Over the weekend, Bungie, the beloved studio behind Halo and Destiny, revealed their next sci-fi shooter, Marathon during a live streaming showcase. Marathon is a team-based extraction shooter, and it’s launching September 23 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
In Marathon, players choose a customizable synthetic loadout called a Runner. Teams of three are dropped on the world of Tau Ceti IV to scavenge a lost colony for supplies, loot, and important materials. Then, get out alive.
Each match features up to 18 players battling with each other (six teams), as well as AI enemies left behind. Players can revive each other if downed, but if eliminated, players lose their gear to their attacker. Players can also choose to forgo a crew and join a match as a solo Runner.
Successfully extracting allows Runners to use keep their loot and use it in a future match.
Fun fact: Marathon is actually a reboot of one of Bungie’s earliest games by the same name. Marathon released in 1994 for Mac as a sci-fi first-person shooter that emphasized story-telling. Marathon spawned two sequels in 1995 and 1996, and eventually paved the way for the Halo series.
The new Marathon will incorporate locations and characters from the original trilogy as it weaves in cinematic storytelling, events, missions, and more.
Extraction shooters are becoming more popular in recent years as a competitive online genre. Other extraction shooters include Outlawed, Hunt: Showdown, and Escape from Tarkov.
Marathon will release on September 23. It has not yet been rated by the ESRB.
