There’s no denying that Marathon is being held under a microscope at the moment, as for whatever reason, many gamers seem determined to see the game fail. Its Steam player count is watched like a hawk and regularly compared to that of Arc Raiders, streamers like TheBurntPeanut have seemingly been forced to play the game offline because their chats have become so toxic about it, and, as is usually the case with any controversial game, Marathon has been review bombed. If one were to go to the Metacritic user review page just a few days ago, they’d find a 4.6 average rating due to the sheer number of 0/10 scores. While this has since climbed to a 5.5 as fans of the game try to reverse-review bomb it, it’s a constant tug-of-war between extremely high and low scores, with the truth being somewhere in the middle.
Some gamers have defended this review bombing, saying that valid criticisms are to blame for the scores. In reality, though, half of these criticisms aren’t actually valid at all, and most of the ones that are either have been addressed by Bungie already or are in the process of being addressed. Yet even as improvements are made, the negative scores remain, reflecting poorly on the game and creating a lower average score than it arguably deserves. For anyone curious about whether these user scores should be trusted, the answer is undoubtedly no. While all review bombing is problematic, as users rarely go back and alter their original negative review when they get the changes they demanded, this particular case is even more of an issue because it’s directly contrasted by the feedback of those who actually own Marathon.
Marathon Reveals Patch Notes for March 11 Update
Bungie releases a new update for Marathon, bringing the extraction shooter to version 1.0.0.4 with plenty of important changes and bug fixes.
The issue with Metacritic’s user review scores is that they don’t require someone to prove they own the game before posting their opinion. Naturally, this means that anyone who hates a particular game can go to its Metacritic page, quickly leave a 0/10 score, and go about their way, harming the reputation of a game they have a hatred for even if they don’t actually play it. Games like The Last of Us 2 have fallen victim to this, as have other titles tied up in the culture war. And on the flip side, this lack of a vetting process from Metacritic has allowed for internet memes to be created, like Cory in the House for the DS being the third best-scored game of all time according to users.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
And while this alone would be reason enough to ignore user reviews on Metacritic, as astroturfing, botting, and hate campaigns regularly impact the website, what makes Marathon’s review bombing all the more negligible is the fact that gamers have access to data from actual players. Since Steam reviews require that those who score a game actually own it, its user scores are instantly more credible. And sure enough, 90% of the 15,000 players who left a review for the game were positive on it, leading to a mostly positive status on the platform. And for even more evidence, thousands of reviewers on PlayStation scoring the game has resulted in a 4.6 average score at the time of writing.
If Marathon was as terrible or as unplayably difficult as a portion of the internet is acting — comment sections on videos, streams, and social media threads have been extremely harsh — it simply wouldn’t be getting positive reviews from 90% of its player base. Quite frankly, the only explanation here is that a majority of the 0/10 scores are from players who don’t actually play the game and want to see it fail, which is outright pathetic. Maybe they’re angry at Bungie for the direction of Destiny, or maybe they’re Arc Raiders fans who dislike the idea of competition. Perhaps they’re trying to punish Marathon to get back at Sony for the live-service push, or they could just be lashing out at the game after struggling in the Server Slam. Whatever reason, these 0/10 scores can’t be trusted, and it’s easy to understand why the equally disingenuous 10/10 scores are being posted to combat them.
While many official Marathon reviews remain in-progress, thus far the 11 reviews that have been posted have resulted in a 75 score on Opencritic. A 7.5 makes sense for a polarizing game with a steep learning curve like this, and while it’s not glowing, it’s absolutely leaning more toward good than bad. Again, this pushes back on the narrative that Marathon is a disaster.
Marathon Isn’t Flawless, But Bungie is Listening to Criticism and Addressing It Fast
This is not to say that Marathon and the studio behind it have made no mistakes; the request for critics to hold off on reviews was practically begging for “unfinished game” jabs. And while plenty of the review bombers complaining about the game being too hard can be laughed off with a “get good” (something that many are quick to do with the similarly difficult FromSoftware games), there were valid complaints about the game mixed in. Yet what the review bombers are failing to take into account as they continue to post unfair scores is that Bungie is working fast to address the most common criticisms about its extraction shooter.
Key complaints about Marathon that have been addressed within its launch week:
- Poor microtransaction pricing: Players quickly noticed that Marathon’s $10 currency pack left them 20 LUX short of a Shell skin, which understandably led to outrage. Yet on day 2, Bungie added 20 LUX to this pack and rewarded all players who bought it the currency they would have gotten had it been priced that way from the start.
