I want to say a huge super thank you to the Aleph One team for continuing to work on Bungie's classic Sci-fi shooter game Marathon trilogy. No not Marathon the multiplayer extraction shooter released recently in 2026 by the same name studio Bungie. Marathon(1994) is a whole different breed from the extraction GAAS game. Aleph One, for those unaware have been working on the original series since back in 2000, and its been available for FREE(as ordered by Bungie) since 2005, the team have gone above and beyond by supporting the trilogy of games to modern days, even porting them free to [url=https://store.steampowered.com/developer/alephone/?appid=2398450]Steam,[/url] with many improvements from total conversions, plugins and more graphical & accessibility options than ever before. I figured it’s time to try out this underrated classic which was released a year after DOOM(1993) and see what they have offer.
Premise-wise you take the role of an unnamed security officer who enroute back to the UESC Marathon, a large colony Earth ship. The ships mission is to travel to Tau Ceti system and build a colony. Simple right? Wrong, before we can fulfill our main mission were suddenly attacked by aliens! Yeah, familiar right? For any *Halo* fans out there you may notice a lot of similarities between the two franchises.
There’s no cutscenes or talking portraits to sell the player on the plotbeats, rather whip out your reading glasses cause most of the lore and storytelling is told via terminals you’ll find sporadically through the levels of Marathon(1994). Often I found the reading of these text passages to be an excellent break from the hectic first person shooting fighting. Usually, some lore will be dropped concerning the aliens, the history of the world. I’m relieved honestly since I don’t want to read pages of pages like a novella inside a game, instead the text is concise and not convoluted. Here’s an [url=https://marathon.bungie.org/story/arrival.html#0]example of story and overview terminals[/url]
As far as gameplay goes, you may find similarities to DOOM(1993), but for those like me who barely played DOOM(less than an hour before quitting) decades ago I can’t speak on those similarities. Rather what I can say is how cool being on a ship is. And engaging with its designs, for starters you can only save from pattern buffer device(PBD) think of these as large terminals to make it easier to understand. The kicker about PBD’s are the location of these devices being not plentiful during a level. Rather the opposite they’re sparsely included, and usually you’ll find the next save location in a pretty far off area than the previous one. Players can’t abuse multiple PBD’s in any given level, sure you can always go back to one and make progress, incrementally inching your way forward in a zone, but the absence of many PBD’s creates a inherent obstacle to force players to think critically before entering a new level full of corridors, hallways, and large open rooms.
Speaking of danger I gotta say the overall level design is unexpectedly huge. I expected say Half-Life(1998) close nit corridors and pathways, easily allowing myself to get my bearings in knowing where to go. Here? You make your own decisions about how to approach enemies in patrol or standing stationary all the while succumbing to becoming lost without a map, though thankfully the game comes equipped with an in-game map uncovering as you progress. Ranging from usually medium to large levels, to blasting us with marathon sprinting maps out there, most of which I had to backtrack, but that’s a story for another day.
Decent amount of enemies types so I can’t complain about the variety, sure I wish there’s more, but for a 1994 shooter game, I was surprised once again how diverse enemies will be. They kinda look like [url=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DM5r4HEXcAIfI3N?format=jpg&name=900x900]District 9-like guys if colored and in space suits[/url], wielding polearms capable of shooting from long range and walking nearby. Or face off some [url=https://www.eyrie.org/~aerianne/marathon/troopers.v1.jpg]Froggers[/url] if they were humanoids with a monoeye packing a wallop of sending rockets. By far my favorite enemies are compilers these look like gnarly picture some [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/marathongame/images/d/db/M1.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080916021903]M. Bison-like dudes[/url] who go full cape, levitate off the ground and cover their whole head in a metallic shell. Some can go invis, and release pretty sick energy star attacks, first time I saw one of these fellas a straight chill came over my spine as I saw them float closer to my location. Not a fun memory, but it left an incredible impression. Very different from what I expected seeing Halo-like enemies. Perhaps the game contains them, maybe not. I'll leave the surprise for folks to experience when they play the 1994 title.
First, I wish we had a codex, would’ve been nice to read past terminal screens depicting lore text, im circumventing this by screenshotting everything I find for future reference, but I hope in the sequel a feature to allow the player to read an archive of them would be very useful. Here’s a [url=https://marathon.bungie.org/story/]handy page[/url] for all things story-wise on the series, might be useful for those who don’t want to screenshot every terminal they come across.
Second, can potentially become softlocked on a certain level. Happened on level 5 ‘the Rose’ hit a lever early on that stopped an elevator, so when I put myself down on a lower platform I couldn't proceed and was stuck. Had to reload an earlier save, and hit the nearby lever at the start of the mission to proceed. I warn readers now in case some are wondering in a future playthrough why they’re stuck if playing blind.
Third, some runs have to be pitch perfect since a save terminal and shield terminal are far away, so managing resources, being careful on not strictly going Rambo is heavily advisable. Thankfully not a major issue on ever level you come across, rather occurred rarely for me, but i’m not a good judge if such a dilemma for me is a consensus for everyone.
Fourth, I think the lore and plotdrops during the gameplay are cool, I kinda wish they were a bit more cohesive. Often I had to remember distinct details that may or may not connect from early information I had read earlier, which is why I again would love a codex to review text materials and double check my thought process.
For a 1994 shooter game, I can see why older fans of Bungie and old boomer shooters generally like Marathon. The bold storyline to tell the world via terminals is novel and I found myself constantly reading to take a breath and learn the ins and outs of the world at large beyond the colony ship, the aliens and [classified]. Kept my interest high throughout while I struggled and ultimately persevered to my delight on the invaded colony ship by aliens. Yes they are terrifying, but not Xenomorph levels, we can stand a chance, sure I had backtrack a lot since my small brain is still mind-boggling the huge level design, and I admit to becoming lost at times. However, this wasn’t a detriment considering the enemy loves to surprise me when I least expect it, keeping a slick balance on normal difficulty of not being too aggressive and not too passive. I did have some mixed feelings, but they didn’t impact me in a large enough way to detract from the solid amount of content Marathon had to offer. Still early for me to say if it’s a must-play for any shooter fan considering I haven't finished the sequel and the last title in the trilogy, but hey for a first time experience. I can only remark well done Bungie, I'll be looking forward to the next! Give it a shot for those [url=https://aftermath.site/bungie-marathon-singleplayer/]who lament the same name released in 2026 looking for a single player shooter game![/url]
7.5/10
