Marathon Reloaded: Bungie Reveals Alpha Gameplay, Cinematic Short, and September 23, 2025 Launch Date
From the creators of Halo and Destiny comes Bungie’s bold new venture — Marathon, a team-based extraction shooter set in the haunting ruins of Tau Ceti IV. During a stunning Gameplay Reveal Showcase, Bungie pulled back the curtain on the first gameplay footage, a mysterious cinematic short, and the official release date: September 23, 2025.
What is Marathon? Bungie’s New Vision for the Extraction Shooter Genre
At its core, Marathon is Bungie’s take on the emerging extraction shooter genre — blending the tension of survival with the studio’s legendary first-person gunplay. Players become Runners, cybernetically enhanced mercenaries on a deadly hunt through a lost colony. Teams of three battle each other and hostile NPCs, loot high-value gear and try to extract alive — or risk losing everything.
Welcome to Tau Ceti IV
The game is set in a hauntingly beautiful sci-fi world: Tau Ceti IV, a mysterious colony where every inhabitant has vanished. Now, rival factions fight over what's left, employing Runners—humans turned into biosynthetic beings—tasked with finding wealth, power, and perhaps, answers.
Alpha Gameplay Highlights: Tactics, Tech, and High Stakes
During the reveal, Bungie showcased alpha gameplay that emphasized both tactical depth and kinetic action. Here's what we learned:
- Three-Player Squads: Dive into the chaos with a tight-knit team of Runners, each bringing unique abilities and loadouts.
- Customizable Loadouts: Equip your character with a vast array of scavenged weapons, implants, and gear that affect both moment-to-moment gameplay and long-term strategy.
- Persistence Matters: Loot gathered during a mission is yours to keep — if you can extract. Fail, and it’s all lost.
- The Marathon Ship: For the brave, end-game journeys to the abandoned Marathon ship above Tau Ceti IV offer incredible rewards and extreme risk.
When Does Marathon Release?
Bungie confirmed Marathon will officially launch on September 23, 2025, on:
- Steam
- PlayStation 5
- Xbox Series X|S
Full cross-play and cross-save functionality will ensure seamless progression and team-ups across platforms.
Join the Closed Alpha – Be Among the First to Play
Bungie invites players to sign up for the Closed Alpha Test via the official Marathon Discord. Community feedback will be a driving force during development, with the team promising:
- Live Q&A sessions with developers
- Real-time engagement and feedback channels
- Opportunities to shape Marathon's first season and beyond
Meet the Runners: Glitch, Void, Blackbird, and More
One of the major surprises during the showcase was the reveal of the Marathon | Reveal Cinematic Short. Written and directed by Alberto Mielgo (Love, Death & Robots, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), the cinematic gave us our first glimpse at the personalities behind the Runners:
- Glitch – voiced by Erica Lindbeck
- Void – voiced by Elias Toufexis
- Blackbird – voiced by Nika Futterman
- ONI – voiced by Donnla Hughes
- Narrator – voiced by Ben Starr
“When I first read about Marathon’s universe and characters, I found everything strangely poetic and mysterious,” said Mielgo. “It’s all deeply inspiring and thought-provoking.”
This cinematic reinforces Bungie’s commitment to storytelling, ensuring Marathon isn’t just a gameplay experience — it’s a fully realized universe.
Wishlist Marathon Today
Want to get in on the action early? Wishlist Marathon on your preferred platform now: