Marathon narrows down its launch window, revealing stunning new visuals and an answer to Arc Raiders' free loadout system

Bungie's new Marathon ViDoc fills me with hope for the extraction shooter, confirming essential features like solo queue and proximity chat.

At the start of 2025, Marathon was my most anticipated new multiplayer game. Arc Raiders was high on that list too, but my love for Destiny 2 meant that Bungie's extraction shooter was the one I had my heart set on. However, during that fateful period where it released some unpolished gameplay, hosted disappointing playtests, and got caught up in an art plagiarism scandal, things totally flipped. Pretty much all my excitement for Marathon evaporated, and Arc Raiders became my new obsession. However, Bungie has brought Marathon back out of hiding for a new showcase that flaunts some massively upgraded visuals and dives deep into its gameplay mechanics, and it makes for very encouraging viewing. It's also set a new window for the Marathon release date, revealed that it'll match Arc Raiders' $40 price point, and confirmed that some form of free open beta will arrive before it releases.

I was genuinely anxious when I opened up the new Marathon ViDoc on YouTube this morning. What if, after all this extra time since it scrapped its September release date, I still feel underwhelmed and key pain points haven't been addressed? Thankfully, I feel a lot more positive about Marathon now than I did before watching it. The proof, of course, will be in the eating of the sci-fi survival pudding, but Bungie has at least managed to paint the game in a stronger light than it has done previously this year.

The world of Marathon now looks and feels far more appealing and visually striking. Its brightly colored, futuristic aesthetic didn't really shine in its playtests, especially its outside locations, but with improved lighting and a better weather system, both interior and exterior environments look a lot better.

New details like persistent Runner bodies are also here, and as a nice extra touch, these bodies will decay over time and as they're stripped of loot. A fresher looking body, then, will potentially indicate a more loot-filled corpse you can pinch items from, but it may also mean that whatever killed them is just around the corner.

Runner Shells have always been a controversial topic for Marathon, given the 'hero shooter' connotations they bring. While each one still leans into an "archetype" of play, it seems there's now more ways to adapt a Shell to your liking, and there's a bounty of loadout options too to diversify buildcrafting.

Bungie has also confirmed a new Runner Shell, Rook, which also acts as its answer to Arc Raiders' free loadout system and Escape From Tarkov scav runs. If you play as Rook, you can only play solo and you'll be dropped into an in-progress match with a basic loadout. This Shell essentially acts as a way for those low on resources and currency to go in, mop up some left over loot, and (hopefully) extract all without risking any of your own gear.

Two of the biggest requests from players have also been confirmed for Marathon's launch - proximity chat, and a dedicated solo queue. Bungie also dives deeper into the game's factions, who provide you with themed contracts to complete. Doing so increases your reputation with them, which progresses a faction-specific skill tree, and once completed, you'll get access to gold-tier items from their respective markets that'll give you season-long boosts to your Shell's base stats.

Finally, Bungie has also locked in a price and more concentrated release window for the game. Marathon will release in March 2026 and will set you back $39.99 / £34.99. This is the same price point that Embark has set for Arc Raiders in the US, but is a touch higher in pounds sterling for UK players.

I'm sure this was already in Bungie's plans, regardless, but it also promises that opportunities to get "hands-on" will be "available to everyone ahead of release" - I wonder if it can create the same buzz that Arc Raiders' free, pre-launch Server Slam managed to create.