Having previously been delayed indefinitely, Bungie’s upcoming multiplayer extraction shooter Marathon has a release date: March, 2026. It’ll cost $39.99/€39.99/£34.99 on PS5, Xbox Series S/X and PC.

The release window and price were confirmed in a new “Vision of Marathon” ViDoc on Bungie’s official Youtube channel.

One very cool piece of information in the video is that Marathon will employ a system similar to that of Helldivers 2, meaning “Marathon’s reward passes will not expire, and you’ll be able to purchase and unlock prior passes”. At least you won’t have to worry about FOMO.

The reception to the video seems a lot warmer than the one Marathon initially received. The comments praise Bungie for improving on the game, including adding in a little grit and dirt here or there so that it doesn’t look so squeaky clean.

Proximity chat, which the company once said would be too toxic, will now be in Marathon from day one. A solo queue will also be be there at launch for people like me who have no friends and far too much time on your hands.

Speaking of solo play, there will a new Runner shell called “Rook”, basically giving players a limited loadout. It’s very similiar to what Arc Raiders does, a way of entering a match with some barebones gear so that you don’t have to risk your valuable gear. The game had a system like this before, so this looks like an evolution of that.

It also seems like the controversy over the game featuring stolen artwork is also calming down. The artist whose work was stolen, ANTIREAL, recently announced that she and Bungie had settled the issue, presumably meaning she got a good payout, or maybe even got paid so that Bungie can use her art officially.

Bungie could certainly do with a win these days. So far, Sony’s acquisition of the company has proven to be a dud, even resulting in Sony having to announce to file an impairment cost again Bungie.