Right, shall we try again? Marathon! A game that was technically meant to be out by now, but is very obviously not out right now, is now a game that has a release month (no date, Bungie don’t appear to be ready to share that one yet). That month is March, 2026, which I’m assuming has been chosen so that PlayStation manage to release one of their many promised but mostly cancelled live service games before the tax year wraps up.
This detail was confirmed in a new blog post and mini documentary of sorts that Bungie have shared, the blog post also confirming a price point finally (sort of). They’re apparently “targeting” $39.99/€39.99/£34.99 as a price point, with more regional pricing to come closer to launch. Obviously inexpensive compared to most big name games these days, but perhaps a barrier too high for a shooter mired in deeply mixed responses.
Watch on YouTube
Anyway, I won’t run through everything, but let me detail some of the new bits shown off in the documentary. Complaints about being forced to play with others have been heard, as the game will feature a solo queue. Proximity chat has also been confirmed, a feature I’m sure will afford many a slur to be said simply for playing with a toy.
A brief insight into factions were shown off, where you might be tasked with looting a bunch of guns, or blowing up a ton of stuff. These factions all have upgrade trees that grant you various boons, a point I am already yawning at. There’s this thing called The Codex that stores all the bits of lore, including things like audio logs and the like. Which, as a point, surely bits like that will be such a run killer? I wonder how that’ll work into terms of the actual gameplay. It’ll all just fall flat if you’re just sitting on a menu listening to the story the game isn’t actually telling.
The most crushing element of all of this is just how beautiful Marathon continues to look. Inside it is a world I’m desperate to explore, and yet I know in my heart that the game’s PvP elements, we all can sense will be a hotbed of toxicity, will put me off the thing entirely. Admittedly I am not the core audience, I don’t play many shooters anyway, but hotdog do I like some bold sci-fi.
What I can’t stop thinking about since watching the mini doc is the very last line from one of the game’s devs: “It’s a mad dash to finish, but that’s when you got to put in the elbow grease and the extra sweat and blood that it takes to get this done.” Blood has been spilled, figuratively, to get this thing made, and all I can hope is that for some of those that remain, getting it out is worth it.