Have you been wondering what a full match of Marathon looks like? We partnered with Destiny YouTuber Skarrow9 to bring you just that, which you can find in the video linked above.
It’s been a strange two weeks for Bungie’s Marathon, the extraction shooter the Destiny studio just re-revealed on April 12. After largely positive (though skeptical of the game’s ability to succeed in the current market) previews — including ours — sentiment around the reveal even has been quite low.
One of the biggest fears players seem to have is that the game will be too intense and too high octane for the average fan to enjoy. But while the game is hardcore, there is plenty of downtown for players to catch their breath and relax away from the threat of other players. Unfortunately, due to Bungie’s community highlight video during the reveal, flashy trailer, and time restrictions on content creators’ video lengths, the high-stress player versus player combat is all fans really saw over the course of the reveal weekend.
After seeing the confusion around the game’s identity and talking to our stellar video team here at Polygon, we decided the best route was to take the footage I capture during my time at Bungie for the game’s preview event, and turn it over to a channel and creator that specializes in Marathon content. I reached out to YouTuber Skarrow9.
Skarrow is known for solving some of Destiny 2’s most involved secrets and then creating guides on how other players can follow in his footsteps. He’s also been involved in Marathon playtests on and off for months and has been one of the most prominent and successful solvers for Bungie’s extremely detailed Marathon ARGs.
The goal with Skarrow was to show a single match with no cuts* (three minutes of looting are missing from the video due to time restrictions, but the flow of the match remains unchanged). As someone who didn’t know what to expect when I first played the game at Bungie, I felt people should see what it looks like from the moment you drop into the map to the moment you extract.
The video also features commentary from Skarrow and myself, discussing things we thought warranted further explanation. It all comes together to show a pretty good representation of an average Marathon match, with plenty of looting, taking on PvE enemies, and clearing out other squads of players.
As for when other players can get their hands on the game, the first official Marathon alpha test begins on Wednesday for players in North America, and has limited access. Bungie has, however, promised that more players will be able to test the game out before its Sept. 23 release date.
Disclosure: This article is possible due to footage Polygon was able to capture at a Marathon preview event held at Bungie’s headquarters in Bellevue, Washington, from April 2-4. Bungie provided Polygon’s travel and accommodations for the event. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.
