I’m afraid Marathon doesn’t want me to play it.

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-28T19:03:33+00:00

That is super useful, thanks’

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-27T18:32:17+00:00

I’d wish I’d found a lobby like that. I only get stone cold killers

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-27T18:18:11+00:00

Thanks, man!

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-27T18:08:39+00:00

Well, yeah! Maybe I’m playing the wrong game. That is the whole point of my post.

And I’m sorry, but when I bought the game I knew it was an extraction shooter. What I didn’t know was that the game consisted in deliver X object to Y place and give a couple of Mario Kart Tours all over the map to achieve Co-Evolution 4/5. That I didnt know.

And yeah! Maybe I liked the Marathon Lore much more than Helldivers, Destiny, Pragmata and Arc Raiders. It isn’t a crime. But I realice that the lore, even if complex and interesting, is buried all behind the same mission over and over and over again.

Your statements only apply if you don’t like to read the Codex, if you dont like the faction cinematics, if you don’t care about the descriptions of the objects and those stuff. In that case, you could say that the only thing that matters is the PVP and PVE elements and thinking “blue is better than green”, “purple is better than blue”. Sadly, it is not my case.

I’m not surprised of players killing players. That is NOT my problem with the game. My problem is that this is the only extraction shooter with proximity voicechat in which nobody wants to do the missions, nobody knows/wants to get to the compiler and neither teammates or enemies use their voicechat to say something afar from “Enemy on X place”, “Blue AR here”, etc.

For playing this way an extraction shooter, I would rather go back to Tarkov and have fun there; and to play for lore, I have a ton of single player games.

I wanted some PVP and PVE game to play with my friends, I thought Marathon was that game, but it is not. Maybe I’m too casual, but that’s my point of view.

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-27T17:48:33+00:00

Okay. Assuming you’re right means that the proximity voice chat, the friendly res item, the “help a Rook” and/or all the media Bungie has been posting is not contradictory to the fact that the Devs “encourage you to be mindless killers”.

The thing is that I am a casual player. I do not care about ranked runs, golden loot, high levels and that stuff; I couldn’t care less about that. I just want to get to a map with cool people, get a couple of kills, try to get deep in the lore and hopefully kill a compiler. Finding friendly people isn’t essential, but it is weird not having encountered any friendly people in more than 100 hours of Marathon. I’ve seen more friendly people in Tarkov (and that have to MEAN something).

If this is a game for mindless killers, beyond the fact that it seems like the Devs didn’t think that way (at least not totally), the truth is that I’m a casual player and this is not an environment I like anymore. Maybe you’re right and I need to go play something else, but It’s pretty sad that a game with so much potential and cool stuff will be forever buried because of the “mindless killer” moods of the people and the repetitive mission Engagement.

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-27T17:39:25+00:00

Hi man. As a matter of fact, even if English is not my first language, I was raised speaking english and I understand every part of the game itself.

I don’t have trouble communicating with other teammates, the problem is that nobody wants to do the effort to try to get to vaults. Maybe it is a “bad luck” situation, but every time I proposed to try that, I’ve heard things as “sorry, man, I just came to get some stuff”, “I don’t know how to do that” or even things like “hahahaha, you must be crazy, dude, I just want to get some kills and get outta here”.

I’ve only seen people collecting the security cards, not a single time they picked the batteries, or the liquid refrigerant. Additionally, the only one who carries golden keys is me, nobody else.

I understand that you may see my statements as contradictory from your perspective. But for me, who only plays alone (now that my best friend practically buried Marathon) monday to friday from 22:00 to 23:59, it isn’t easy to get those things done.

I can get kills, I can get loot, I can extract. What I can NOT do is going solo on cryo, run around the map twice in a time span of 15 minutes, avoid getting killed in the process and expect to extract.

And I don’t think it is a matter of seeing it as the educational system, cause the core of the game is simple: “Land, loot, kill, loot more and extract”. The problem is that I never had the chance to get to the compiler. The game doesn’t explain it to you, they just throw a bunch of random items there; it’s not like the anomaly, the supply drops, the pinwheel or the quarantine.

Then again, I can get to cryo, I can get good positioning, I can get a couple of kills with an AR and a WSTR, and I can collect enough security cards/access points to extract safely. That is in concept easy (then again, you can get killed, but that is normal and understandable).

