‘Marathon’, the Next FPS from Bungie, Drops This September

Marathon, the next major first-person shooter made by Bungie, the folks behind the original Halo series, as well as Destiny, has finally been shown off. More than just being shown off, we got a release date – a global date of 23 September, 2025, though we’ll have to see if that’s accurate for ANZ in time. While Bungie didn’t touch on price, it did confirm that Marathon will not be a free-to-play game.

And, if that wasn’t enough, the veteran shooter studio also announced it’ll be holding a closed alpha later in April 2025, and that in order to get a chance to join in all you have to do is join the game’s Discord server. Whether you do that or not is up to you, but either way, Bungie seems to be pretty confident in what they’re putting forward.

Let’s dive into everything shown off at the Marathon reveal event.

Everything We Know So Far

As we already knew, Marathon is a PvPvE extraction shooter set in and around lost Tau Ceti IV – a colony which saw all inhabitants mysteriously disappear, Roanoke style.

Players (as Runners, a group freelance mercenaries that have given up their human bodies for biosynthetic shells) dive into the colony in hopes of finding answers the the mysteries surrounding the colony, as well as to salvage whatever good stuff they can find in the process. Backed by mysterious factions, the Runners will delve into the Tau Ceti IV colony, or, potentially, into the Marathon ship hanging in orbit above.

You might be wondering – wait, what the hell is a PvPvE extraction shooter? Well, oh reader mine, let me tell you.

How Does it all Work?

An extraction shooter is a relatively new genre of FPS wherein players are loaded into a big, shared map, and are tasked with gathering as much resources as they can within a limited time frame. You typically do this by scouring the map for valuables and weapons, though other players can interfere with you, leading to tense shootouts over valuable regions of the map.

Finally, if a player is killed they tend to drop all the items they were carrying, making each run highly risky, but with a high level of reward attached to victory.

In Marathon, players can team up (or matchmake) into groups of three or two, or go solo, and dive into maps stationed across Tau Ceti IV. Once they have boots on the ground, a party will explore the planet looking for weapons, implants, and other gear, or just valuable items you can retrieve.

Along the way, you’ll likely come across AI-controlled patrols – in the example map shown in the reveal, called Dire Marsh, these were security robots – and, if all goes poorly, might also run into a group of other players.

See, Dire Marsh has a max player count of 18, meaning that your group of three (or one) will be sharing the space with another five groups of three, and you’ll all be vying for the same goodies found across the map. Other maps will have a larger player count, while others will have fewer players involved, meaning each area of the colony will see a different level of engagement between players.

If you are killed in such a skirmish, you’ll have the option of returning to the map in a new body though you’ll lose access to the gear you were holding at your time of death. You can, however, call in a favour with the factions that sponsor the Runners around Tau Ceti IV to come back with some gear on hand, though you’ll owe something in return.

Assuming you can complete a match with some valuables, you’ll be able to cash them in, keep any weapons and gear you may have found, and decide on your next run into the colony. The more you extract, the more you earn, the more you win.

Also, while the ‘extraction’ mode will be the main star of the game, there will also be a kind of ‘ranked PvP’ focused

The ‘Runners’ of Marathon

Likely the most important decision you’ll make in playing Marathon is which Runner you’ll bring in to each mission. There’ll be six Runners in the final game (though only four will be playable in the upcoming alpha), and they’ll each serve as a foundational piece aiming at delivering a particular kind of play style. The runners we know of so far are:

• Void: A stealthy archetype with the ability to turn invisible on the battlefield. Obviously good at getting the drop on enemies, or escaping a bad situation.
• Glitch: A trickster archetype, Glitch is able to knock enemies away with a grenade like ability, and dash quickly out of the fray when cornered.
• Locus: A tank archetype, Locus can utilise some kind of hard-light shield to deflect enemy fire when not in cover.
• ‘Thief‘: A fourth Runner type that has only been shown off in concept art so far, ‘Thief’ is likely focused on gathering more goods from the world and enemies around you – though we simply don’t know yet.

We don’t yet have a good idea of the final two runners, but we do have a decent idea of how runners will work. Each comes with an active ability, as well as a ‘prime’ ability (more commonly known as an ultimate), which sets the stage for how you will play that runner.

From there, you get to choose the weapons and implants you bring in to each run – which can and should be tailored for what you’re intending to do. Are you diving in to hunt other players? Are you searching for secrets? Are you looking to get in, grab some valuables, and get out without running into any fighting whatsoever? Choosing the right runner, weapons, and implants will be key.

Each runner will also be customisable to an extent, though Bungie hasn’t shared much on what that means. You won’t be creating your own player character as you do in Destiny – rather, you’ll step into the shoes of these Runners and, most likely, use skins and unlocks to change the way they appear.

Where and When Can I Play ‘Marathon’?

While the game is launching on 23 September globally on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S and X (with crossplay), you can join the Marathon Discord for a chance to get into an upcoming closed alpha later this month.

In the meantime, you can play the original Marathon, Marathon 2, and Marathon Infinity for free on Steam, and wishlist the game on PS5, Xbox Series S and X, or Steam.