Marathon Devs Say Their Extraction Shooter Is More Approachable Than Escape From Tarkov

Summary

• Marathon aims to cut out complexity to appeal to those intimidated by extraction shooters.
• It is designed to be approachable and easy to pick up.
• It's going up against some big hitters, like Escape from Tarkov.

Bungie finally gave us a better look at Marathon a few days ago. We already knew that it would be a PvP extraction-based shooter, but the showcase revealed its gameplay, stunning art style, and music. However, the biggest surprise was that Marathon will be releasing on September 23, 2025, with a closed alpha test coming on April 23.

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The developer will be hoping to capture a large player base, especially with Destiny 2's player count steadily dropping after The Final Shape. However, with Escape from Tarkov having a strong following, and several other popular shooters introducing their own versions of the extraction genre, how will Bungie manage to carve its own place? By making things simpler.

Marathon Is An Extraction Shooter For Beginners

Speaking to GamesRadar+, Joe Ziegler revealed that the game targets both veterans and newbies of the extraction genre. For the latter, Marathon "provides a new and interesting experience that really helps you get to the heart of why you enjoy the other extraction shooters that you're playing."

As for those who've experimented with extraction shooters, but are too intimidated by all the systems that come with the genre, Marathon has cut a lot of the "cruft", said Ziegler. "I think a big opportunity for us is everybody who's dabbled in extraction shooter games before, have seen what it could offer, but they just couldn't get through a lot of the cruft."

"We are hoping to make it more approachable to that group, where they can get past that cruft and into the survival storytelling a little bit faster and a little bit better," he explained. "Basically, everything they're hoping an extraction shooter gives them from a tension standpoint, from a survival standpoint, is there without trying to relearn how to play a game."

Gameplay director Andrew Witts added that the game has been designed in such a way that anyone simply handed a controller will be able to pick it up in no time, without requiring an explanation or lore dump, unlike Destiny. The game was purposefully designed in this way, in order for new players to pick it up easily.

"We're really trying to make sure that it's really approachable," added Witts. "The action fantasy of the gameplay is really easy to understand. You know when you press a button, you're like, oh, that felt really good and I really like this."

Marathon

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