Gamers Love to Hate Bungie, But Marathon is One of the Best Shooters We'll Get in 2026

MeinMMO editor Dariusz has tested Marathon and is convinced that it will be one of the top shooters of the year, despite widespread skepticism.

Bungie, known for Destiny, ventures into new territory with Marathon: an extraction shooter for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam, released on March 5, 2026. I've spent over 20 hours testing the game, both during the server slam and after its official launch. In this article, I'll explain why Marathon already stands out to me as one of the most promising shooters of 2026.

Extraction Shooter, Reimagined – Bungie Takes the "Apex Legends Approach"

Marathon adopts the familiar extraction shooter principle, similar to games like Escape from Tarkov or Hunt: Showdown. Players form teams of up to three (or go solo), accept quests, equip themselves, and aim to successfully extract with loot after a raid. They fight against NPCs and other players (PvEvP) to progress and upgrade their gear or base.

• You accept a quest, assemble your equipment, start a raid, and try to extract successfully at the end.
• Marathon is best played in a team. A squad consists of up to three players, but you can also hunt for loot solo.
• During a raid, you loot various items, fight NPCs and other players (PvEvP), and ideally fulfill your accepted mission to achieve gradual progress.

Uniquely, players act as "Runners" – cybernetic mercenaries piloting specialized "Runner shells" which are playable classes with individual abilities (healer, scout, assassin). With the loot you find in a round, you can, for example, improve your Runner shell or your camp.

Bungie cleverly merges the extraction shooter genre with hero shooter elements, much like Apex Legends revolutionized battle royale and Valorant/Rainbow Six: Siege did for tactical shooters.

Tactical Depth That Many Extraction Shooters Cannot Offer

For me, the core question with any shooter is always whether the gameplay is engaging. This, of course, depends on various factors and personal preferences. Nevertheless, I have some clear impressions of certain aspects of the game:

• The gunplay is polished: weapons feel good and play intuitively.
• The weapon selection is solid, with something for every playstyle.
• Some weapons, like sniper rifles or shotguns, could sound more impactful, but it's not so severe as to be distracting.

Overall, I particularly like that every weapon has the potential to be good. In Marathon, a weapon's tier depends on its mods (attachments like scopes and magazines). A simple, grey weapon can reach higher tiers like blue or purple with better attachments.

However, Marathon's true strength definitely lies in its PvP. The PvE battles against the UESC robots are okay, and sometimes tougher than you'd expect. But the feeling of eliminating an enemy team and feasting on their loot is simply grand – especially because the battles themselves are a lot of fun. The Runner shells add a tactical depth that other extraction shooters cannot achieve. The different abilities of the classes add a layer of gameplay that a shooter cannot have if it relies solely on grenades and other gadgets.

Furthermore, the Runner shells bring significant variety to raids. They allow for diverse builds and team compositions. For example, a fight against a team composed solely of Assassins is completely different from fighting a team of Destroyers.

The gameplay depth, the tactical approach of teams, and the gameplay variety provided by the different shells suffer greatly when playing solo matches. Everything that distinguishes teamplay is completely lost when you play alone. Marathon is significantly more fun in duos or trios than solo. This is, of course, a criticism that many competitive shooters face, including popular titles like Counter-Strike, Valorant, Overwatch, or Rainbow Six: Siege. Just like the aforementioned shooters, Marathon is primarily designed for teamplay. To avoid completely missing out on this experience, you can, as a compromise, form trios with random teammates.

Nevertheless, solo rounds are Marathon's biggest weakness. It's simply frustrating when, in a 1v1, I shoot my opponent at the exact same moment they shoot me. We both lie on the ground, look at each other, and know: "Yup, we both lose our loot, and nobody benefits." And yes, that happens often. In my last 9-10 solo runs, this happened 3 times! I'm still optimistic, though, because the gameplay loop invites grinding and promises long-term motivation for PvP sweats (like me).

Distinctive Style with Modest Requirements

Marathon's art style is distinctive. Every gamer has their own taste. I like the style; others find it too colorful. But I also play Overwatch and Valorant – "colorful" is something else entirely by my standards. While Marathon's game world has colors you won't see in Battlefield or Escape from Tarkov, the maps also feature dark and mysterious elements. It's not like you're sliding over rainbows with the Gummy Bears in Marathon.

I highly credit Bungie for the innovative and unique graphics style – and ultimately, this style, alongside the classes, is the main reason Marathon stands out from many other extraction shooters. When playing, I don't feel like I've played this exact game countless times before.

The sound design is also well executed, even if it definitely doesn't reach the level of genre competitors like Hunt: Showdown or ARC Raiders. Nevertheless, Marathon manages to create an exciting atmosphere through music and background noises. Crucially, the important gameplay sounds are not lost, and footsteps and shots can usually be heard and located well.

All of this is packed into truly reasonable system requirements. Even my aging system, built around an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, achieves good triple-digit FPS even on high settings.

I haven't encountered any bugs or technical issues, although game crashes definitely occurred for some players during the server slam. On the technical side, it's clear that Marathon is the product of an experienced development studio. While Bungie often faces criticism from the Destiny community for bugs and similar issues, I've had significantly worse experiences, especially in the extraction shooter genre.

Marathon and the Bungie Hate

One topic that stirs many emotions around Marathon is Bungie itself. The Destiny community will likely never forgive the studio for certain decisions. Marathon makes this clear again. Many comments already state: "Don't give money to the studio known for removing purchased content from games." Critics are referring to various contents that disappeared into the so-called Content Vault in Destiny 2 and were completely removed from the game.

Furthermore, Marathon's monetization model is also being discussed. The shooter costs 40 Euros, yet skins and a Battle Pass are offered for purchase using the premium currency "Lux." When you buy Lux, Marathon "gives" you a few hundred extra, leaving you with slightly more than you need for a specific skin.

I am aware of this criticism and do not want to talk anyone out of it. It is justified. If you have lost trust in Bungie because of Destiny, I cannot change that.

However, some of the criticism escalates into hate. Some gamers seem to enjoy hating a game more than actually testing it themselves. This is why the sentiment surrounding Marathon on X.com and Reddit is significantly more negative than among actual players in Steam reviews – which are 90% positive.

Setting aside the Bungie controversy, Marathon is an outstanding shooter. Given the scarcity of major franchise releases in 2026 and numerous delayed titles like Beautiful Light, Judas, Cinder City, EVE Vanguard, Ashfall, Luna Abyss, and Den of Wolves, Marathon has already proven its potential as one of the top 5 shooters of the year.

If you enjoy extraction shooters, you should give Marathon a chance – unless you strictly prefer PvE, avoid PvP encounters entirely, and curse at every player interaction. For such players, Marathon might not be ideal. Nevertheless, games like Marathon and ARC Raiders can coexist wonderfully, and I personally will enjoy both.