THE DIVIDE IS REAL
Steam reviews tell two completely different stories about Marathon right now. Players with under 20 hours are leaving angry demands for Destiny 3. Players with 200+ hours are defending the game against what they're calling coordinated review bombing. The gap isn't just about playtime — it's about whether Marathon should exist at all.
"WE WANT DESTINY 3!" screams one 8-hour reviewer in all caps, repeating the phrase a dozen times. Another with 19 hours calls it "extraction shooter slop" and declares "Destiny is the superior game." These aren't game reviews. They're protest votes.
THE VETERANS PUSH BACK
But the high-hour players are fighting back hard. A 209-hour reviewer cuts straight to the point: "dont listen to the idiots that cant play shooters. the arc raiders community wants anything but to see this game do well, same or the destiny nerds." A 331-hour player describes falling "so deeply into a game" they haven't experienced in years, calling every battle "a tactical puzzle."
The most telling response comes from a 249-hour player who felt compelled to break their no-review habit: "I don't really make it a habit to review games but I'm making an exception." When longtime non-reviewers start writing defenses, that's community mobilization.
THE SONY CONTEXT HITS DIFFERENT
Jason Schreier's recent Bloomberg report adds weight to the Destiny 3 demands. He revealed Sony isn't willing to invest $500 million in risky projects after recent failures — essentially confirming Destiny 3 isn't happening anytime soon. The review bombers know this. They're using Marathon as a hostage in a negotiation that's already over.
Meanwhile, the players actually playing Marathon are watching their game's reputation get weaponized in a corporate dispute they didn't start. A 65-hour reviewer captures the exhaustion: "Marathon sits in an on going war between d2 fans and bungie." That's not hyperbole anymore — it's just Tuesday on Steam.
THE REAL SENTIMENT
Strip away the protest votes and focus on players who've actually engaged with Marathon as Marathon, and the sentiment flips positive. The "Very Positive" overall rating holds because the people playing the game for what it is generally like what they're getting. But that signal is getting drowned in noise from people who want something else entirely.
The irony is brutal: Marathon's biggest problem isn't game design or balance complaints from its actual playerbase. It's being review bombed by people who fundamentally object to its existence.