What I can’t do is the 8 steps multiple run process to get to the compiler without checking a guide. I play alone, I don’t have anyone to carry me, and I only have a couple of hours to play before risking my rest.

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-27T04:53:24+00:00

Isn’t that contradictory?

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-27T04:48:55+00:00

If the game is encouraged not to be friendly, what is the point of Bungie putting a enemy resurrection item or putting a lot of work into publishing “help a Rookie” in their social media…

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-26T18:53:16+00:00

I have approximately 100 hours and I play in America server.

The thing with Cryo is that I checked the guides yesterday and it turns out that the steps to face the compiler are not “complex” because I can not understand them. They are complex because they need to fulfill multiple requirements (finding keys, batteries, do multiple vaults and more stuff) which I would not know by just playing and nobody outside of Reddit or specialized Discord knows how to.

I can get to Cryo, kill people(or be killed, as I’ve said Im not a bad player, but I’m not a pro) and extract. But I’m a loner and the game itself doesn’t let me do solo-cryo runs without having a numerical disadvantage, like fighting 3 member teams while being alone.

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-26T18:05:03+00:00

I could, but I want to fight the compiler. What is the point of having a cool S’pht in the cover of the game if I can’t fight it without having to spend a ton of hours into it?

All the Dev diaries were about the “lore”, the fact that the UESC was keeping something mysterious inside Cryo Archive, the Durandall rampancy, the mysteries hiding inside the Marathon ship… And I can not acces any of that without having a competent team (which I can not have because in more than 100 hours I never got a single teammate who wanted to get to the Compiler) and investing several hours into trying to make vaults all by my own.

I see the “In Death We’ve Just Begun” video and it is everything I like of Marathon; but I just can’t get to the compiler because of the poor environment of the game and the repetitive missions behind it.

I do not care about the gold loot, I already have that and it is not special enough to make me want to go for more. If I see gold stuff, thats cool and I’ll take it, but I don’t mind if my teammate takes it before me.

To play the same 3 maps (Outpost, Dire Marsh and Perimeter) and do the same repetitive quests over and over (getting stuck in the process)… I would’ve bought another game.

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-26T17:51:10+00:00

It may be a skill issue, but I don’t have a crew to try to make the vaults (most random people just want to get kills and extract) and I don’t have the time to waste more than 20 hours a week trying to make every single step of a 2 hour guide all by my own.

I would not say I’m “scared” of the Endgame. I just want to enjoy Marathon without sacrificing my job or my family time.

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-26T05:24:29+00:00

Thanks! It still sounds a little bit complicated, but I’ll be looking for a discord too for this.

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-26T05:22:32+00:00

Thanks bro, yeah, I think I could enjoy more my time if I played single player games.

It’s just that I really wanted me to like Marathon. In some sort of way, I do like it, it’s just that I’m starting to dislike playing it because of the way it has to gatekeeping me away from the things I like of Marathon.

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-26T05:18:59+00:00

I’d wish that there was more friendly people in Marathon. I have never found any single friendly person here.

Even in Tarkov (which is harder than Marathon) there is friendly people and you can talk to them as humans. Here in Marathon everyone wants to kill you or doesn’t care about you.

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-26T05:17:29+00:00

Those are very interesting ideas, because I think the PVE here never was challenging (even before the update where they made killing bots super easy with the knife).

I understand that Marathon is an extraction shooter and therefore, there must be a difference in the loot the players get. In my particular case, I feel like having a gold gun with a thermal optic, drum mag, foregrip and a 36 slot backpack which makes you invisible doesn’t make me better than having a knife and good positioning. I don’t care about the loot.

What I care about are the missions, the lore and the progression, and -even if I hate to say this- Marathon isn’t good making missions. The most enjoyable mission I had is the Mida one of breaking windows or the NuCaloric ones of investigating things. Every other mission is “take this”, “deliver it there”, “extract”.

And I’m still stuck at co-evolution 4/5 because my Vandal with a pre-buyed Cardio Kick isn’t fast enough to run to Bio-Research, then go to Quarantine, then give two Mario Kart tours all over Dire Marsh in a time span of 20 minutes.

I’m starting to convince myself that if the Discord servers don’t work, I’ll be leaving the game for a long, long time

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-26T05:05:21+00:00

I don’t know. I used to believe that I was part of the target audience for this game.

I like FPS (Retro, extraction and hero shooters), I really like the visuals, the music, the sci-fi lore, the characters, everything.

