MORGAN PARK, STAFF WRITER
This week: Finished the original Mass Effect for the first time ever, and wished I liked it more.
I have to grapple with the fact that, when it comes to extraction shooters, I’ve developed Arc Raiders tunnel vision.
Approaching Marathon with that mindset was a recipe for a rough first day: a lot of squad wipes, unforced errors against UESC bots, and confusion around its buildcrafting that’s descended from MMO-lites like Destiny. I kept getting frustrated by Marathon’s time-to-kill, which is wicked fast if you’ve just come off of 100 hours of Arc Raiders. With most guns, you need less than a magazine to down players from full health.
That pissed me off at first. I had this scandalized reaction that Marathon shouldn’t be the sort of game where the squad that spots the other squad first can open the fight with a free kill and push that advantage. But now that I’ve played some matches with friends on mic and deployed basic communication and tactics, I see the vision. We’re taking encounters slower, jogging more often than we’re sprinting, and getting the jump on squads who were less careful. I’m coming to grips with the type of FPS Marathon is actually aspiring to be: a tight-knit, approachable, but very much lethal PvP shooter, and I like it.
I’m having way more fun now that I know Marathon is actually more of a Hunt: Showdown than an Arc Raiders. Kills come quickly and sound is critical. In Hunt (my first extraction shooter, that I have over 650 hours in), PvP is the reason to be there. Boss fights can be challenging and mobs are interesting obstacles, but everyone acknowledges they’re just table setting for intense, often drawn-out shootouts between players. Solo play is an option, but the environment is so dangerous that you’re essentially signing up for hard mode.
I think this also describes Marathon. It’s a team-based shooter with team-based abilities. Marathon gets easier the more squadmates you add, while I’d argue Arc Raiders gets harder.
TTK is central to that: Marathon’s puny health bars make you extremely vulnerable solo, but its long down-but-not-out timer and Triage’s powerful multi-revive ability can extend squad fights in the same way as Hunt’s generous revive mechanic. Arc Raiders’ meatier shields and health bars are forgiving to solo players who suddenly get shot out of nowhere, but harsher death penalties leave zero room for error.
So no, Marathon’s TTK isn’t too fast. I have been playing too fast, and underestimating the value of grouping with friends. I am bad, and I’m getting better. It’s also relevant that everyone is running with basic white or green shields for now—blue and purple shields also exist, and could effectively double the average TTK. At this rate, Marathon will be a game I almost exclusively play with friends or brave the wilds of random trios, and I’m cool with that.
But, I have some notes. I get that Marathon’s skill tree is a long road, but it sure would be nice if losing your loadout this early didn’t feel like getting kicked when you’re already down. I’m burning though most of my money for healing items that don’t suck and wasting half of my backpack slots just to keep enough ammo on-hand. The items you can trade for health packs and shield charges are the same material I need for the very first upgrades on the skill tree, which is a really irritating choice to make at this stage!
In that way, Marathon makes the same unwelcoming choices that kept me from getting into Escape From Tarkov. There’s too much backpack fiddling, too much stepping behind a rock to inject myself with six different drugs, and too much sweating over ammo. Like Hunt, I think Bungie should recognize that PvP is the draw of Marathon and make it slightly easier to get straight into the action.
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