Thoughts on Marathon

Aww yeah... here we go again. The tutorial stars with a knife in hand.

 I had the opportunity to put a couple of hours into Marathon’s Server Slam that wrapped up over the weekend. The game is a first-person extraction shooter that mixes in hero shooter elements—you select a “hero” to play each round. I equipped some weapons, dropped in, killed some players and robots, grabbed some loot, and came away with a few thoughts.

 The first thing that jumped out at me was the theme: a colorful sci-fi extravaganza. I’d be lying if I said I paid much attention to the story elements (limited time + limited-duration server slam = get to the shootin’), so I can’t speak to why things look the way they do. But I can say they are very colorful—futuristic shipping-container buildings in neon hues, vibrant alien plants scattered throughout the map. It’s visually interesting, but some of the color combinations felt off-putting. So while it’s bold and distinct, it also felt odd to me at times.

Not a big fan of the UI

 I was not a fan of the UI. It was confusing out of the gate. The health and shield bars morph colors, blink, and show shaded areas that look depleted—but aren’t. I adjusted after a couple of matches, but something that core to a game like Marathon should feel intuitive from the start.

 The menus were mechanically fine (at least on PC), but the 8-bit graphic style and font made things harder to interpret than they needed to be. Whether I was trying to sort inventory items or understand the faction system—which feels like a skill tree—the pixel-art approach made everything blur together. The longer I played, the more irritating it became.

 I would have much preferred a clean UI without the artistic flair. There are smaller annoyances too—like the plus signs in the inventory screen that initially look like empty or unlockable slots. Nope. They’re just decorative placeholders blocking unused screen space. Like the health bar, you get used to it. But taken together, it shows a pattern of UI friction that dampened my first impressions.

 To sum up the UI, I’ll steal this quote I saw on Reddit (sadly the comments were deleted):

“The game is already blocky with an eyesore color scheme. The UI should be clean with easy navigation to balance the aesthetic.”

 Performance, on the other hand, was stellar. Running, gunplay, loading—everything was smooth. No frame rate dips, no hitches. I spent my time focused on playing instead of troubleshooting. Between ARC Raiders recently and now Marathon, I could get used to games launching in optimized states.

 As for gameplay, the movement felt slower—at least early on before upgrades—which was honestly refreshing. I know some players prefer faster pacing, but I liked the weightier feel. Sprinting helps in open areas, but it doesn’t dominate moment-to-moment combat. Vaulting, climbing ladders, and general traversal all felt smooth. My one minor gripe: you have to press a button to grab a ladder. I’d prefer auto-grab if I’m clearly in position.

 Gunplay felt good—but not great. I’ll admit I’m past my prime in FPS skills, so take that with a grain of salt. The weapons I used had clear distinctions: a high-damage pistol, a heavy machine gun, and an energy weapon with lock-on targeting (at least for NPCs—I’m not sure if it works in PvP). Shooting, aiming down sights, and swapping weapons all felt solid, just not exceptional.

 NPC combat surprised me. In fact, I only died to NPCs—and I died more than I successfully extracted. There are far more NPCs than I expected, and many areas are swarmed. Some enemies appear “hidden,” like turrets that pop up unexpectedly. What frustrated me most was the lack of visual clarity around enemy strength. One enemy would drop in a couple of shots, while a nearly identical one would steamroll me—apparently because it was a boss. I’m fine with challenge in PvE, but the game needs to communicate enemy tiers better. Bosses should stand out at a glance.

 PvP combat was what you’d expect in an FPS: see someone, shoot, and hope you win the exchange. Without third-person corner peeking, surprises go both ways—which I enjoyed. The slower movement adds weight to engagements. Positioning feels intentional rather than chaotic. Because of the hero system, there are abilities and modifiers in play, but in my limited time, those differences didn’t stand out much. Everyone felt fairly similar. On the bright side, I didn’t lose a single PvP fight, even though I got into several.

Running across the world, gun ready

 

 Audio was a mixed bag. Some moments were great, but others left me confused. In one instance, my team was fighting NPCs when two other teams rolled in and a full PvPvE brawl broke out. Yet from my position, it sounded oddly subdued. Positional audio works well in terms of direction, but the intensity didn’t match the chaos. It created a strange sense of calm during what should have felt overwhelming.

 Looting is standard extraction-shooter fare: open container, wait for reveal, take what you want. On the early maps, loot was plentiful—I was nearly full after clearing a building or two. However, the pixelated inventory design made identifying items at a glance frustrating. The font, in particular, was harder to read than expected.

 One thing I liked about the loot system is that it doesn’t revolve around sprinting to a single high-value room at match start. Loot value scales as the round progresses and ties into map events. The longer you stay, the harder the events—but the better the rewards. That’s a refreshing alternative to the “spawn and dead sprint” meta common in other extraction shooters.

 I didn’t engage much with the story, but it never felt intrusive. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad, given how much emphasis seems to be placed on it. From what I’ve seen in story clips, it may not be my style. I play extraction shooters for the “get in, get out” loop—not seasonal narratives or long quest chains.

 Finally, the extraction mechanic itself didn’t land for me. Extraction beacons are placed out in the open and require you to stand still while your screen distorts in a drug-trip visual effect. It makes extraction fights feel awkward and frustrating. I don’t understand the design choice here. Extractions should feel tense and tactical—not like you’re stuck in the open, progressively blinded by graphical chaos.

 Overall, my feelings on Marathon are tepid. I liked elements like round progression, map events, and scaling loot value. But moment-to-moment gameplay didn’t wow me, and the UI feels cluttered in a game that desperately needs clarity. There’s potential here—but it needs refinement.

Note: this post was edited with the help of AI (ChatGPT). The thoughts are my own.  The grammatical correctness and em dashes (—) are the AI.