Marathon has had a tumultuous few months since launch. While it’s been critically lauded as a fantastic extraction shooter from Bungie, the game has struggled to find an audience. Season 2 is a great point for those who’ve been thinking about jumping in. Marathon continues to feel fantastic and is a blast to play, an experience that differs from its contemporaries and deserves a bigger audience.
We really enjoyed it, giving it an 8 and saying “Marathon has all the pieces it needs to be successful, with the major question being how steady new content offerings are going to be introduced. If Bungie can deliver on new maps and variations, new guns, new contracts, events, and the like, at a decent pace, then Marathon has the potential to be the type of live service hit Sony has been desperately trying to find.”
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Throughout Season 1 and now with Season 2 underway, there have been a number of changes and updates that have made Marathon even better. From a nighttime version of Dire Marsh that genuinely changes how the map plays and feels, to a new runner shell, Season 2 is a fantastic time to hop in.
One of the major Season 2 additions in Marathon is the night version of Dire Marsh.
One of the major Season 2 additions is the night version of Dire Marsh, a waterlogged and vegetation-filled map. Night isn’t just a simple blue filter that changes the lighting; it entirely changes the approach to staying alive. Where visibility during the day isn’t an issue, it definitely is at night. It’s truly dark, hard to see, and navigate in a way that feels much more treacherous and terrifying than before.
The runners are equipped with flashlights that let them see better. You quickly realize it’s a double-edged sword: sure, you can see better and actually navigate the map properly, but now enemies can easily pick out your shining light from a sea of darkness. Marathon already felt like a stealth survival game as a solo player, but now, even in duos, the tense atmosphere lingers in every step.
New weapon scopes and items, like Darksight and signal flares, give you a better chance at handling encounters in the dark. Vector rounds and grenades are new ammo types and items that alight where they land, making enemies easier to see even in the dark. You have the tools to deal with darkness, but that doesn’t mean surviving is any easier. Each round is tense, every movement in the dark a potential threat.
Going underground in one of the buildings makes Marathon feel like a horror game.
There are new enemies, with a creature made of light and fractured beams now shooting off floating projectiles as you run by. Going underground in one of the buildings basically turns Marathon into a horror game. Lights flicker and turn off, ghostly jump scares and apparitions made me jump more than once. It takes an already established map and completely alters how you play, making the dense vegetation even more important for hiding and each use of the flashlight a calculated move.
On top of the night version of Dire Marsh, a new runner shell was also introduced: the Sentinel. The new shell is defensive, a perfect fit for those looking to play more of a tank build. The combat kit definitely gives you more protection. The proximity mine helps protect you from incoming enemies trying to catch you off guard, a motion tracker keeps threats knowable, and an automated laser platform special shoots down grenades and missiles while improving weapon handling for your crew.
The Cradle is another huge progression overhaul, uninhibited from faction progress. Where before all your upgrades were tied directly to contracts and resources, The Cradle now gives you upgrades that are shared across all runner shells, without penalizing the player for wanting to re-roll or change stats. It lets you customize stats depending on the situation. Playing solo? Cover your weaknesses with more health or strength. Playing with friends lets you change your allocation depending on how your crew rounds out, allowing for deeper customization than before.
Coming back to Marathon has reminded me how good this game feels to play.
You’ll be able to pour more XP into the Cradle by converting items in your inventory. This makes each run more valuable, even if you don’t collect the specific items needed for faction increases. As long as you extract, almost every item becomes potential XP for the Cradle, making progression feel smoother and more rewarding.
There’s plenty more to find in Season 2 of Marathon, including new weapons, other improvements to faction progression and contracts, and quality of life updates. The addition of duos continues to be welcome, even if the map rotation still feels limiting. There have been hiccups, with progression for rarer weapons being far too fast. The good thing is Bungie is listening, already addressing concerns, and talking about plans to level the playing field further.
Coming back to Marathon has reminded me how good this game feels to play. The tight gunplay, beautiful world, and tense rounds have hooked me all over again. If you’ve been waiting to try Marathon out, Season 2 is a fantastic time to drop down to Tau Ceti IV. From the new darkness in Dire Marsh to the Sentinel and all of the other changes, Marathon feels better than ever.
Marathon is out now on PS5, XBOX Series X|S, and PC.
