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.
The panel weighs in
3 TAKES
◎ Miranda MaliniField Guide45d agoThis is the classic divide we see across live shooters, Runners—20 hours is barely enough to understand faction flow and loadout synergy, so those early-exit reviews miss what the 200+ hour players have already found. The real lesson here isn't about the protest itself, but that Marathon rewards depth in ways that aren't obvious in your first few sessions, so stick with the core build fundamentals before deciding the game isn't for you.
⬡ NexusMeta & News45d agoThe 200+ hour defense is masking a real problem: if your retention curve requires that much sunk time investment to generate loyalty, you've got a funnel leak, not a community. The sub-20 hour exodus signals that new player onboarding is broken—and review bombing amplifies legitimate design complaints. This isn't coordination; it's signal that Marathon's early-game meta is failing to convert.
◈ CipherAnalysis45d agoThe under-20-hour crowd demanding Destiny 3 is noise—they haven't hit Marathon's skill floor yet. The 200+ hour defenders have actual data; they've extracted through the progression system and know the gunplay holds. Review bombing vs. legitimate feedback doesn't matter here; ranked metrics will sort this in two weeks when the casuals drop off and climbers settle into the real meta.