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[HeisenbergFX4]

The visual design is just so bad.

It didn't start out that way and talked about in this interview

Transcription:

"The game has gone through stylistic changes too, evolutions, which I talk about a little bit.

I've talked about it on social media a little bit, but at the time when we started we were going for just, like, high fidelity realism, that was sort of Plan A, [it was] literally like in the classic video game 'better graphics' sense, you know, Marathon was gonna have better graphics then Destiny because it was the next game, and so that was a very natural thing and we were going to lean into material definition and fidelity and detail and all that stuff.

So the pivot from that kind of realism ambition, to a more stylized graphic simplified approach, that was the biggest most important change from an art directional art point of view probably in my career, and also for the project itself, and even when that announce trailer was made, we were still actively evolving the style, and so there was a very deliberate choice to not try to reflect the exact art style in that announce trailer too, so you know the game won't look exactly like that trailer, but it will have the same sort of inherit qualities, and I'm still very happy with how that trailer came out."

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

Respawn/Apex could drop this mode in like 3 months of dev time but they know better I think.

 

[PSYGN]

I really enjoyed the cinematics and I think the game oozes style, but the gameplay didn't sell me. In a market of similar games for free, they're either out of touch or incredibly confident in their product. I guess they can be both.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

As for you guys above talking art style, it'll be a hit and miss thing among gamers. Bungie tried something new where one part of the game is bold colours (characters, weapons, lots of structures and walls etc...), but the enviroment is purposely muted so there is a big contrast in art.

I dont think the low res looking trees and grass and rocks are due to not being able to make better textures. It's a design choice.

Personally, if youre going to go bold sci-fi, keep it all like that. Making the grass and sky and rocks a hazy pastel colour is ugly and does not benefit the game at all IMO. It makes an otherwise clean looking game look ugly if the gamer is outdoors a lot. It looks better when indoors.

 

[Frugal]

The artstyle itself isn't really the problem for me, but the way it's translated in game is gross looking. Those outdoor areas look really terrible. Regardless i'd still prefer a more gritty and grounded but still stylized aesthetic, kind of like Bungie Halo and Destiny 1.

 

[tTHANOSs]

Yeah playstation should have supported factions 2 over this.

 

[DeepEnigma]

It didn't start out that way and talked about in this interview

Transcription:

"The game has gone through stylistic changes too, evolutions, which I talk about a little bit.

I've talked about it on social media a little bit, but at the time when we started we were going for just, like, high fidelity realism, that was sort of Plan A, [it was] literally like in the classic video game 'better graphics' sense, you know, Marathon was gonna have better graphics then Destiny because it was the next game, and so that was a very natural thing and we were going to lean into material definition and fidelity and detail and all that stuff.

So the pivot from that kind of realism ambition, to a more stylized graphic simplified approach, that was the biggest most important change from an art directional art point of view probably in my career, and also for the project itself, and even when that announce trailer was made, we were still actively evolving the style, and so there was a very deliberate choice to not try to reflect the exact art style in that announce trailer too, so you know the game won't look exactly like that trailer, but it will have the same sort of inherit qualities, and I'm still very happy with how that trailer came out."

It's like they neutered the concept artist they hired and kept dumbing down his work.

His infamous original concept art of holding the spine was excellent.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

It's like they neutered the concept artist they hired and kept dumbing down his work.

His infamous original concept art of holding the spine was excellent.

I would love to see the original art style of this game

 

[DeepEnigma]

I would love to see the original art style of this game

Oh what could have been…

The Marathon Art of Craig Mullins

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Got this one on your radar? Only heard about it today.

That's right up my alley but it also looks like a game that'll hit console in 2027 (or later). My radar can only handle so many GAAS...

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Oh what could have been…

The Marathon Art of Craig Mullins

 

[DeepEnigma]

That's right up my alley but it also looks like a game that'll hit console in 2027 (or later). My radar can only handle so many GAAS...

This gif sums up their most recent GaaS endeavors, alright.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

It's like they neutered the concept artist they hired and kept dumbing down his work.

His infamous original concept art of holding the spine was excellent.

They probably changed it years ago due to costs. Doing all the detailed textures across all the maps and characters with fancy lighting/shading probably take too long at too much money. So they decided to go for a simplified look. They seemed to have no issues making the characters and guns very detailed where they put time into it. But anything environmental looks uglier and simpler than a Bethesda RPG. And even the UI has a simple retro look to it.

