Set for release later this year,Marathonis a brand-new extraction shooter by Bungie, the studio behindDestinyandHalo.First teased a few years ago,Marathonis ramping up for release into a fairly crowded live-service shooter market. The competition has snuffed out similar projects in the past, butMarathonmay be able to successfully carve out a niche for itself due to its genre and strong creative direction.
Extraction shooters have not been nearly as popular as battle royale or hero shooters in the FPS world, and in that space,Marathonmay be able to thrive. With Bungie’s experience in crafting addictive gameplay,Marathonmay be able to fill an empty space in the extraction shooter genreand do whatMarvel Rivalsdid for theOverwatch-style genre of hero shooters.
Marathon Could Fill A Gap In The Extraction Shooter Genre
Adding Sci-Fi To The Mix Will Be Refreshing
While another new live-service shooter doesn’t exactly evoke confidence in the current market,Marathonmight actually have a chance due entirely to its genre.Marathonis an extraction shooter, a game type in which players must enter a map solo or with a team, try to collect as much high-value loot as possible, and extract before time runs out, or they’re killed. This genre has taken a backseat to more popular shooter genres like battle royale (Fortnite, Apex Legends)or the moreOverwatch-style hero shooter (Marvel Rivals, VALORANT)in recent years, which meansMarathonisn’t going up against the stiffest competition.
The only major extraction shooters available to players right now areEscape from TarkovandHunt: Showdown. Each of these two games has a very specific flavor, asTarkovleans into tactical realismfor its gameplay andHunt: Showdownis a supernatural bounty-hunting game.Marathon,while sharing the same genre, is embracing an entirely different sci-fi aesthetic. This difference may seem surface level, but an extraction shooter with futuristic technology, enemies, and abilities adds a refreshing quality to a genre that is often bogged down by realism.
Bungie Knows How To Make A Good Shooter
Decades Of Success Prove Bungie Knows What They’re Doing
Bungie, one of the most well-known and respected game studios around, hasplenty of experience crafting a good FPS. They created the modern template of a first-person-shooter withHalo: Combat Evolvedin 2001, and continued that success for almost ten years ofHalosequels. The studio found more (relatively) recent success withDestinyandDestiny 2and their many DLC, which still pulls in thousands of players every month. It’s clear that Bungie knows what players like in their stories and their gameplay, and will likely aim to create an extraction shooter thattoes the line between challenging and grueling, which is exactly what games in that genre need.
Marathonis a soft reboot or continuation of the mid-1990s trilogy of the same name, and likeHaloandDestiny, will feature AI gone rogue and warring alien factions. These similar plot elements mean thatBungie is leaning into its own strengths narratively, which bodes well for a live-service game with ever-evolving stories and lore dumps. Bungie has always had a strong creative vision and direction in their games, which means thatMarathonwon’t suffer from any criticism about being soulless likeConcorddid upon its release.
The Mysterious Price Tag Isn’t Great, But Marathon Can Build A Healthier Player Base
Fewer Cheaters And Smurfs Will Help The Game
Strangely enough,Bungie has avoided confirming a price forMarathon, though the studio has confirmed that the game will not be free-to-play. This statement has been slightly worrying, as past stabs at paid live-service shooters – R.I.P.Concord– have gone poorly to say the least. Bungie did state that the game would not be a premium price, which means the game won’t hit the standard $70+ pricetag. It’s most likely thatMarathonwill cost around $30 to $40 based on this information, which does have an underrated silver lining.
IfMarathonhas any sort of price attached to it,the number of smurfs and cheaters in the game will be drastically smallerthan any other free-to-play live-service shooter. Dealing with an aimbot in a random match ofApex Legendscan be frustrating, but being destroyed in a zero-to-hero run in an extraction shooter would be rage-inducing. Cheating is much less likely when those doing it have to spend $30 a pop on a new profile, which will be a huge asset forMarathonand its player base.
