Last week, one of the most circulated reactions to the Marathon server slam was a YouTuber who took one look at the menus and declared it the first ever “fontslop” game.
He wasn’t the only one who felt their eyes were assaulted by Marathon’s unorthodox graphic design. UI feedback was one of Bungie’s major takeaways from the weekend server slam. “Keep it coming,” the Bungie account said on X.
That’s good to hear. It’s nice to gather feedback and all, but in this case, the folks saying “pee-ew” to Marathon’s menus have bad taste. The UI has practical problems without a doubt (inventory sorting icons are too similar, tracking items sucks, using the Codex requires too many clicks) but it all looks breathtaking.
I reckon the reaction to the style has been so weirdly extreme because the art of graphic design has been sapped out of big-budget games, especially in multiplayer shooters, for a decade-plus. Everything is not instantly recognizable, so it’s bad. There is more to absorb on screen than a grid of rectangles, so it’s too much. Gamers are not used to seasoning their food.
Like many aspects of Marathon, it all gets easier with time. After 21 hours with the server slam, I’ve come around on it in a big way (and not clashing with menus).
