New Marathon Leaks: The Vibes Are Immaculate, But The Robots Are Brain-Dead
Bungie might be going through the corporate equivalent of a dumpster fire right now, but man, they still know how to make a video game look expensive.
We just got a fresh batch of leaks from the December playtest courtesy of some loose-lipped players on Bilibili, and honestly? I am ready to be hurt again. While the screenshots don't reveal any earth-shattering new mechanics, they double down on the one thing we knew for sure: the art direction is absolute fire. The "glazing" in the comments is real, and I get it. It looks crisp, distinct, and vibrant in a way that makes other extraction shooters look like gray sludge. But beyond the pretty colors, the playtest impressions paint a picture of a game that feels incredible to play but might be lacking in the brains department.
The "Unmatched" Gunplay
If there is one thing Bungie can do in their sleep, it is making a gun feel good to shoot. The leaks suggest that the "gunplay is unmatched," which is exactly what you want to hear. Players are reportedly comparing the movement and combat speed to Apex Legends, positioning it as the high-octane alternative to slower, more tactical extraction shooters.
If Arc Raiders is the slow-burn, third-person survival game (which I just nuked my account for, by the way), Marathon is shaping up to be the twitchy, adrenaline-fueled FPS cousin. This distinction is crucial. The market is crowded, and if Marathon can nail that "Bungie feel" where clicking heads releases pure dopamine, it has a fighting chance.
The Robot Problem
Here is where the hype train hits the brakes. The biggest complaint coming out of the test is the PvE element. The enemy AI is apparently... not great.
Testers are reporting that the enemies are almost exclusively "humanoid robots" that lack variety. Even worse, they are tanky bullet sponges that don't drop loot worth the ammo you spent killing them. In an extraction shooter, the PvE threat needs to be either terrifying or profitable. If it is just an annoying obstacle with a massive health bar, it becomes a chore. There is also a weird readability issue where players are struggling to distinguish between the AI bots and actual enemy players, which is a recipe for disaster in a high-stakes PvP environment.
BattleEye Blues
On the technical side, things are a mixed bag. The good news is that performance is solid. The game is running smoothly on PC without relying on frame generation crutches, which is a miracle in 2025.
The bad news? They are currently using BattleEye for anti-cheat. In a genre where losing a match means losing your gear, "standard" anti-cheat often isn't enough. Players are already worried about hackers, and without a more aggressive kernel-level solution, Marathon could turn into a cheater's paradise on day one.
My Take
I am skeptical. I have seen too many live-service games look pretty and play well, only to die because the content loop was boring. But looking at these screenshots, I can't help myself. The "vibe" is just that strong. If Bungie can fix the boring robots and ensure I don't get aim-botted by a hacker in my first match, they might actually pull this off.