The Marathon server slam consumed my weekend: 21 hours later, I've gone from 'meh' to believer

The Marathon server slam consumed my weekend: 21 hours later, I’ve gone from ‘meh’ to believer | PC Gamer Skip to main content Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition UK US Canada Australia Subscribe Sign in View Profile Sign out Search Search PC Gamer Games Hardware News Reviews Guides Video Forum More PC Gaming Show PC Gamer Clips Software Codes Coupons Movies & TV Magazine Newsletter Affiliate links Meet the team Community guidelines About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine SubscriptionWhy subscribe?Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming magTry a single issue or save on a subscriptionIssues delivered straight to your door or device From$1Subscribe now Don’t miss these FPS Marathon Server Slam start times and rewards FPS If you’re hoping to make friends in Marathon like you can in Arc Raiders, expect a knife in the back FPS Hours before its open preview weekend, Marathon is suddenly very close to the top of Steam’s top sellers list FPS Citing Halo, FEAR, and Half-Life 2 as inspirations, Sprawl: Zero waves goodbye to boomer shooters and heralds the arrival of the Millennial FPS FPS Marathon Server Slam update: Bungie says if you’re not getting enough PvP action, maybe you’re just not looking for fights in the right places FPS Is Marathon’s time-to-kill too fast, or am I too Arc Raiders-pilled? FPS If your mouse input is totally busted in Marathon right now, I may have the fix FPS If you love Marathon’s vectorheart style but not its PvP, get your aesthetic fix from the gorgeously overstimulating demo for this time trial FPS instead Third Person Shooter Embark admits Arc Raiders’ bosses are dying too fast because ‘they’re not intended for the full server to go up against’ and ‘we gave players too effective abilities’ Action Boy, this is awkward: Sony drops the first Horizon Hunters Gathering playtest directly on top of the Marathon server slam this weekend Racing The creators of Rain World were tired of making something so depressing, so their next game is a ‘loud and dumb and fast’ cyberpunk racer you can try in the Steam Next Fest FPS ‘An absolute eyesore’: Marathon’s biggest issue seems to be its poor UI design that’s confusing players, ‘I have no idea where I’m at, what I’m looking at’ FPS Marathon: Everything we know about Bungie’s sci-fi extraction shooter FPS Marathon briefly censors ‘Arc Raiders’ in chat, just like Activision and EA did, and it was probably another accident because it was quickly and quietly fixed Third Person Shooter Arc Raiders design director says players ‘never worked together’ in testing, but the emergence of care bear lobbies ‘encourages us to lean toward giving opportunities to have friendly interactions’ PopularNEW: PC Gamer Clips!Resident EvilArc RaidersBest PC gearGame Quizzes Games FPS Marathon The Marathon server slam consumed my weekend: 21 hours later, I’ve gone from ‘meh’ to believer Features By Morgan Park published 3 March 2026 Alright Bungie, I’m in. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Bungie) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter PC Gamer Get the PC Gamer Newsletter Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday GamesRadar+ Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you’re going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. 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From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we’ve got you covered. Signup + Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Signup + An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter It was around this time last year when Embark and Bungie both ran playtests for their new extraction shooters at the same time. Marathon’s alpha was the culmination of two years of feverish speculation about the legendary FPS studio’s first non-Destiny project in over 15 years.Then the unexpected happened: Arc Raiders upstaged Marathon. Embark went on to release the first mainstream game of its genre while Marathon got delayed, cementing it as a fixation of skepticism for certain corners of the hobby.I was among those who saw promise in Marathon’s silky gunplay and standout art, but didn’t click with the maps or AI enemies at the time. Even as Bungie reworked those bots and revamped its art style to better highlight Tau Ceti IV’s collision of nature and artifice, I still didn’t immediately connect with this past weekend’s server slam: I had gripes with its punishing item economy and, after so many hours of Arc Raiders, had trouble adapting to the idea that Marathon wouldn’t be the same social sandbox. Related articles Is Marathon’s time-to-kill too fast, or am I too Arc Raiders-pilled? Bungie is considering a dedicated duos mode and time-to-kill changes after Marathon server slam feedback Hours before its open preview weekend, Marathon is suddenly very close to the top of Steam’s top sellers list Four days and 21 hours of playtime later, I’ve done a 180. Marathon consumed my weekend. I’ve gone from “meh” on day one, to “OK this is pretty cool” on day two, to “I think I love Marathon.”My turnaround happened on day two. That was when I started to realize what sort of FPS Bungie is actually going for—an approachable, but very much lethal PvP shooter—and began to lean into that. I started running toward gunshots instead of sneaking around them. I turned on my mic,