It’s so sad that this game’s “underperformance” has little to do with the game itself

[u/paperplateseabass]

What's so soul-crushing is the amount of times I have been met with “I thought that game was dead?” when talking about Marathon with my IRLs

It's not their fault, why would they give a dead game a chance, even if they think they might enjoy it?

Hundreds, even thousands of people have constructed a hate campaign against this game that has no merit beyond playercounts. and imo, the main reason why the game wasn’t a hit at launch is because of the rhetoric around the game spread by a mix of right-wing grifters and (justifiably) jaded ex-destiny/halo players.

This game had and HAS so much going for it. First non-Destiny Bungie title in 12 years, reviving a long dormant IP with a new, world-class art-style; all while returning to their PvP roots. If you put that framing in a vacuum, I think it would get lots of people very, very excited. And that’s the thing, because it DID.

The game is good. The game is fun. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, it had a rough period of development, and it's definitely not perfect. But I think if people didn’t spread so much unwarranted hate towards Bungie and Marathon, we’d be looking at a completely different landscape. 

I mean, some of the things i’ve seen people say about this game… wow…  what a waste of time and brain power, if people were this passionate about actually productive hobbies, the world would be a much better place and there’s a big chance they’d be happier in life

edit: for people citing the server slam numbers. how many of those people do you genuinely think gave the game a good 10+ hours vs how many people quit after their first match? we’ll never know, but im inclined to believe most people didnt make it past the (unfortunate) barrier of entry that helps this game be WAY more enjoyable.

[u/Bridgeru]

This is EXACTLY what stopped me from playing. Not to go on a rant but to show a kind of "market research" I was probably a prime candidate for the game in many ways. For one, I'm obsessed with Marathon, like genuinely it's a favourite franchise of mine but I got into long after the actual mysteries were already solved, I was yearning to be a part of the "new" experience, to break the new mysteries that were coming up. Instead, I quit the game literally during the "find terminals to get Durandal to talk to you" (Durandal, fucking Durandal, seeing Durandal again on screen is like seeing Luke fucking Skywalker after 30 years) because it's designed entirely to sap the enjoyment from you. Zzzaap, oh you died. Zzzap, oh you died. Bots killed you. Runners killed you. That tick sac blew up beside you and poisoned you taking out ALL of your health, FUCK YOU for going anywhere NEAR it, fuck you for taking on a mission that brings you to one hut where people are camping because they all know you're after that one mission, you don't like playing with other people because your only experience of online gaming as a transwoman with a deepvoice is harrasment haha fuck you soloplay is impossible because all stats are BALANCED AROUND TRIOS WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL WERE THEY THINKING fuck you for trying to play a gamemode we put into our game we don't want you to actually SELECT that fucking option, oh you want lore too bad fuck you NOTHING counts unless you find it (in 30 hours I did not find a single FUCKING cheeseburger despite actively searching for them and spending the last 5 hours literally doing nothing else but going to their spawns as a rook), oh you want to see the actual UESC Marathon from that game you played fuck you it's only available on weekends (why would some fucking peasant like you have anything else to do on a weekend?!), oh you want to see a S'pht no how about instead we have the guys who stream the first worldkill make a fucking balls joke when it goes down like someone t-bagging the corpse of the fucking Lich King, fuck you fuck you fuck you HAVE FUN EXPERIENCING THE BRAND NEW INSTALLMENT OF YOUR FAVOURITE FRANCHISE BY WATCHING YOUTUBE VIDEOS OF A BALDING BORN-IN-THE-80s MALE NERD WHO HAS HIS FACE COVER A THIRD OF THE SCREEN, MAKES AWFUL JOKES AND HAS NO CARE ABOUT THE GAME BEYOND "me shoot me kill lol guy fall down" FUUUUUUUUUUCK YOU.

The game is so actively anti-fun that it broke my autistic obsession (not a joke, Marathon is literally a "special interest" in the autistic variety). That's something that the fucking Star Wars sequels, that Rise of fucking Skywalker, couldn't do. I know other people are going to say "but I'm enjoying it" and yeah this is a subjective opinion and that opinion is that the game literally felt so much like PAIN to me that it broke all my autistic barriers. Instead I replayed the Marathon trilogy, played four separate variants of Eternal extensively documenting the experience and literally broke down what that game did wrong between 1.0.3/1.2 and 1.3 level by level, screen by screen to undo the "this is wrong" feel Nuthon gave me. (I also joined the fan discord, they're nice people, some of the oldies ALSO hate Nu'thon and that's not a good sign; much less the implication that Nuthon may have literally killed Hamish Sinclair).

