Marathon is the next game from Bungie, the acclaimed studio behind the Halo and Destiny franchises. The developer's new game was originally set to come out last September, but the lukewarm reception it received from players who tried out the game's alpha test led Bungie to delay the release to give it some fine-tuning.
It appears Bungie is ready to try again, as it confirmed that Marathon will be released this March. The company revealed the new release date on Jan. 19, when the pre-order trailer for the game was uploaded to YouTube.
Don't miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.
When does Marathon come out?
Marathon will be released on March 5 for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles and will cost $40.
Will there be a Marathon playtest?
Yes. The official Marathon X account posted on Jan. 19 that there will be an open preview weekend before the game's launch.
What is Marathon?
Marathon is an action first-person shooter series developed by Bungie, first released in 1994 for the Apple Macintosh. It and the following two games of the original Marathon trilogy are science fiction mysteries set in the 28th century, when humans travel across space in starships. One of them, the UESC Marathon, is attacked by aliens until only a lone security guard, the player, is left to fight them off. Players discover that the ship's artificial intelligence, called Durandal, has gone sentient and evil, and even called aliens to attack the ship. The following games have players uncovering the mysteries behind Durandal and other ancient AIs that have been manipulating alien races.
The series was Bungie's first hit, and it was innovative in its time for revealing story segments through computer terminals, where you could read messages from the different AI running the ship, as well as crew diaries.
... continue reading