Elden Ring, Baldur’s Gate 3, Clair Obscur, Alan Wake 2, Indiana Jones, Cyberpunk 2077, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Crimson Desert, Marathon — all of these games are truly, utterly, remarkable. They aren’t all created equal, and they aren’t the only ones to qualify in the last six years, but they are some of the most awesome games, by definition, because beyond being quality and fun, they inspire awe through ambition, originality, or the confidence of their design. The last two have gotten kicked to hell by the internet, though, especially Marathon, and I’ve got to wonder why.
I’m not sponsored, partnered, or paid for by any means, but seeing as I’ve gorged myself with well over a hundred hours of game time, I certainly don’t count as a neutral observer. Regardless, I think the reasons behind the hate Marathon is getting are actually pretty clear to everyone looking — it’s a multifaceted, broad-spectrum thing, with several distinct pain points. Some are entirely valid, some really aren’t, but what’s sad is that none of them actually change the fact that Marathon is truly as great as it is, at least in any objective sense, and they all hurt this game in ways I think it truly doesn’t deserve on its own merits.
PSA: Don’t Pay Attention to Marathon’s Review Bombing
Marathon is being review bombed on Metacritic, but there’s clear proof that a majority of its negative reviews can be completely ignored.
Marathon Soars Above Any Existing Standard
Objectivity may be a fool’s errand, but there’s got to be standards we judge things by. These standards vary, as judging Marathon as a video game and judging it as an extraction shooter specifically are two very different things. As a video game, Marathon flies well above the standard of quality for the average game: its level of polish, world design, sound design, environmental storytelling, gameplay, and weapon feel are among the industry’s best.
As an extraction shooter, it’s tough to judge Marathon because there isn’t a single standard — I can count the core games in the genre on one hand, and very few are actually all that alike:
- ARC Raiders
- Escape from Tarkov
- Hunt: Showdown
- Delta Force
- Arena Breakout: Infinite
Quality-wise, Marathon stands right at the genre’s peak with ARC and Hunt: Showdown, and it blows Tarkov out of the water in terms of launch polish, but Marathon is an incredible middle ground between these games — harder than ARC, easier than Tarkov or Hunt: Showdown… so why even try to crown a king? Marathon is an incredible extraction game, and they all are (or maybe none of them are, depending on who you are).
Marathon’s Actual Problems
There are “objective” pain points with Marathon, however, and they are important. There’s an unbalanced meta, cheating, bugs, and overall performance problems. None are particularly unique to Marathon, though, and only the cheating epidemic in Marathon ranked should even come close to being a make-or-break factor for a game like this, at least at this point.
Metas will come and go, performance will continue to improve, and Bungie has been addressing Marathon’s bugs seemingly faster than it ever has, but cheating is and will continue to essentially void large swaths of the game until it’s curbed. Historically, Bungie has had a mixed reputation when it comes to combating cheaters. It’s willing to throw vast resources at the problem, but it’s more reactive than proactive, and that needs to change, for sure.
Subjective Concerns About Marathon
Beyond those concrete problems, there’s also a bubble of subjectivity surrounding Marathon I can’t actually care about, even if I tried, because I just don’t agree. Certain things inherently make it a niche experience; it’s a live-service extraction game, and a punishing game on top of that. It’s confusing to learn, hard to stick to, and like other live-service titles, has no guaranteed longevity.
But one can essentially apply these exact concerns to Tarkov — people dislike it because of what it is, sure, but it’s less of a mark against the game. Marathon’s in a similar boat, and though some bits are up for debate, like the initially confusing UI and Marathon‘s new player onboarding, by and large, Marathon’s friction isn’t a flaw in itself. These are design choices that narrow the audience, and players have the option to meet the game where it lies or to pass on it; both are perfectly fine, but neither should really inspire the kinds of backlash this game has gotten.
Marathon As a Bungie Product
Now, Marathon is also dealing with a subjective problem I actually can identify with: Bungie, as a company, has some serious issues, and as such, some people won’t get behind their work no matter what. Frankly, I get it—it’s not my stance —but these criticisms are bigger than the game; they affect perception before players even touch it, and they are totally fair—Bungie plagiarized art assets for Marathon, even if that issue has since been rectified. And the studio has overly monetized their paid experiences in the past while also shrugging off criticism for long periods of time. No matter what it has done to address these situations, they will still be dealbreakers for some, and that is absolutely valid. But even then, the vast majority of hate around Marathon remains undeserved and overblown.
The First Step to a Marathon Comeback is Repeating the Exact Same Trick
With positive Marathon reviews continuing to pour in, it may be time for Bungie to go back to the well to reignite interest in its extraction shooter.
Manufactured Concerns about Marathon
The final problem that has plagued Marathon since even before its launch is also the most venomous, and it’s a shame, because it involves genuine concerns that have been appropriated by bad actors. Let’s be clear: there is nothing inherently unreasonable about wondering whether a live-service game will survive long-term, and that uncertainty is healthy for the educated consumer, and it comes with the territory, especially in a genre as niche as extraction shooters. That said, questions about Marathon‘s player retention and commercial performance have been co-opted by people who intend to make a living off of amplifying the most negative version of online discourse.
Legitimate curiosity has been transformed by people who earn money per impression into a kind of content-economy shorthand, where player counts serve as a proxy for quality, and anything short of genre dominance is treated as failure. These people cannot allow games to simply be good — they must either redefine the genre or justify their existence through overwhelming commercial success, and if they do not, then they are immediately labeled “dead.” The thing is, most of these people never intended to play the games they’re lashing out at in the first place, and the idea that a game must prove itself through total dominance before it can be acknowledged as excellent is a standard that few great games in any genre have ever met.
Going to Bat for Marathon
The reality is that extraction games like Marathon are inherently slower, more punishing, and demand greater player investment, so expecting anything more challenging than ARC Raiders to achieve that same cultural saturation misunderstands the extraction shooter genre and its audience. Marathon does not need to defeat or replace ARC Raiders or Escape from Tarkov to justify its existence. It only needs to be compelling enough to earn its place alongside them — and by the most meaningful design metrics, it already has.
Marathon is not perfect: cheating needs to be curbed, and the onboarding experience can be improved. But despite these problems and its lack of universal appeal, Marathon is bold, cohesive, mechanically confident, and often genuinely thrilling in ways few modern multiplayer games manage. That is more than enough reason for it to exist, and more than enough reason for me to recommend putting the social media blinders on and giving Marathon a go on your own terms. It may not be your thing, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t great at what it strives to do.
- 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
