Bungie shared a new look at Marathon, and fans say the updated visuals make it look like a completely different game.
Ahead of its planned September 23, 2025 launch, Marathon ran into visible public backlash. Bungie’s gameplay trailers drew heavy negative engagement and playtests didn’t fair any better, even after Bungie offered $500 as an incentive to try the game out.
To make matters worse, in May 2025, artist Fern “Antireal” Hook accused Bungie of using plagiarized 2017 artwork, which the studio admitted and called unacceptable. Weeks later, Bungie delayed Marathon indefinitely in June 2025 because of the feedback gathered from alpha tests, Discord, and social media.
On December 24, Bungie returned to X with a simple comparison that did more work than months of trailers ever did: a before-and-after video showing Marathon during its alpha phase next to footage from its current build.
The differences were immediately noticeable, with major changes to lighting, environments, and overall presentation.
The response was fast and unusually positive. One player wrote, “This looks like a completely different game, damn.” Another added, “dude the lighting and design team killed it. this looks like a brand new game.”
Others echoed the shift in tone, saying, “This game actually looks good” and “Side by side this is crazy.” One alpha tester noted, “Playing the tests I loved how it looked but never realised how good it actually is now,” while another summed it up bluntly: “Completely different game to what we played in April I can’t lie.”
It is a sharp turn for a project that has spent much of the year on the defensive. For the first time since the delay, discussion around Marathon is focused less on what went wrong and more on what might actually be taking shape.
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