So their promo pics are all those bold coloured fancy hi res character models. But the actual game isnt even that good looking when everything else is factored in. Thats a total conflict in production quality.

 

[Fake]

not only that, the aim assist is also random! because RPG elements n shit

and the aim assist priorities headshots

This is brutal.

 

[Generic]

not only that, the aim assist is also random! because RPG elements n shit

and the aim assist priorities headshots

Halo already was like this, it's called playing on a joystick.

Edit:

 

[Guardian Monkey]

Just played a couple rounds. The art style makes sense from an identification standpoint. I don't have a problem with it at all in game. Are there better looking games absolutely but for this type of game, that's not really the priority. It looks good enough on the PS5 Pro for what it needs to do.

I'm on the fence if I would buy it. It's going to be grouped up to be a good experience and quite truthfully Helldivers is just a better type of game if I wanna jump into a multiplayer, PVE ish type shooter. It's just more fun. I realize this is more of pure extraction shooter, but I'm wondering how the general public would really latch onto this.

There's a lot of inventory management while you're actually in the game which isn't unexpected, but it does take you out of the action or you have to make sure someone's watching over you. Also, with that being stated, it's kind of a pain in the ass on controller opposed to would be done on keyboard and mouse. Games definitely an alpha though because it's definitely got some weird things going on with button mapping for inventory.

 

[rodrigolfp]

it's called playing on a joystick.

Nah. Better games don't have this shit.

 

[adamsapple]

It didn't start out that way and talked about in this interview

So they basically tried to do what Borderlands did way back in the day.

 

[kevboard]

Halo already was like this, it's called playing on a joystick.

no modern shooter does this except for Halo Infinite and Destiny 2. coincidentally both of these are also behind the times when it comes to the quality of their aiming on a controller (Destiny 2 being a bit further behind than Infinite).

stuff like this was necessary back in 2004 when developers still tried to figure out how to do analog aiming that feels good. bullet magnetism (whar you see in the images I posted) isn't even a thing anymore in any other shoooter other than those 2.
and it's 2025 not 2004. Apex Legends exists, Fortnite exists, Battlefield exists... hell, Splitgate exists! I would say CoD exists, but that one is also falling behind recently.

in Apex Legends most pros play on controller, even tho the aim assist is not even a fraction as strong as what you see in these Destiny 2 examples. so it's save to say, if your game's analog stick aiming isn't stuck in 2004, you clearly don't need all that overreaching nonsense to make controllers viable.
also, Infinite and Destiny 2 have aim assist on PC on mouse... why? because it's so overpowered that you'd have no chance otherwise

 

[Generic]

no modern shooter does this except for Halo Infinite and Destiny 2. coincidentally both of these are also behind the times when it comes to the quality of their aiming on a controller (Destiny 2 being a bit further behind than Infinite).

stuff like this was necessary back in 2004 when developers still tried to figure out how to do analog aiming that feels good. bullet magnetism (whar you see in the images I posted) isn't even a thing anymore in any other shoooter other than those 2.
and it's 2025 not 2004. Apex Legends exists, Fortnite exists, Battlefield exists... hell, Splitgate exists! I would say CoD exists, but that one is also falling behind recently.

in Apex Legends most pros play on controller, even tho the aim assist is not even a fraction as strong as what you see in these Destiny 2 examples. so it's save to say, if your game's analog stick aiming isn't stuck in 2004, you clearly don't need all that overreaching nonsense to make controllers viable.
also, Infinite and Destiny 2 have aim assist on PC on mouse... why? because it's so overpowered that you'd have no chance otherwise

These games still have aim assist anyway. Aim assist in Fortnite (console) is huge at close quarters, otherwise console players wouldn't be able to compete against PC players.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Played about 6 matches. Good gunplay as expected but that's basically all this has going for it. The extractions don't feel rewarding, the breadcrumbs of lore isn't interesting.

Struggle to even call this a pvp game as I think I ran into another team in like 2 out of the 6 I did, which begs the question of why this even exists. I felt like I may as well had just been playing D2 instead.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

So they basically tried to do what Borderlands did way back in the day.

