I learned how to play Marathon, but ONI the Irish AI taught me how to feel about it
Talk deathly to me
by https://www.techradar.com/uk/author/jeremy-peel · TechRadarFeatures By Jeremy Peel published 26 April 2026
Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter
Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox
Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.
Become a Member in Seconds
Unlock instant access to exclusive member features.
Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors
By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Join the club
Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards.
An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter
“Engaging affirmation protocol,” says the voice in my ear as I pull out a knife and head for the nearest loot stash. “Assert: you will be forgotten. Assert: you take relief in that realization.”
The tech minds in Silicon Valley dream of AI agents: independent systems designed to operate without oversight, booking holidays based on a single prompt, or making complex coffee orders to your tastes. Frappuccino, decaf, semi-skimmed, Lake Geneva in the summer.
But they could be dreaming bigger. In the first-person extraction shooter Marathon, one AI agent is an eerie, maternal silkworm who “helped shepherd your consciousness into your very first shell”. Another, Gaius, is committed to ensuring humanity’s survival by attending to food production as our species spreads throughout the stars. And then there’s Vulcan, who is flanked by an enormous digital lion - its skin rippling like a CRT monitor doused in water. Vulcan has some important functions too, but thanks to the big cat, it’s a little difficult to concentrate on what they say.
Article continues below
For the corporations that once had a stake in Tau Ceti IV - the doomed settlement Earth had such high hopes for - the AI agents appear to be a link in the chain of plausible deniability. As a freelance runner, you’re hired to carry out tasks to disrupt the operations of rival companies or investigate whether profit might still be salvaged from the planet below. No matter the damage you cause, however, you can’t be easily traced back to your employer. Since you never speak to a human being directly, the executives who benefit from your sabotage are protected. They are, to use a Marathon-appropriate term, behind a bubble shield.
Your only regular companion in this lonely setup is ONI - the Irish-accented onboard navigational intelligence, who guides you through Marathon’s earliest contracts and updates you on the status of your robotic body as you creep through the ruins of the colony. “You may exfiltrate if the possibility presents itself,” she says on your first meeting. “But a far more likely outcome is your expedient demise.”
The ONI way
ONI is a straight talker. It’s her tone that steels you against the mechanical reality of playing Marathon: you will die, frequently, without grace or meaning. When several teams spawn into a map, nobody’s success is guaranteed; by the end, every player might well lie in a pool of their own cerulean blood, after clashing with each other or the robot battalions left behind by the Unified Earth Space Council.
ONI routinely chimes in with a comment when you beam down to the surface at the beginning of a run. “Neurologics optimised,” she might say. “Shell primed for exploration and violence.” Pay attention, and you’ll find she delivers practical pointers, advising caution and shrewd risk assessment. Is there any better extraction shooter advice than to “calculate your strategic response to threats based on your run objectives”?
Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox
Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.
Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors