Marathon has been pouring out ad after ad as of late, ahead of its March 5 launch, the first sustained campaign that was originally supposed to begin last summer before a string of mishaps delayed it to spring.
Now, promotion is in full force, at times focusing on its extraction shooter gameplay, but mostly just relaying the “vibe” of the entire thing, which has revealed itself as one of the most unique aesthetics in modern gaming. That was on display years ago with its first trailer, but Bungie has only leaned into that further, and the world they’ve built, reviving the Marathon IP for the first time in 32 years. But one of the most common things you hear in the midst of all this?
“I wish this wasn’t an extraction shooter.”
Or similar to that, “Why would they waste all this on an extraction shooter?” The idea here is that this looks like a fascinating world, potential story and just a cool place to exist in between its visual style, its music, Bungie gunplay and more. But it’s in a genre many people simply do not want to play, particularly many long-time Bungie fans who have spent ten years playing the mainly PvE Destiny 2 or, before that, the Halo series, with both excellent campaigns and legendary PvP.
There is, of course, the idea that extraction shooters are mainstream now, mainly using ARC Raiders and its huge, sustained playercount as evidence. But as much as ARC Raiders leans into casual play, Marathon leans into the hardcore, and players skeptical about the genre in the first place may bounce off even harder due to that.
But ARC Raiders does not have what we’re seeing here. This worldbuilding, this style, this (ugh) aura. Few, if any, are asking for ARC Raiders to change genres. The idea here is that it took thirty years for Marathon to return, it looks like an insane world, and it’s…just not something many potential fans want to play. Maybe they will. Maybe some will convert. But you may be able to understand the position.
The other side of this is that…many people do want this, and Bungie wants this, or they wouldn’t have made it. The concept of 3D-printed endless runner shells occupied by conscious humans, destroyed on repeat as they salvage loot, fits the extraction genre well. We are also getting glimpses that we are getting “more” than a normal extraction shooter might offer, like high-level, multi-stage raids that unlock big story moments and new enemies.
I previously said that I didn’t think all this was going to work out in the end for Marathon. I would probably not have said that if it were a different genre, but between ARC surging and Marathon looking much, much better in time, I may have jumped the gun. I would love for that to be true, but I do understand the wishcasting that this had simply been something else entirely.
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