Bungie reveals new Marathon footage and fans say it looks like a brand new game

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Bungie recently revealed updated visuals for Marathon, and many fans are commenting that it looks like an entirely new game.

Before its scheduled release on September 23, 2025, the game Marathon faced significant criticism. Trailers received a lot of negative feedback, and early playtests weren’t well-received, even though Bungie offered players $500 to try it.

Things got even more complicated in May 2025 when artist Fern “Antireal” Hook claimed Bungie had used her artwork from 2017 without permission. Bungie acknowledged the mistake and apologized. Then, in June 2025, the studio announced an indefinite delay for the Marathon game, citing feedback received from early testers and online communities.

Fans react to new Marathon footage

On December 24th, Bungie cleverly used a short video on X (formerly Twitter) to showcase the evolution of their game, Marathon. The video simply compared early, unfinished footage of the game to its current state, and it was far more effective at generating excitement than any of the trailers they’d released previously.

BEFORE // AFTER

— Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) December 24, 2025

The changes were clear right away, especially in the lighting, settings, and how everything looked and felt.

People reacted quickly and with a lot of excitement. One player said it looked like a totally new game, while another praised the lighting and design teams for making it feel completely refreshed.

Many people commented on the improved quality, with reactions like “This game actually looks good” and “The difference is amazing!” One early player said they enjoyed the game during testing, but didn’t realize how much better it would become, and another simply stated, “It’s a completely different game than what we played a few months ago.”

This marks a significant shift for the project, which has been largely focused on damage control throughout the year. After months of addressing setbacks, the conversation around Marathon is now starting to center on its potential and what it’s becoming.

Things are finally feeling a bit calmer over at Bungie, which is great to see! They recently wrapped up that long, complicated copyright lawsuit about the Red War campaign in Destiny 2 last November, so that’s one less thing for them to worry about. It’s good to see that legal battle finally behind them.

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2025-12-24 23:19