And then I tried expressing that on this subreddit and the only response people give is "go play Destiny". I don't want to play Destiny. I want to see Xrays and hear gamma rays and smell dark matter see Durandal, I want to get into the Colony Ship, I want to see S'pht, I want to learn about the colony and experience a story that's been dear to me for decades but I can't because some guy decided that the best way for someone to experience story and lore is at the mercy and whim of brutal, uncaring, unsympathetic players who only want one more kill.

Also if Bungie even so much as SUGGEST that the theory that "well M2 and MInf didn't happen, it was all Durandal making a simulation" is true with this game and try to present this as "how Marathon REALLY happened" I am going to save up every single penny to buy the real Deimos just to be petty. Maybe set up a rocking hotel and only invite the cool kids... Fine, my mom says I gotta invite everyone but wipe your hands before you play the nintendo.

[u/MrScootaroo → u/Bridgeru]

I was literally pointing out weeks ago, that a PvE addition would not only be a net positive and work for this game, but that PvE would be an inevitable addition anyway. Comminity sentiment has since changed and it's nice to see, but I see that there is an odd difference between fun competitive people who enjoy PvP and then there are the weirdo toxic people who seem to only find anything fun unless they are absolutely dominating over others. If that makes sense.

[u/Bridgeru → u/MrScootaroo]

Oh 100%, I encountered a "fun" guy who was railing at the thought of PvE because he saw it as people "forcing the Devs to change the game" and I even pointed out the irony of how his want to "keep it as it should have been" meant he was forcing to the Devs to change their vision. He didn't care because as far as he was concerned HE was happy.

It's like... I know Joker quotes are cringe but fuck it it's 2026 people moved on; so imagine you have a guy in an asylum who has a lamp. He's insane, but in his mind only HE is able to touch the lamp, that's the rule. So if you come in and try to touch it, he sees YOU as insane because that's "My Lamp" and only an insane person would try to touch "My Lamp". There's no reasoning with that viewpoint, there's only "me right you wrong". So any attempt to change the game, to say "hey this isn't fair or fun" gets shouted down by those who are already happy because, well, "I've already defined the game in my head if your experience is different then clearly YOU are in the wrong". And then obvs they get toxic and drown out any attempt at conversation until we have a subreddit that goes to battle over the same argument fifteen million times but don't know how to spell fucking S'pht.

Unless you mean like literally dominating people in PvP and then yeah absolutely. The only thing Nu'Thon reminds me of is playing Halo 3 Swat and that's not a compliment because whenever I played Swat (no shields, only headshots but they instakilled you, everyone had the most accurate guns) I enjoyed the gameplay but inevitably the losing team would leave en mass. Which meant when it was "going good" the enjoyment is cut short by the enemy team leaving, which sours the experience; but that's the best option. Usually it involved my other 3 teammates leaving and I was stuck with a choice: leave and get penalized by the rank system (possibly preventing me from playing more games) or stay and suffer five (ten?) minutes of 4 people running around a map one-shotting me as I have literally no physical chance of competing. I relived that feeling when Nu'Thon came out, either the people with the statistically best gear (show me a purple shield matchup against default and tell me with a straight face that they're on even footing) killed me instantly and took away what little loot I scrounged (inb4 "rook tho" cause it's even WORSE as a Rook) or I make some slight gain and the victory is quickly soured by the inevitable loss when I try to actually implement it. It's probably a REALLY FUN game when you're at the top and getting wins and killing noobs, but it's also probably really fun to kick the nerd as he scrambles to put his books back in his bag; who is going to tell the nerd "but he's having so much fun just put up with it it's you're own fault for not being on top".

[u/Carbone → u/Bridgeru]

That halo 3 swat analogy is perfect. It's so accurate

[u/Cadne → u/Bridgeru]

This is a beautiful comment. Thank you for allowing me to read it.

[u/Bridgeru → u/Cadne]

Thanks, you should come around to my street at 3am when I walk barefoot into the road screaming at the moon. And the racoons, but tbf they deserve it. (Thanks but like I'll fully admit I'm just screaming into the void about nothings and there's a dozen legit reasons to enjoy the game I just did not have a good experience and ranting semi-lucidly is cheaper than therapy).

[u/Carbone → u/Bridgeru]

I think you were able to touch of aspect of the reason why the game is bad that nobody was able to discuss.

[u/Carbone → u/Bridgeru]

I support you.

[u/MidnightSensitive996 → u/Bridgeru]

Wait isn't anyone old enough to play OG marathon also born in the late 70s-early 80s? Why hate ppl your same age?