- Primary Subject: Marathon (2026) | Launch Version
- Key Update: Bungie officially launches Marathon on March 5, 2026, returning to the iconic Tau Ceti IV setting after 30 years.
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: January 22, 2026
- Quick Answer: Marathon releases March 5, 2026. It transitions the classic sci-fi series into a competitive extraction shooter, where players control digitized "Runners" set in the same Tau Ceti system as the 1990s trilogy.
For those blinded by the hype, the upcoming Marathon release is set to make history despite mixed reception and divided opinions. 30 years in the making, Marathon releases on March 5, 2026, as the fourth installment of a previously Macintosh-exclusive, award-winning sci-fi franchise.
First released in 1994, the first-person shooter trilogy earned several accolades back in the day for its advanced gameplay mechanics, innovative multiplayer mode, and cutting-edge storytelling, with many calling these entries the spiritual predecessor of the world-renowned Halo series.
Beating Doom II for Best Action Game, earning themselves a spot in the Macworld Game Hall of Fame, and Time Magazine’s 100 Best Video Games Ever, what truly is going on in the world of Marathon? Well, we can only start at the beginning, grandpa used to say.
The 25th century sets humans in a Mars space colony after Earth becomes more advanced and well-versed in galactic travel and survival. After decades turned into centuries of support, society started to struggle with overpopulation and famine on the red planet due to a lack of imported resources from Earth.
In a tone-deaf decision, the Unified Earth Space Council (UESC), an organization with jurisdiction in space protocols, diplomacy, and peacekeeping to ensure ‘human expansion into the stars’, turned one of Mars’ moons into a government-owned ship and sent it to colonize the Tau Ceti system, a further-away cousin of our Solar system, in 2472.
The moon Deimos, now going by the name UESC Marathon, arrived at its destination in the year 2773, over 300 years after the fact. There, the crew took it upon themselves to peacefully colonize their landing on Tau Ceti IV, until they were ambushed by the Pfhor.
After the colony’s demise on Tau Ceti ground, the Pfhor took their attention to the Marathon orbiting around their planet, where the player, a Battleroid cyborg, must stand their ground to stop the attack and save humanity’s last hope on Mars.
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The genetically enhanced soldier survives hordes of Pfhor thanks to the help of one of the ship's AIs, Leela, who notices savage attacks and unorganized fronts by the invasion, unlike the efforts of another alien species, the S’pht.
The S’pht are an alien class enslaved by the Pfhor, who are also a part of the waves of species flooding the Marathon. These creatures are naturally digital that can manipulate technology and player AIs to their favor.
This is how our hero learns about Durandal, the AI responsible for doors, stairways, life support, and other ship functions, and its rampant state, colluding against the player during the invasion, even kidnapping him and the ship and taking them to enemy territory.
Durandal’s descent into madness and God-complex virtually corrupts Leela, physically hinders the ship’s survival, and makes our cyborg’s mission all the more difficult, sending him into an intergalactic walk down memory lane, teletransported repeatedly between the Marathon and Pfhor ships thanks to the help of the S’pht and ally AI, Tycho.
After restoring some semblance of peace, our Marine awakens 17 years later, captured again by Pfhor enemies. Durandal, rampant as ever, returns for the second installment to coerce the player into an assault on the Lh’owon planet, the S’phts’ home, in search of more of their technology.
All while meeting more alien races like the F'lickta, the Jjaro, and the S'pht'Kr, we witness the plot thickening with political narratives and the S’pht’s tragic background, including their divine origins and mythical goals, which become even more complicated in the trilogy’s fragmented-timeline story.
Spoiler alert: the Marathon saga is nothing short of cinema, but it will unfortunately just complement the player experience when the fourth installment drops on March 5, with the game shifting from single-player storytelling to multiplayer shooter.
Now, Sekiguchi Genetics-created Runner Shells intend to loot each and every corner of post-colonization Tau Ceti IV with their space-resistant bodies to the hostile conditions of the dead planet.
Humans looking to turn into Runners need their brains digitized, sending them into a vicious intergalactic cycle of corporate greed and alien violence, the perfect setting for our next adventure in the Marathon universe, now as a team.
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