Looked so much better than the cartoony stuff in the final game.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

no modern shooter does this except for Halo Infinite and Destiny 2. coincidentally both of these are also behind the times when it comes to the quality of their aiming on a controller (Destiny 2 being a bit further behind than Infinite).

stuff like this was necessary back in 2004 when developers still tried to figure out how to do analog aiming that feels good. bullet magnetism (whar you see in the images I posted) isn't even a thing anymore in any other shoooter other than those 2.
and it's 2025 not 2004. Apex Legends exists, Fortnite exists, Battlefield exists... hell, Splitgate exists! I would say CoD exists, but that one is also falling behind recently.

in Apex Legends most pros play on controller, even tho the aim assist is not even a fraction as strong as what you see in these Destiny 2 examples. so it's save to say, if your game's analog stick aiming isn't stuck in 2004, you clearly don't need all that overreaching nonsense to make controllers viable.
also, Infinite and Destiny 2 have aim assist on PC on mouse... why? because it's so overpowered that you'd have no chance otherwise

As a huge Bungie fan, even pre-Halo but very much played a ton of all the Halo games and D1/D2 they used to have great gameplay and gunplay in terms of engagements. It went to shit mid to late D2 and what 343 continued on with Halo turned to utter chaos for a player and controller aiming. It was a never ending shit show of changes and randomness feeling for players over years.

Respawn/Apex have completely eaten Bungie/343/just about any other FPS in terms of sandbox, gunplay and anything even remotely in the realms of old school bungie shooters or aiming via controllers. The implementation, the weapon set, the character abilities, the flowing terrain combat, the transition to indoors combat, removal of OHK/rockets, basic transport elements e.g. no attack vehicles combined with their own learning curve for development decisions around less intense movement of Titanfall 1 & 2 multiplayer or titans can we can see why Apex is such a juggernaut. Brilliant dev pipeline, sweet ass gunplay, controls and customisation vs simplification at your fingertips, F2P cross play and generally a far better time in engagement than say twitch based COD or convoluted Overwatch teams etc. That sweet spot of 3 player squads, some random elements so stacked squads aren't gods all the time and boom we have a cyclic matchmaking system with decent global servers with a content pipeline that drops hard.

Apex is a tour de force in terms of FPS online multiplayer. For me it shits on Bungie, 343, Fortnite and all the rest. Aiming online with a console and regional server support combined with being "old-school" Bungie like are my primary reasons for playing Apex. Halo only ever needed to drive at this level of BR/matchmaking with its sandbox and characters. As for Destiny and Marathon IMO Bungie missed the boat driving this towards PvE content pipelines to deliver a single universe with story and gameplay based with matchmaking or premade squads then sprinkle in some PvEvP stuff on the side/some of the time and instant success.

They chose an extraction shooter that is lightyears behind D1 or D2 IMO and completely not innovative in terms of their dev resources nor pipeline. What leadership looks at the FPS marketplace and doesn't take Bungie down a more RAID/LAIRs/PvE based matchmaking route? Honestly they have this part of the market cornered for console/cross play and they've let it go big time since mid-late D2 and now the same missed opportunity with Marathon.

343 are idiots for not seeing the same opportunity, tool your studio to do what BR pipelines do but for campaign solo/PvE and push progression, story and loot big time. It's not rocket science and it's a far sight more innovative than Marathon's take on an extraction shooter. Fuck me it's more monetised and cross over to multiplayer as well as battle/content pass driven than this shite.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

This gif sums up their most recent GaaS endeavors, alright.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Played about 6 matches. Good gunplay as expected but that's basically all this has going for it. The extractions don't feel rewarding, the breadcrumbs of lore isn't interesting.

Struggle to even call this a pvp game as I think I ran into another team in like 2 out of the 6 I did, which begs the question of why this even exists. I felt like I may as well had just been playing D2 instead.

Did you play all 3 maps?

Thought I saw somewhere that each map has different PvP rates.

 

[Traxtech]

Wish that didn't turn what could have been an amazing world to build on top of into an extraction shooter. Could have had a dope campaign, with this and multiplayer.

Hell they could have just added extraction to destiny 2

 

[StreetsofBeige]

This gif sums up their most recent GaaS endeavors, alright.

Bookmark that gif.

Fairgames$$$ coming out too. Maybe a 2026 game.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Did you play all 3 maps?

Thought I saw somewhere that each map has different PvP rates.

Yeah. I think all my pvp encounters were in outpost

 

[kevboard]

These games still have aim assist anyway. Aim assist in Fortnite (console) is huge at close quarters, otherwise console players wouldn't be able to compete against PC players.

