The time is finally upon us, Marathon’s server slam has begun as players now get to see what’s on offer over the course of the weekend. And while initial reactions seem to be pretty positive, if not quite bloody, there is one thing that people just can’t seem to get over: the UI.
“Marathon gotta be the first ever fontslop game,” streamer Kelski says. “There’s like 20 different combinations of fonts, boldness levels, sizes, spacing, all caps vs regular caps, all on one menu page. Just an absolute eyesore. They really need to pull back on the whole ‘abstract’ thing for the UI’.”
Marathon gotta be the first ever fontslop gameThere’s like 20 different combinations of fonts, boldness levels, sizes, spacing, all caps vs regular caps, all on one menu pageJust an absolute eye sore They REALLY need to pull back on the whole “abstract” thing for the UI pic.twitter.com/Ra89yB8dhpFebruary 27, 2026
But Kelski isn’t the only one to voice their dislike of Marathon’s UI. “This is hands down one of the most complex menus I’ve ever seen in my life,” Ninja says in a clip posted to socials. “I have no idea where I’m at, what I’m looking at. I’m starting to get it but there’s like a million menus.”
The issue isn’t just that the UI looks a bit clunky, with mismatched fonts and styles alongside a bright neon colour scheme which is slightly headache-inducing. But there are also just way too many sections and subsections.
When customising your character there’s Shell Select, which determines which character you’re playing. Then there’s loadout, vault, and armory all of which have multiple features to tweak and items to select. It just doesn’t seem like a very intuitive design. This isn’t to say players wouldn’t be able to learn how to navigate it as time goes on, but if the first reaction is to complain about headaches and ask for directions then it probably isn’t a good sign.
But the good news is that it should be an easy fix. The hard part is getting the actual game to work well and make for a good time, which by all accounts it sounds like Marathon has achieved. Although it’s still up in the air whether players will vibe with Marathon’s PvP ethos as opposed to Arc Raiders’ slightly friendlier match ups.
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