Bungie shows off Marathon and it’s a hybrid of a lot of things

Extracting the history of a dormant shooter franchise, Marathon is back

There’s a lot to take in with the first gameplay trailer of Bungie’s upcoming Marathon reboot. For one, the game truly looks stunning in the clips, with bright and vibrant (almost neon) colors flashing among the sci-fi future world. It certainly doesn’t look like that series from 30+ years ago. Perhaps the biggest departure, though, is that it’s not the single-player, survival shooter experience of yore: it’s now a multiplayer PvP and PvE extraction shooter.

In the game, players take control of “Runners”, robot bodies that are essentially controlled by the minds of soldiers. The Runners all have unique persona, but it’s more about delivering a class-like system that alters aspects of combat and traversal for each. And this game has a lot of it! Much like Bungie’s Destiny, Marathon aims (pun!) to allow that same smooth, free-flowing movement that is hallmark of the studio. Upon grabbing loot, experience, and making runs, players will be able to upgrade their Runner to their own preferences.

Gameplay-wise, the new Marathon has live matches of up to 18 players, all being dropped into an alien enviroment with the goal of grabbing as much of the specific stuff they need to, all while blasting away at robots or other players.

Bungie has been pushing for something new away from Destiny, and their new owners Sony want to make sure that the studio is setting the benchmark for live service games. Marathon is somewhat more of the same, with dashes of the original game’s lore and some updated gameplay. It certainly feels like something we’ll need to go hands-on with, alongside friends, to really understand the possibilities.

Marathon arrives on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and PC on September 23, wth a beta coming soon.

Also, Bungie dropped a VERY COOL animated short film to celebrate the game, which you can watch below. Directed by Alberto Mielgo (Love, Death & Robots) the film has aspects of body horror and sci-fi, and all the things we like in 2025.