Fortnite recently adjusted their aim assist, it's extremely low now the moment you start shooting and it doesn't instantly react to direction changes of the enemy anymore.
Apex Legends also adjusted aim assist, specifically on PC, to be lower than before... controller players still keep up without issue.

also, your aim slowing down near enemies and your aim slightly following an enemy are not comparable to what Destiny does. in destiny the game literally bends the trajectory of your bullets to hit the enemy even if you aim above or to the side of them. this is ON TOP of aim slowing and following enemies.
that's why Halo and Destiny both have aim assist on mouse, because controller aim assist is so insane that you wouldn't be able to keep up otherwise

 

[Guardian Monkey]

Wish that didn't turn what could have been an amazing world to build on top of into an extraction shooter. Could have had a dope campaign, with this and multiplayer.

Hell they could have just added extraction to destiny 2

This is different, which isn't a bad thing plus Destiny 2 would just be spam shit all over the place. This game is a completely different beast. It's way more methodical way more slow way more calculated.

 

[GHG]

I hope our boy @James Sawyer Ford was able to get into the Alpha.

He probably played one match and then went back to playing oblivion like the rest of us.

It looks like absolute dogshit.

 

[Guardian Monkey]

I just came back from my third play through. There is something here, i'm just playing with two other Rando's but it still seems fun. I think group with friends that actually could be a blast and the game will only expand from here out. I'm probably actually may give this a shot when it comes out. The PVE element definitely adds another caveat, but I also feel that there's a lot more that can be done here that maybe they're just starting with the basics. If the game gets a following. Who knows.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Wish that didn't turn what could have been an amazing world to build on top of into an extraction shooter. Could have had a dope campaign, with this and multiplayer.

Hell they could have just added extraction to destiny 2

Probably because they got no time and money to make it a big Halo or Destiny kind of game with SP and fleshed out MP.

Bungie has been going downhill since Sony bought them, so there's no way they'd get another couple years to make the game bigger.

So with what they got, they just got to roll the dice their game (which is basically this) is a big success:

- Cross platform like Destiny
- Sci fi with new art style
- Extraction gameplay
- 3 person teams (which is the standard game structure unless someone wants to try winning a match being a lone wolf which is allowed)
- No SP campaign
- No other MP modes

 

[Generic]

He probably played one match and then went back to playing oblivion like the rest of us.

It looks like absolute dogshit.

Still better than Oblivion.

 

[themonk]

Watching Lirik right now, man the graphics are dreadful. They have all these neon designs but then put a drab brown/gray haze over everything making the visuals look washed out, muted, depressing and unappealing. Such a bizarre design choice. And then weird stuff like the super low-res ground and water textures and physics. I just don't understand why they're doing this.

Gameplay so far looks insanely boring, the map is boring, the objectives are boring.

The UI/UX is super cool, I love the aesthetic of the menus.

If this is all the game has to offer it's not even going to last 3 months.

Edit: he quit the game because he was bored, lmao

Marathon is a game about entering the tutorial mode of other first person shooters…

 

[POKEYCLYDE]

The reception has been luke warm so far. If they were aiming for apathy over hate, they definitely hit their target.

 

[MiguelItUp]

Still better than Oblivion.

 

[Sgt.Asher]

This looks like they had no idea what to do beyond the initial concept art. So they just slapped an extraction shooter together with left over Destiny code.

 

[themonk]

That's how all extraction shooters are. Very slow games where not a lot can happen.



There's no way the gunplay will be worse in this game than Apex. I don't believe that for one second. Everyone has commented on how good the gunplay is in this game.

The problem with Marathon is you move too fast… It has too many COD like elements. Extraction shooters work best when you have slow realistic movement.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Waiting for the final game but what a B+, the battles are scarce, the movement feels good, guess the visuals are good.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

The problem with Marathon is you move too fast… It has too many COD like elements. Extraction shooters work best when you have slow realistic movement.

Watching Marathon vs Tarkov videos, the tone and excitement are totally different too. I find it hard to get amped up in bright sci fi art styles where there's not even any proximity chat with other human gamers on other teams. Tarkov is creepier visuals and the best parts of the videos (often funny) are when gamers interact with each other as friend or foe. You dont get that in Marathon as they want to make it a more safe and smooth extraction mood. They even said they didnt do prox chat to prevent enemy team toxic communication. While in Tarkov you got gamers holed up in dark rooms and enemy players creeping around. Very different vibe.

But hey, thats their decision. They didnt want to make a Tarkov V2.0 game so they went bright and colourful sci fi.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

Looks crappy both in gameplay, style, and character design. The art style is unique but it's not the good kind of unique either.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

What noStill better than Oblivion.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Looks crappy both in gameplay, style, and character design. The art style is unique but it's not the good kind of unique either.

