Explore Marathon’s dark sci-fi world and survival extraction gameplay, as told by the development team.
Marathon releases March 2026. Learn more: Bungie.net
Scavenge the lost colony of Tau Ceti IV as a bio-cybernetic Runner in a PvPvE survival extraction FPS from the creators of Halo and Destiny.
Vision of Marathon: New Gameplay, Dev Insights, & More
1h - Marathon Dev Team
Since the Alpha playtest in April, we’ve been quietly iterating on Marathon alongside a dedicated community of players. Every closed playtest was a chance for us to hear candid feedback about what’s working, what needs work, and where Marathon can shine.
Today we’re sharing a new look at Marathon – and the impact of the fusion between the community’s feedback and our vision for Marathon.
You can watch the full ViDoc now.
Marathon Releases March 2026
Marathon releases March 2026, targeting a price of $39.99/€39.99/£34.99. We’ll announce additional regional pricing as we get closer to launch.
Purchasing Marathon will give you full access to the game, including a roadmap of free gameplay updates as the year progresses. This will include new maps, new Runner shells, events, and more, starting with the exploration of UESC Marathon’s Cryo Archive in Season 1.
We also want to ensure you are logging in because you love the game, not from fear of missing out—so Marathon’s Rewards Passes will not expire, and you’ll be able purchase and unlock prior Passes.
Finally, and most importantly, we believe in preserving competitive integrity in Marathon, so survival will never come down to how much money you spend.
We’ll share more about our plans for seasonal content, a roadmap, and details about when you’ll be able to try the game as we get closer to launch.
ViDoc Highlights
Today we shared new gameplay footage and we dove into how we’re embracing the survival extraction challenge and dark, sci-fi world of Marathon.
Highlights include timestamped links if you’d like to learn more.
- New features since alpha, including…
- Proximity chat
- Solo queue
- Rook, a Runner shell used to scavenge matches in progress
- The world and fantasy of Marathon
- Ways we’re doubling down on the dark, gritty, and grounded sci-fi world
- Your role in Marathon–you are the Runner, and you transfer your consciousness into different shells designed with unique capabilities
- Improved visual fidelity and immersion, including…
- Introduction to Marathon’s four zones (maps)
- Three surface zones–Perimeter, Dire Marsh, and Outpost
- The first zone on the UESC Marathon–Cryo Archive, an end-game challenge
- Loot and customization
- Weapons and mods, including ways to customize your gun in unique ways (like turning the Battery SMG into the Needler)
- Runner shell archetypes and ways to customize your playstyles
- Factions and progression
It almost makes me think Sony pushed Saros for this. In any case, this is going to be a real challenge. Arc still maintain strong numbers, especially in compare to BF6. Worst now with GOTY award behind them. This could lead to a graduation or a funeral.
Yeah, it will probably last a few weeks, if they can’t keep adding new content every month. It feels like there’s nothing special about this game besides its highly divisive art-style.
The original pitch for the game was way more ambitious than what they are showing now. It was supposed to be an extraction-shooter taking place inside a planet-size ship, with part of it slowly unlocking and the narrative being almost entirely player driven.
it looks so generic from a gameplay perspective.
Man I love that art style. Almost makes me wish I wanted to play the game.
This just seems so small scale for Bungie. In some alternate timeline, this is a side mode in a Halo sequel, and maybe it would be neat to check out. I can’t imagine how they’re going to get players to care about the world and fiction they’ve created, in the context of this kind of game. This just doesn’t work as the main attraction. And especially not as the first new game from Bungie since 2017.
The first zone on the UESC Marathon–Cryo Archive, an end-game challenge
This is reassuring at least. It seems their original plan has survive as endgame content. I hope they can keep adding content regularly, because that is what could keep people’s attention, but seeing how Destiny 2 is updated, I’m not optimistic.
Man, good luck to this team…
Don’t know if we’re allowed to comment on if we have played any of the beta sessions or not…
But every time I see this game I’m hype. Don’t know if I’ll play it for long or not, and it entirely depends what else is released around it. If we learn that Forza Horizon 6 is coming out at the same time, then I won’t even think about Marathon!
Don’t think it’ll hit a homerun, but best case scenario they’ll carve out a niche.
I think Marathon has a decent shot at success TBH. I feel like the sentiment around the game is growing a lot more positive. This is just based on my own personal interpretation of message board threads, article comments, etc. But you know the vibe around an upcoming game where the fans are starting to realize that it looks like a dud. And they’re trying to talk themselves into liking it anyway. I saw it recently with Metroid Prime 4. But that’s NOT the vibe I get from Marathon. There’s some genuine positive buzz around it. Still, anything could happen. And even if it does find its audience… How much success is enough for Sony with how much is riding on this?
I see it as do or die. Arc made it harder. I know one would say, “They can co-exist,” and it’s true. However, it would work better if former doesn’t get much support, which is showcasing to be the opposite, and two is it has to be pretty old. Although different, HD2 was old by the time Arc releases, so it welcomed it. Arc is still kicking and GOTY made it tougher to let go.
“You can’t make a second first impression” is another battle to deal with as well. I still see “Concord 2” or “DOA” or “Destiny 3 needs to happen instead.” First quarter is also stacked as well, which doesn’t help. They have a huge challenge awaiting. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
I’m rooting for this to succeed, Bungie deserve credit for delaying the game and actually listening to feedback. I feel like a subset of people on this website want Marathon to fail because Bungie are owned by Sony now, but keep in mind them releasing this game on Xbox day 1 was one of the stipulations of the acquisition. Bungie haven’t forgotten about us, and genuinely seem to be trying their best to release a balanced and content filled game at launch with a unique aesthetic. At $40 at launch, I’m in.
It looks better than the reveal, that’s for sure.
And we can see a S’pht compiler tease at the end of the video, which is the weirdest and most iconic enemy of the series :
The lore of Marathon is insane by the way.
New video:
