Developer and publisher Bungie re-revealed its upcoming extraction shooter Marathon on Monday, showing off new gameplay footage and images while diving into what's new since the game was delayed past its original September 2025 release date.
Bungie notes that the game is leaning into a darker science-fiction tone. Instead of players leaving a duffel bag of goodies once killed, the Runner bodies remain, leaving corpses that decay over time. This adds to the gameplay, giving players a warning about possible nearby threats depending on how fresh a corpse appears to be.
Several new features have been implemented following player feedback from the alpha testing, including the addition of a solo queue, allowing a lone Runner to dive in without being teamed up in a squad.
Marathon also now supports proximity chat, leading to new encounters as players can communicate with others out in the wild. Maybe two squads might decide to team up, or instead go their separate ways?
While Bungie isn't committing to a new release date just yet, the game does have a pretty precise release window, and Marathon is now slated to launch at some point in March 2026.
Marathon will not be a full-priced game, and is instead launching at $40 in the U.S. Rewards Passes will not expire, and players will be able to purchase and finish prior passes, taking a page from similar systems in Halo Infinite and Helldivers 2.
There aren't any details right now, but Bungie notes that any players who buy the game will get access to numerous free updates throughout the year, including new maps, Runner shells, and more. Bungie says more information on the roadmap will be available "closer to launch."
When it arrives, Marathon will be the first full new game that Bungie has launched since Destiny 2 in 2017.
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