Introduction to Marathon

After a decade of focusing solely on its ongoing shared world shooter Destiny, Bungie is reviving its old sci-fi shooter series Marathon. As part of the game’s official unveiling on Saturday, the developer released a cinematic short that may be one of the coolest videos of 2025. The video was written and directed by Spanish animator Alberto Mielgo, best known for Love, Death, & Robots and art director for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Unveiling the Sci-Fi World of Marathon

The eight-minute video lays out the intriguing, violent, and unsettling sci-fi world of this new Marathon. The story begins on the planet Tau Ceti IV, where colonists are crushed by satellite debris from a meteor shower, and others die in gruesome fashion. The deaths span across several decades, from 2794 to 2812 and 2827. The scene then jumps ahead to 2893, where cybernetic beings, former humans who implanted their brains into machine bodies, are looting the colony for anything they can get their hands on to sell to various factions still stationed on the planet.

Gameplay Loop and Cinematic

The second part of the cinematic features narration from Final Fantasy XVI’s Ben Starr and is meant to show the gameplay loop of Marathon. As a multiplayer extraction shooter, players will take on the role of cybernetic mercenaries called Runners to steal data, research, and other valuable resources for Tau Ceti’s various factions. The cinematic showcases the game’s aesthetic, which is striking and distinct from other major sci-fi games. The camera work is also notable, providing intimacy and making the scenes where the Runners die hit harder.

A New Direction for Bungie

Fancy cinematics are nothing new for games, but for Bungie, Marathon feels like a massive step forward from what the studio has previously done with Halo and Destiny. The game’s aesthetic is pretty striking, and the vibrancy of the colors doesn’t clash as much as expected. However, some fans may be disappointed that Marathon is a strictly multiplayer game with no single-player offering. The game is set to release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on September 23.

Looking Ahead

For many, this short will be enough to sell them on Marathon alone, and it’s likely that Sony plans to use snippets of it to promote the game on TV. While some fans may be hooked, others may be disappointed by the lack of a single-player campaign. Nevertheless, Marathon is an exciting new direction for Bungie, and its release is highly anticipated.

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