It could work for gamers who like slick sci-fi art (not the dirty Gears space marine kind of setting).

Problem is instead of making the whole game bright like the characters, guns and some of the building walls, they made a lot of the environments drab pastel green and brown. And it has nothing to do with the cloudy time of day since the textures themselves are ultra low res. So it wouldnt matter even if the maps are played on a clear sunny day.

Personally, I think they just ran out of time and budget. They focused on character art and guns first making those hi res promotional art, then had no choice but to make the rest of the map ugly and low res. They probably got direction the game had to ship in 2025 and the studio cant live on Destiny 2 mtx for another year.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

I'd honestly give this a shot if it was free being a huge Hunt fan and all but alas, no fucking way I'd spend money on it. What makes Hunt so addictive and amazing isn't the extraction structure necessarily but the insane levels of tension created by the super quiet world, violent outbursts of (amazing sounding) gunfire, ultra-dense maps and filthy Horror atmosphere. Then you have the unique gunplay with it all being archaic, super mechanical weapons, all the emergent touches like how things interact in the world etc.

Just copying "extraction" isn't seeing the forest for the trees in games like Hunt and Tarkov. Hopefully they understand that and make it happen for themselves and don't have another nuclear bomb on their hands.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

It could work for gamers who like slick sci-fi art (not the dirty Gears space marine kind of setting).

Problem is instead of making the whole game bright like the characters, guns and some of the building walls, they made a lot of the environments drab pastel green and brown. And it has nothing to do with the cloudy time of day since the textures themselves are ultra low res. So it wouldnt matter even if the maps are played on a clear sunny day.

Personally, I think they just ran out of time and budget. They focused on character art and guns first making those hi res promotional art, then had no choice but to make the rest of the map ugly and low res. They probably got direction the game had to ship in 2025 and the studio cant live on Destiny 2 mtx for another year.

Yeah it seems they aren't sure what art style they were trying to do or I guess not enough time and budget like you said.

While I like Space Marine 2's gritty style, I also really like the more bright and vibrant sci-fi style too like the Ratchet and Clank and Metroid series but it seems Marathon is neither one and is something in between and not in a good way either.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Yeah it seems they aren't sure what art style they were trying to do or I guess not enough time and budget like you said.

While I like Space Marine 2's gritty style, I also really like the more bright and vibrant sci-fi style too like the Ratchet and Clank and Metroid series but it seems Marathon is neither one and is something in between and not in a good way either.

Agreed.

Not every game has to be browns/greys, but at least have some consistency. Mirrors Edge games look slick. Doesnt matter if indoor or outdoor, it's got a certain look to it that's clean and bright. If Mirrors Edge had Marathon's art direction, the indoors would be clean and decent looking with bright walls and splashes of colour, but the second Faith runs outside to do rooftop jumps, it changes to an grey low res look like its two different games.

 

[CobraAB]

Game is dead in the water.

Time to move on people.

 

[N30RYU]

I would say this... AGAIN...

Sony please... WHY ON EARTH this or Concord was greenlighted and better than the Factions Game, the Horizon Game... or even the Multiplayer co-op Spider-Man one?

Also... if you wanna make some kind of shooter... for god's sake... use Socom or Killzone IP... or even Warhawk, MAG o Resistance... what the hell are you ppl doing?


If Bungie is just an empty shell without any talent left just let them sink and close or if they aren't able to Gaas anything beside Destiny... just let them be a Destiny studio...

 

[Killjoy-NL]

You can play solo. But there is no solo only mode. So if you want to play as a lone wolf you can, but you'll be lumped into lobbies who will have teams of 2 or 3. Bungie even stated it'd be a slog if youre trying to play as your own one man team.

They should add solo queue. Or just purposely force gamers into teams of 3. The game has 18 player matches I think. So just have servers sort lobbies into 6 three-player teams. Similar to DM or TDM. If you want to go solo, there's a DM mode. If you want to play on a team, there's TDM. Even if youre a lone wolfer like I play, I get put on a team in COD so it's not something stupid like the game is a wild west of a 6 player team vs a 5 player team vs a solo gamer like me on my own. Makes no sense. Of course the solo gamers will get crushed by teams partied up.

Bungie stated that they will look into a solo queue, but rn they are focusing on the teamplay due to various gameplay mechanics.