Preview: Love-hate relationship on Tau Ceti IV – Why Marathon (almost) gets me

MarathonThe test phase gives us a first look at their new extraction shooter from another world. It quickly becomes clear: strategic preparation isn't just empty PR hype here, but the only way to survive when navigating between UESC security forces and other players who have their sights set on your belongings. Anyone stumbling unprepared through the ruins will be dead faster than the time-to-kill statistics allow.

The most striking thing first: These days, nobody can get past the much-discussed optics Over, which looks as if a highlighter-tipped artwork in the neon section suffered a meltdown. From the initially sterile colors in Mirror's Edge up to the crisp neon fireworks at the Slam ServerBungie is giving it their all, almost too much. But those who survive the graphical shock will find a shooter that finally doesn't feel like work.

Yesterday I sat in front of the screen for half the day, staring at this loading screen. The art style of Marathon It's as subtle as a jackhammer in a parked car. Last year during the Alpha, I politely declined because watching it made my retinas flicker. But now, after a few hours in real combat, I need to temporarily put my arrogance on hold.

The gunplay drug from Seattle

Bungie has mastered shooting. That's no secret, it's a law of nature. As soon as you get your first gun in Marathon When you fire, you feel that familiar DNA that we've often come to love in Destiny between grinds. The weapons have character, the recoil feels authentic, and the hit feedback is spot on.

In an industry where many extraction shooters feel like throwing wet sponges at cardboard cutouts, this one is a real breath of fresh air. The fact that the developers have opted for a competitive PvP experience, rather than the cozy "let's be friends" approach of other games in the genre, adds the necessary spice. Anyone who turns a corner carelessly here won't be collecting friends, but lead.

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Bullet-Sponge Bots and the Ammunition Dilemma

Anyone who thinks the AI ​​on Tau Ceti IV is just decorative window dressing for the neon backdrop should charge their defibrillator immediately. The robotic henchmen, especially the nasty red variants, guzzle more lead than an old diesel engine consumes oil. It's almost tragicomic: you finally get the hang of the superb gunplay, only to find you have to pump three magazines into a mini-boss while the guy just brazenly disappears in invisibility mode.

In a game where ammunition is as precious as a stable internet connection on release day, this "bullet sponginess" often feels less like a challenge and more like artificially lengthening battles. When you end a fight with no healing items or ammo, facing a robot that's practically "sucking the life out of you," the only option is a crawling retreat – hoping your teammate survives the lengthy revival process.

The map as a stumbling block for navigation-challenged people

Bungie certainly demonstrated a knack for creating atmosphere in the map design, but they seem to have collectively looked in the rearview mirror when it came to the user interface. Anyone wanting to quickly check while running whether they're about to stumble into a laser trap or the next team will be disappointed: the map can't be opened while moving.

So you're left standing there like an unclaimed package, staring at the map screen and praying that no runner accepts your invitation for a headshot. On top of that, the HUD is incredibly confusing. When you're shooting at your own teammate for minutes on end because the name tags (was it A1 or B2?) float so unintuitively above their heads that you can't tell friend from foe, then the interface design was clearly more about trying than actually doing.

Endurance frustration and the "Red Alert" trap

The movement system in Marathon It's actually quite fast – sliding is de rigueur, but it drains stamina. Completely depleting your stamina bar puts you into "Red Alert" mode, leaving you as agile as a tortoise on tranquilizers for an agonizingly long few seconds. While this adds tactical depth (or as I call it: tedious resource management), it often leads to absurd situations in heated PvP moments.

You hack and slash your way through a trio of enemies, only to find yourself gasping for breath before the next boss, your lungs aching. At least if you manage to hold an extraction point and survive the chaos, you're left with that comforting feeling of relief. But getting there is a rocky road paved with questionable design choices and a healthy dose of slapstick.

The Menu Massacre for Thumb Twisters

It needs to be said that the UI is a disaster. Perhaps they wanted to be "innovative" here too and completely forgot about user-friendliness. In any case, I was utterly bewildered and hope for a fundamental overhaul. Console players have to crawl across the screen with a cursor so slow that you could practically do your taxes while looting.

Bungie is forcing a system on us here that barely makes sense with a mouse on PC, but is pure torture on a controller. Who even uses a cursor on a console anymore? If an enemy surprises me while I'm looting, I don't die because of a lack of skill, but because it takes me three seconds to manually close the menu window. The studio urgently needs to fix this before the frustration overwhelms the otherwise good gameplay experience.

XP consolation prize for unlucky people

The best thing about Marathon But it's also an admission that we all die someday, usually through our own stupidity or a camper in the bushes. In most similar games, everything is gone after death – time, loot, joy of life. Marathon At least it leaves us with the experience points.

This takes the edge off that "I just wasted 20 minutes of my life" feeling. You keep your character level progress even if you have to leave the loot in the dirt. That's fair, that's motivating, and it ensures that I don't immediately throw the gamepad at the TV when the extraction helicopter takes off without me.

First impression: Marathon It won't become a mass phenomenon like Fortnite; the look is too polarizing and the demands too high. But Bungie has laid a foundation here that perfectly caters to fans of crisp gunplay. If they now clean up the menus and design the icons so I can see what I'm actually picking up without having to spend three seconds reading the description, this could become my new after-work time-waster.