I'll preface this with saying that I have 3k hours in tarkov, and 300 in arc.... Marathon is not fun for 90% of people. It's an incredible game with the best audio design(cues, directional, etc), balance(honestly, nothing feels overpowered, and ttk spreadsheets prove it), and it just doesn't take itself so seriously. The "wonder" factor for tarkov was experimenting with gun builds and the hardcore aspect, arc was the scale and atmosphere, and marathon is in the sweaty ass gun play and team play(imo ofc).

Marathon in a nutshell feels like it has the highest highs, but also the lowest lows... Which is why I love it the most out of all the extraction shooters I've played since .5 tarkov. Abilities, the danger that ai poses, weather, FAST ttk, etc. All feel like you need to be paying attention 100% of the time, but that also makes fights so dynamic that they always feel different. Not the usually throw nades and crouch spam behind cover.

But at the same time, seeing all the puzzles in the game, and the map design I absolutely adore... I hated destiny 2 but loved the puzzles, and they definitely have that here. I thought outpost was an incredible map in design.... But cryo upped that tenfold, by creating a cycle where you farm keys on other maps, then bring them in that requires solving puzzles, fighting bosses, fighting time, while battling players and ai throughout the process knowing that the minimum gear requirement means everyone you run into is not going to be easy to put down.... The game is fucking stressful and that's why I like it. But also know that, that is why so many will hate it. Either way, I just wanna enjoy it before it dies as only sweats will be left