathon's design choices to be calculated and effective at engineering frequent confrontations between squads.

Why it matters

Marathon's unique approach to the extraction shooter genre demonstrates that the format is still evolving and has room for innovation. By prioritizing PvP over progression systems and loot management, Marathon provides a fresh take that could influence the direction of the genre going forward.

The details

Marathon has a number of design choices that set it apart, including no safe pockets for storing loot, short 25-minute round timers, and a limit of one quest per run. These restrictions are intentional, as Bungie wants the PvP combat to be the main draw rather than checklist-style progression. The smaller map sizes and proximity of extraction points also force frequent confrontations between squads, even if they have different objectives. This contrasts with the bounty-focused design of Hunt: Showdown, which engineers showdowns through convergence on set locations.

• Marathon first entered alpha testing in 2016.

What’s next

Bungie has indicated that changes to Marathon's solo play experience are on the table if the community provides feedback, as the lack of revives makes it feel more punishing.