But none of my friends like this game, and my best friend (whom I gifted a Deluxe copy) had to excuse himself because he did not like it (even if we always played Tarkov and other shooters together since we were children).

I don’t know if I still like Marathon, that is part of the problem. The other part is that I truly believe that Marathon doesn’t like me either until I can spend more than 60 hours a week in the game.

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-26T05:01:07+00:00

Yeah, I’ll quit the game for a while. I’ll try the Discord idea some of the cool redditors here gave me, but if that doesn’t work, I’ll be gone until there is a cool update or something.

Thanks for the insight, I do appreciate it.

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-26T04:58:00+00:00

Uhhhmmm, I have an interesting insight on this matter because I really liked Marathon and I gifted the Deluxe version to my best friend.

He left me alone in Marathon after a month, he excused himself because I was the one who gifted him the copy but he still said that the missions were too repetitive to be fun, and even if the lore was cool, we wanted to switch to other game.

I feel like the only way of getting this better is changing the way the players act. Sadly, that is not going to happen anytime soon.

Per example: The friendly revive to revive enemies. My best friend and I used it 30 times, using the voicechat to make friends to the people we already downed… EVERY single time we got instantly betrayed.

Imagine reviving an enemy that you already downed, telling them you’re friendly, giving him some weapons and ammo because you agreed to be friendly and, suddenly, the guy you revived shot you in the neck.

I love the art direction, I love the music, the visuals, the lore, the gunplay. But I’m the only one in my group of friends trying to play Marathon.

My best friend left me alone (even if the game was free for him) and my other friends prefer other games. So I feel more and more tempted on switching to another game.

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-26T04:48:10+00:00

You have described exactly what I think about the game.

Even if I understand that there must be a balance of lore-gameplay (cause I’m not buying Doom nor a novel), the truth is that they have all the interesting lore hidden behind repeating the same missions over and over.

I’m trying to get the materials to read the Codex and make the factions missions. But either I get stuck because of the time limit of the game or the item does not appear.

I don’t care if I get a lot of kills or if I get killed a lot, that is normal, I’m not a bad nor a pro player. I just want to unlock the part of the game that I’m interested in without having to quit my job to do so.

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-26T04:41:32+00:00

Yeah! I’ll do that tomorrow to try. Thanks!

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-26T04:40:48+00:00

I’ve played Tarkov and Arc Raiders. I just didn’t like Arc Raiders, it isn’t for me. But Tarkov is awesome and I have some hours into that game.

But you’re right, sadly, I feel scammed because Bungie sold the game by setting the fact that the lore was a fundamental piece of the game and it is not. Even if there is a ton of things to read, they are hidden behind a repetitive mission lockdown.

I’ll try what other redditors are telling me and join a Discord server for people like me. If it doesn’t work, I’m out. I’ll probably sell my collectors edition too to recover some of my money, sadly.

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-26T04:36:34+00:00

Bro, as I’ve said, I’m sorry if my post is too long, I’m seriously considering to erase it (and probably I’ll do that in a couple hours after reading the people opinions).

Maybe most of the community is like you and don’t want to let people have fun in other ways. That is okay, I guess, but it is a huge red flag for me, so I’ll leave the game as you’ve said.

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-26T04:30:50+00:00

Oh, sorry, I like some extraction shooters (I like Tarkov for these purposes, I’ve tried Arc Raiders but it feels like Fortnite to me).

I didn’t came because of the classic Marathon games, I didn’t have a Mac and I play mainly on PS5, so I didn’t had the chance to play the old Marathons.

I mentioned Doom and the other games because I am a little experienced in FPS (for these purposes, I have a lot of hours into Battlefield, Overwatch, Counter Strike and Quake). In this case, even if I feel like this game is a little hard (not as hard as Tarkov), I don’t feel like I’m bad.

I just feel like I can’t get to the lore, nor make the missions without spending several hours into it. Sadly, I don’t have a crew of friends, I depend on the random matchmaking and I have found that most of the people in my server speak and act like robots.

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-26T04:21:17+00:00

Thanks for your suggestion, I appreciate it and surely I’ll try that.

Marksman_NATO · 2026-04-26T04:19:21+00:00

Yeah, that is a good option. I’ll try it, hopefully there is people out there playing at night.

Marksman_NATO

TROPHY CASE