Marathon is shaping up well. After tons of controversies and less-than-stellar moments, including accusations of plagiarism and all the things happening on a corporate level at Bungie, the game genuinely is starting to look good. But are these “upgrades” enough to save it now that ARC Raiders is utterly dominating the scene?
Bungie recently shared new images of how Marathon looks compared to its previous alpha tests. New lighting, depth, and graphics certainly upgraded the overall vibes of the game, which went from bland to quite realistic and, dare I say, visually striking. The art direction continues to evolve, with Marathon now having one of the most distinct and flashy art styles, inspired no doubt by cyberpunk and neon-esque movements.
When directly compared to what the game used to be, the progress is more than evident. Hell, it even looks like an entirely new game. Alpha testers also report how the gameplay has evolved and improved as well, with Marathon now being in a much better spot both artistically and gameplay-wise than it was before. It’s evident Bungie is putting in the effort to mold Marathon into a worthwhile experience, one that’d justify the $40 price tag.
Controversies and issues behind the scenes continue to happen, however. Joseph Cross, Marathon‘s art director, departed from the company just a week prior to this article, while a copyright infringement lawsuit looms over the game. It’s definitely an example of development hell, which is likely exacerbated by the otherwise incredible success of ARC Raiders, Marathon‘s biggest competitor.
And that brings me to my point: Can Marathon, even with these flashy new improvements, survive in a market already more than dominated by ARC Raiders? The latter has won several awards already, received critical acclaim across the board, and is the third most-played game by concurrent players on Steam at the time of writing. To call it a juggernaut would be an understatement, as it has apparently given the entire extraction shooter market something to play.
No other game in the genre has even gotten close, making the situation even more dire for potential newcomers, including those that had already accrued some bad rep like Marathon. Escape from Tarkov had some 50,000 players upon its Steam launch, merely a fraction of Embark Studios’ game, which is no doubt the result of both bad rep and how most of its players use a separate launcher instead of Steam.
Marathon would have to be above and beyond just a “good” game on launch. It’d have to overdeliver and surprise everyone who lays hands on it. At least it’d have to be different enough from ARC Raiders to share a genre but not the experience, providing players with something that cannot be found elsewhere.
However, from everything we’ve seen of Marathon‘s development, I don’t think its future looks so bright. Sure, Bungie is going overdrive into developing it and is actively listening to feedback and making major improvements. But at the same price point as ARC Raiders, and the relatively same genre, I feel nothing will save it from certain doom and a live-service crash.
It may find a niche audience that prefers it over other stuff on the market, and that may very well allow it to live long enough to be patched into perfection. But I’d believe in that hypothetical much more if ARC Raiders wasn’t already here.
It doesn’t get much better than it, and something tells me Marathon won’t be, either.
