Bungie has officially addressed the rumors about Marathon being a hero-shooter, revealing plans for customizable loadouts and freedom to choose what items to bring in.
Earlier this year, IGN reported that Marathon, Bungie’s upcoming PvP extraction shooter, is moving away from customizable characters “in favor of a selectable cast of heroes”—a concept that instantly had players questioning what this meant for Bungie’s newest vision.
The hero-shooter rumor quickly gained traction, with a lot of negative feedback from fans. Many voiced concerns that this model could feel too limiting in terms of customizing your character since that’s an integral part of extraction shooter games.
Today, however, Bungie released a new update directly addressing these concerns, as well as revealing new concepts, expanded playtests, and details on the gameplay reveal.
Is Marathon Going To Be A Hero Shooter?
The short answer? No, not in the traditional sense. Responding to a YouTube comment regarding the hero-shooter rumors, Bungie emphasized that Marathon’s Runners will have a “couple of base abilities” with a focus on player freedom and individuality, where each player can fine-tune their loadouts and abilities instead of picking from preset “hero” characters with assigned abilities.
“Our goal with Runners is to give you a couple of base abilities to build your loadout around while still giving you a lot of freedom to choose what weapons, implants, upgrades, and consumables you bring in,” the developer explained. “This won’t feel like when you just choose a hero and then get whatever weapon/abilities are assigned to them.”
The developer has already teased two Runners in today’s developer update video, codenamed “Thief” and “Stealth”. This clarification supports The Game Post’s report that Marathon follows a class-based system instead of hero characters seen in games like Overwatch.
Additionally, recent datamines suggest a possible timeline for Marathon pre-orders. Leaked details found in Destiny 2’s game files indicate that pre-orders for Marathon might open as early as February 2025.
Bungie has confirmed that the gameplay reveal for Marathon will arrive in 2025.
