Marathon’s recent trailers use the tagline, “From the creators of Halo and Destiny comes the next great shooter.” After two days with the game, I don’t feel that promise has been met. The gunplay feels stellar, classic Bungie precision. Weapons are satisfying, responsive, and clean. The PvP engagements have a fast time-to-kill, and the different Runner shells add meaningful variety to encounters. On a mechanical level, shooting feels great. But beyond that, the core design choices, AI balance, PvPvE integration, and clunky UI left me with a hollow feeling, especially after spending so much time playing Arc Raiders over the last six months. For context, I’m a long-time Halo player. I started with Halo: CE and played competitively through the MLG circuit in Halo 2 and Halo 3. I’ve played every Halo game on every difficulty, introduced countless friends to the franchise, and completed co-op campaigns more times than I can count. I’ve also logged thousands of hours in Destiny and Destiny 2 and have been to the Lighthouse more times than I can remember. I’m a Bungie fan. But Marathon does not capture the spirit of their previous projects. [b]PvP vs PvE: Where It Breaks Down[/b] The PvP aspect feels clean. The weapons feel good. The engagements can be intense and satisfying. The problems start when AI enemies are mixed into those engagements. It feels like Bungie overcorrected from feedback during the earlier alpha test. Instead of weak AI that felt inconsequential, we now have enemies that are both bullet sponges and capable of eliminating you in just a few shots. The system doesn’t feel fair or readable. One example is enemy silhouettes and visual clarity. The small UESC robots go down in just a few headshots. But they look far too similar to their larger variants, such as Commanders or Ghosts. Those larger enemies can take multiple magazines to kill and can down you almost instantly. The Grenadier is another example. It’s difficult to tell what class he is or what he’s about to do until he has already launched four or five grenades at you. This lack of visual distinction creates confusion and frustration. Let’s look at other games, including Bungie’s own history, to understand why this doesn’t work. In Arc Raiders, if you see a Wasp or Hornet flying, you immediately know what you’re dealing with. You’re not going to mistake it for a Rocketeer. If you see a Bastion on the ground, you won’t confuse it with a Tick. The difficulty of each enemy is clearly communicated through its design. That allows players to make informed tactical decisions before engaging. Bungie has historically excelled at this. In Halo, you’re not going to mistake a Grunt for an Elite, or an Elite for a Hunter. Each enemy type has a clear silhouette, behavior pattern, and threat level. You approach each encounter differently based on what you see. In Destiny, you won’t confuse a Thrall with a Wizard or a Cabal Commander. Enemy hierarchy and danger are visually and mechanically readable. Marathon lacks that clarity right now, and I think this is one of the biggest reasons fighting AI feels so bad. [b]The Resource Problem[/b] The second major issue is kill speed and resource drain. When you engage AI enemies, you lose health extremely quickly and burn through a significant amount of ammo just to eliminate a few larger targets. By the time you’ve cleared the threat from the area, you’ve: • Made a massive amount of noise • Alerted nearby players • Depleted your ammo • Used most of your healing resources Then another team rolls in and third-parties you. I’ve seen this loop happen constantly during my playtime. Fight AI → Burn resources → Make noise → Get pushed by players → Die depleted. It feels unfair and, more importantly, not fun. This design takes away player agency. Too much time and too many resources are spent fighting PvE threats, which directly weakens you for the PvP engagements that are supposed to be the highlight of the experience. Instead of PvPvE feeling like a dynamic balance, it feels like PvE exists mainly to punish you before PvP happens. [b]User Interface and Item Readability[/b] The UI is another major pain point. It is difficult to differentiate between items quickly. A patch kit, a depleted patch kit, a self revive, and an advanced patch kit all look nearly identical aside from slight color differences. While this can eventually be learned through repetition, it creates unnecessary friction for new players trying to onboard. Looting quickly under pressure becomes frustrating rather than intuitive. Loadout integration also feels poorly implemented. If you click on a shield slot or a core slot, the game should automatically filter and display only the compatible items in your vault. Instead, managing equipment feels clunky and disconnected. Vault space is extremely limited, especially when you are forced to retain trade items for vendors while also stockpiling ammo and healing to remain competitive. Inventory management quickly becomes a constant chore. Compounding this issue is the balance of PvE enemies. Because they consume so much ammunition and healing to defeat, your loadout ends up filled almost entirely with ammo and heals just to survive. That leaves little room for creative builds or experimentation, which undermines the depth the system appears to be aiming for. Mid combat readability is also problematic. Many players I matched with and friends I played alongside agreed that the wall of text attached to each mod or item makes looting overwhelming. When PvE threats are constant and PvP players can appear at any moment, there is no practical time to read detailed perk descriptions. Looting attachments or cores from an enemy team becomes a rushed decision, often resulting in “I’ll just equip it and see what happens” instead of intentional build crafting. In Destiny, build crafting feels deliberate and readable. Here, the intention seems present, but the execution falls short. It feels as though Bungie expects players to memorize everything, yet many players may leave before reaching that level of familiarity. There are additional usability concerns. There is little indication that exfils are being used other than small text at the bottom of the screen and a beam of light that is typically obscured by fog. There is no visible timer for extraction once a teammate activates it unless you are in direct line of sight during its last ten seconds before departure. The marking system for items is only a faint box, with a brief text notification that disappears quickly. Important information is often buried in small UI elements rather than clearly communicated. Even the loading screens have drawn criticism. The psychedelic, rapidly repeating imagery has been uncomfortable for some players, with friends mentioning they felt the need to look away until the game finished loading. [b]Movement and the Heat System[/b] My final major gameplay concern is the heat system. I intentionally upgraded that branch of the skill tree because it felt restrictive, but even with investment, the system remains punishing. The time spent waiting for heat to dissipate slows the pace dramatically. Sliding and using movement tech feel heavily penalized, forcing players to walk and wait rather than make aggressive plays. For a game called Marathon, featuring characters referred to as Runners, the pacing feels surprisingly slow. Instead of encouraging fluid, dynamic movement and creative repositioning, the heat system often forces passivity. That disconnect between theme and gameplay is difficult to ignore. [b]Final Thoughts[/b] I think Bungie has significant adjustments to make if they want to maintain long term community retention. If the balance, readability, and pacing remain in their current state, many players will return to Arc Raiders or other shooters in the genre. I genuinely wanted Marathon to succeed. The foundation, especially the gunplay, shows that the talent is still there. But as it stands right now, I do not believe the game warrants a purchase. I hope iteration and player feedback guide meaningful improvements, because the potential is clearly present.