Marathon is A Complicated Mess: Here’s Why

(Intro)

Marathon releases in a few days and before its official launch, Bungie has allowed players to download an earlier build of the game, so we can test the game and stress the servers. And it seems like a lot of people have been interested in this game. Which to be fair, has been for the wrong reasons, mostly. From art theft, to troubled development across the game’s life, as day one rapidly approaches, I felt it was important to see what this game is offering and give my two cents on what the game most likely is going to pan out once it does release to the masses. Because even though this is a server slam, what we see is pretty much the full game minus the rest of the content available for day one, whatever that ends up looking like. And over the course of this weekend, the server slam has been smooth in some areas but confusing and questionable in others. I’m genuinely curious what others have thought if they have put time into the game, but for the most part, I’ve felt only… okay. It’s not awful, but it’s not doing anything to seriously iterate on the formula that makes it a must play. But let’s talk about Marathon, because it’s kind of a complicated and mixed bag. For a lot of different reasons.

(Inside of a raid)

Let’s start with what happens inside of a match because obviously as an extraction shooter, what goes on during the game is critical to its success. And the gameplay loop here is par for the course. You load in with a kit, run around a map fighting PvE elements, collecting loot, getting into fights with other players, completing quests for the various factions in the game and then extracting to do it over again and again. And within Marathon, that core gameplay isn’t as rewarding as other titles out currently. It feels as though there’s no one else across the map. Teams of players or solos are a dime a dozen; for how large these maps are, running into more than one additional team or player is kind of a shocker, at least from playing this weekend. Not to mention, the general movement is both slow and clunky. It would be nice to see the base movement speed across the board be sped up just a tad. The best part of the game because it’s Bungie is the gunplay. Which you know, from this studio that got it down to a science in Destiny, yeah, the guns feel good to shoot. But I kind of realized that’s the case because recoil doesn’t really exist. All the guns are laser beams in terms of accuracy. And this game’s equivalent of the battle rifle from Halo is probably my favorite weapon. Sounds good, feels solid, does decent damage, but just felt the most comfortable in my hands. The looks of the weapons are hit and miss. Some look sleek and stylish, and others feel a little boxy and bloated. But to be fair, the most of the art across the game is kind of odd. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate how different it looks compared to honestly anything out there right now, but the game also kind of looks like a majority of it is made from plastic. Which considering all the characters are robots, it makes sense, but what I mean is that with how the fidelity of the graphics is generally lower than something like Tarkov or Arc Raiders, I feel like I should be getting ten times my current framerate. I know that’s now how this stuff works, but the art style is going to be either hit or miss for a lot of people, and I think looking at the game is awesome, but playing it, the graphics don’t translate super well.

On top of that, the UI inside of raids feels cluttered and a little difficult to read sometimes. And that’s before you get hacked, downed, or any kind of debuff applied to your character. You have your own health, teammates' health, ability cooldowns, your weapons, equipment and ammo counts, a timer, and your quest objectives all on the screen at the same time. Maybe there is a way to reduce how much it is on your screen through the settings, and I missed it, but there is definitely too much going on. A little bit of information overload. The time to kill is also wild. It might be the fastest in any shooter I've personally ever played. I feel like if you don’t get the first shot off against someone, you just lose every fight. The mobility isn’t fast enough for you to run away and make evasive maneuvers to avoid damage, and the abilities while useful in preparation for a fight, feel like they are difficult to apply whilst directly in one. Speaking of, the class based system they have for runners is annoying. This is definitely a me thing, but i am beyond tired of hero-based classes that have their own set of abilities. This game is perfect for allowing players to make their own characters and customize them however they see fit. But I guess that answer was too smart to make. Also considering this is a live service, they can’t sell you character skins that way, but I digress. It’s very difficult to win fights where the enemy has more teammates. If you’re solo taking on a duo or trio, good luck. You shouldn’t always win those fights, but it feels the most hopeless in this game if you’re the last one in your group alive. Looting across the game other than weapons is tough to discern from what are healing items, what are consumables, what are equipment, and what is going to be sold if you manage to extract from the raid. The icons are just a mess and don’t make any cohesive sense. I spent more time looking at my inventory trying to assess what is what more than running around collecting items. I ended up just ignoring most items in the world because I didn’t want to have to deal with the clutter. And that clutter goes way beyond elements inside the raid sadly.

