Marathon's creative director says Bungie 'wanted to push the boundaries of what an extraction shooter can do with its story' as it goes head to head with Arc Raiders' evolving world

A Runner from the next Marathon game reveal looking at the screen, her eyes are covered, possibly replaced by biosynthetics

(Image credit: Bungie)

In the time since Marathon's controversial public alpha, Bungie returned to the drawing board to make major changes and even introduce new features like proximity chat, solos, and Rook, effectively a free loadout option. At this point, the changes seem to be having a positive effect on fans who were previously not too impressed with what Bungie was showing.

While it's much more subtle and nebulous than these changes, Bungie has also claimed it's "doubling down on the dark, gritty, and grounded sci-fi world" through an updated visual style, "deepened environmental storytelling", and the narrative-tracking Codex.

This focus on narrative and world in an extraction shooter is rather hard to understand without seeing it in action. Nevertheless, when Bungie announced the voice cast for Marathon, with the likes of Samantha Béart, Roger Clark, Darin De Paul, Jennifer English, Neil Newbon, and Ben Starr, I was very taken aback. It's stacked, especially for a game like this.

We wanted to push the boundaries of what an extraction shooter can do with its story. Tau Ceti might appear abandoned, but the world of Marathon is very much alive and populated by an incredible cast. https://t.co/yBFOxPfk0xJanuary 19, 2026

What this means exactly remains to be seen, but it certainly points in the right direction—a deeper world with more storytelling and worldbuilding than you'd expect from a multiplayer game, much less an extraction shooter. Don't expect a linear, traditional narrative, I'm sure, but more fleshed-out lore, factions, and ongoing developments on Tau Ceti sound realistic.

Of course, it's hard to ignore the elephant in the room, Arc Raiders, which has also pushed for more of a narrative approach, with an evolving world and threats. It's not long ago that we unlocked the Stella Montis map, an abandoned research lab in the mountains, through a community event.

I wouldn't be surprised if Bungie is attempting something similar, especially with the studio's history and the army of famous voices on the project.

Rory has made the fatal error of playing way too many live service games at once, and somehow still finding time for everything in between. Sure, he’s an expert at Destiny 2, Call of Duty, and more, but at what cost? He’s even sunk 1,000 hours into The Elder Scrolls Online over the years. At least he put all those hours spent grinding challenges to good use over the years as a freelancer and guides editor. In his spare time, he’s also an avid video creator, often breaking down the environmental design of his favourite games. If you can’t track him down, he’s probably lost in a cave with a bunch of dwarves shouting “rock and stone” to no end.

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