- Poor Rewards Pass value: With only one shell skin in the Rewards Pass for the Runner Vandal, many correctly deemed it a disappointment. Bungie’s response? Adding 3 more Shell skins to Marathon‘s Rewards Pass alongside new free Shells for every Runner.
- Early game is too punishing: Bungie heard these criticisms, making sponsored kits better, which was another day 2 change. More recently, it added more medical cabinets throughout Perimeter and adjusted the in-game economy to be less harsh.
- Marathon’s UI and balancing; Bungie has reiterated that it is hard at work on a UI overhaul, while pain points are already being addressed, such as a recent nerf to thermal scopes.
Marathon 1.0.0.4. Update Has a Clear Target
Bungie’s latest post-launch patch is bigger than it looks, and it places thermal scopes and USEC bot health squarely in its crosshairs.
There are still improvements that can and hopefully will be made, whether it be Marathon’s performance or the prevention of cheesy strategies like the Thief Runner robbing players last second as they extract. But the reality is that not only are a lot of Marathon’s actual players enjoying the game, but they’re having their constructive criticism result in quick and welcome improvements. The speed with which Bungie is listening and acting is rare, yet despite it owning up to its mistakes and showing that it clearly cares about the game and its community, many people aren’t letting up on the hate or giving Bungie the credit it deserves for making amends. The same talking points continue to be echoed, even if many are no longer even relevant, which can only be summarized as blind hate.
If You’re Interested in Marathon, Don’t Let The Internet’s Blind Hate Push You Away
There are few things more frustrating than seeing a user review that reads something along the lines of “it probably deserves a 6 or 7, but I’m giving it a 0 because…” Or similarly, a review that praises Marathon’s art and shooting mechanics, yet gives it a 0 for not being free-to-play, not being Destiny 3, or for simply being a live-service title. People are even still bringing up Marathon’s art theft controversy, despite the issue being resolved months ago with Bungie both paying the artist and including them in the credits. What makes everything worse is that this exact same thing has happened twice now, leading to video game shutdowns on both occasions, and it would be truly devastating to see it happen yet again.
Both Concord and Highguard were games that the internet essentially doomed from the moment they were revealed, bashing the former for daring to have a price tag (even though Helldivers 2 had one and is beloved) and the latter for being a show-closing reveal at The Game Awards 2025. Both games had issues, like uninteresting hero designs, but they had even more strengths, like the former’s weekly cinematics and strong core gameplay or the latter’s enjoyable mounted combat and objective shakeups. Neither deserved to die and be bashed nonstop from the second they were unveiled to the public, as they had fans who loved playing them and developers who loved crafting them. And Concord’s many 7 and 8/10 scores from reputable critics reflected that it wasn’t “live-service slop” or a bad game by any means. With these games, unsavory internet users acted as if they scored a big win by putting their foot down and proclaiming that gamers don’t want anymore live-service hero shooters, and now, this hive mind is saying no to more extraction shooters. But really, the players who like these games are the only ones suffering.
While everyone is eager to point to Marathon’s player count on Steam as proof the game is a letdown, with its 87k peak often laughed at, that’s still thousands of interested players who need to deal with constant hate about something that’s meant to bring them joy.
When a successful live-service game can print money for years, all the failed attempts are going to be worth it to publishers seeking to maximize profit. It’s why Sony’s many live-service fumbles haven’t prevented games like Horizon Hunters Gathering from being made. Killing Concord and Highguard did nothing to stop the spread of live-service, it simply robbed two fan bases of games they were just starting to get into and cost developers their jobs. It wasn’t something to be proud of, it was meaningless hate disguised as a movement for good. Killing Marathon would just be history repeating itself; Bungie doesn’t get the time back it spent on it, and live-service games will keep being made regardless.
If someone has concerns about Marathon or simply doesn’t like the game, that’s all well and good, but they should let those that do enjoy it do so instead of flooding discussions with their negativity. “Let people enjoy things” is simple advice, but lately, it feels like something that has to be said more often than it should be. And if you’re interested in Marathon, do yourself a favor and ignore the user reviews on Metacritic. The incoming critic scores and Steam reviews tell the real story. Hopefully, Marathon is able to push through its somewhat rocky start, giving its existing community plenty of content to enjoy for years to come. And in the end, maybe the hate will give way to positive word of mouth, ending the trend of promising games dying before they even have a chance to thrive.
- Released
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March 5, 2026
- ESRB
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Teen / Animated Blood, Language, Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