(Outside of a raid)

Outside of the raid, in the game’s menus, things don’t improve much either. In the top right of your screen are basically the tabs to quickly navigate you around the various menus and shops. And for some reason, those buttons are not permanently on your screen whilst you gear up for a raid. Some screens remove these buttons, making it difficult to just get back to the start unless you just mash the escape button on your keyboard. This problem is exacerbated the most by the contracts screen. Here, you can accept quests to be completed in raid for the various factions across the game. And by doing the quests you can level up each faction and redeem skill points that can apply direct buffs to your character or expand your options in the shop from that specific trader. The problem is that while there are buttons on the side to help you get to different parts of this mechanic, for some reason, the game remembers where you left off last, so if you are deep in the contract menus, go to your loadout and then go back, instead of just taking you back to the main screen where you choose the map you’d like to play on, it puts you back where you were. It's kind of confusing, I’m sorry, this is difficult to describe, but the menus in general are a mess. There are so many different screens, colors, and fonts; there is no clear cohesion across the game. It's trying to wear so many hats that it doesn’t wear any of them particularly well. I’ve also had the game crash on me several times while I was idle in the menus, not that it really matters, but just wanted to mention that. I will say, the game ran fairly smoothly for the most part. The performance was good, and the net code is probably the strongest part of this game. No insane rubber-banding, lag or desync from my time with the beta, which again, considering it’s Bungie and this isn’t their first rodeo with online games, I’m glad that at least got that right.

(Will it be okay at launch and beyond?)

The biggest question for Marathon is how will it fair at launch and going forward. And the answer simply is, we don’t know. Looking at the steam numbers across the weekend, initially they were really solid; people were genuinely curious about trying it after hearing so much about the game. But it seems like people tried it, were put off at some point by the game and aren’t logging in to try again. I’d imagine the numbers on console reflect the ones here, so again, there is interest in this game. Whether that comes from a place of genuine curiosity or just wanting to see what the shit show development of Marathon has yielded, people played it. Whether or not they stay all depends on what they can ship at launch. To me, the style, themes, mood and atmosphere of Marathon is either going to really intrigue and entice people to stick around and want to explore the world or put people off almost immediately because it’s too weird and almost edgy in a roundabout way. Some elements I like, and others not so much, but I truly do appreciate them being so bold and so different with this game’s visuals. In think this game will actually find its audience. It won’t be massive, but there will definitely be people who love the aesthetic of this world and want to see more of it, which is good. Because it is trying to do something really unique, I just don’t think the gameplay is going to able to hold people’s attention for a long time. And that’s my biggest hold up: the gameplay. At the end of the day, this is part you spend the most time with, and if it isn’t fun, why would you stick around to try and see if there is fun to be had twenty, forty, sixty plus hours in. It took me over a hundred to find it in Arc, I don’t really feel like spending another hundred plus hours on top of forty dollars to see what this game is about at the endgame. Maybe that’s just me though; the reception for Marathon feels all over the place. Whether you enjoy it or not is entirely up to you. If the marketing and controversies persuaded you to stay away, that’s totally fine. It does feel like this game has always been climbing up a mountain to justify its existence. But if this demo was enough to convince you to purchase it, that’s also okay. I’ll never say you should stay away from it. But instead, I would rather lay out everything in front of you, show you what it looks like and have you make your own conclusions. This game has a lot of ground to cover; I just wonder if Sony is going to give them time to try and catch up.

(Outro)

Marathon’s server slam is finally showcasing what the game is all about. A hero-based extraction shooter with a wild and crazy aesthetic that is going to pull some players in but might also at the same time push others away. For trying to be a more competitive shooter, it doesn’t feel that way. Lobbies are quiet, only getting into at most two gunfights between teams, the time to kill is insanely low and the UI both in and out of raid is complete garbage. A lot of these things can be addressed rather quickly if the people playing it all say the same thing, which it seems like Bungie is trying to be as proactive to the feedback as they possibly can be before the launch, which is good. I guess it depends on if that momentum can be carried out a couple of months past launch, and they’re able to add more content consistently and not just fill the shop up with shitty overpriced skins. I suspect this game when all is said and done with have anywhere from ten to twenty thousand concurrent players on steam. It will find its audience and those that play it will like it. But it’s not for me. It's too complicated, too busy, and just going for an experience that doesn’t get my heartrate up. Because that’s the point of an extraction shooter; the stress and thrill of trying to survive while contending with players and computer opponents alike. I don’t think I will be purchasing this game, and I wish it the best and hope those that buy it enjoy their time. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to watch this video. Let me know down in the comment section below your thoughts on Marathon’s server slam, what you like or dislike about it and be sure to subscribe for more videos about games that have a terrible track record and will most likely fall flat on their faces when they do finally release. I hope to see you in future ones.