Arc Raiders Players Are in for a Huge Surprise With Marathon

Hero shooters and battle royale shooters have become increasingly popular, but in today’s industry, it is the extraction shooter that is gaining traction. Titles like Escape From Tarkov and Hunt: Showdown have been around for years, but Arc Raiders proved that the genre could work, both for hardcore players and casual ones. And now, with Bungie’s Marathon poised to release, a new wave of extraction shooters is coming. However, those transitioning from Arc Raiders need to prepare themselves for a significant difference between the two games.

Arc Raiders has evolved into a surprisingly cooperative environment, a PvE-heavy experience where players are more likely to work together, team up, or ignore each other entirely in the name of mutual survival and looting. Those players who have fallen in love with that atmosphere and unspoken camaraderie are heading for a rude awakening when Marathon drops. Bungie’s extraction shooter is shaping up to be the opposite mentality. It looks to be more predatory, highly competitive, and dangerously hostile. And the resulting clash between PvE and PvP mentalities is about to inflame the debate Arc Raiders began.

Marathon Will Be Less Friendly Than Arc Raiders

Anyone who has played Arc Raiders knows that the game encourages cooperation in a way most extraction shooters don’t, and this is easily my favorite aspect of the game. Even solo players encounter surprising friendliness. I can’t even begin to count how many times I’ve run into players who have ignored me, given a greeting and run off in their own direction, helped me, or even dropped blueprints as a gift. Moments like that create memorable stories and shape the culture of a community.

But Marathon is not designed for that kind of friendliness. Bungie has been explicit about its vision. This is a PvP-focused extraction shooter, one where players must assume every encounter is dangerous. The thematic tone reinforces this. You are a Runner, a highly capable operator traversing derelict sci-fi environments where trust is a liability. The design funnels players into high-tension interactions, and the reward systems emphasize outsmarting, outmaneuvering, and outgunning rivals.

Players coming from Arc Raiders will need a serious mindset shift. If you wave at someone in Marathon, you are likely to get domed before the animation finishes. Shoot on sight will be the norm, not the exception. Encounters will not feel like opportunities for cooperation, but tests of awareness and reflexes. This is not a flaw but an intended design. Still, it will be a shock to those who approach Marathon expecting the same spirit of friendliness that has unexpectedly taken over Arc Raiders.

Solo Players Will Need to Watch Their Back

One of the biggest differences between the two games is how they treat solo players. In Arc Raiders, running solo is viable and often enjoyable because players are frequently willing to help, share space, or focus on AI threats instead of each other. I have had moments where a stranger helped revive me during a chaotic encounter, or where two solo players silently agreed to avoid conflict and loot separate corners of a zone.

Do not expect that in Marathon. Bungie’s game is shaping up to be far more ruthless. Solo players will be at a disadvantage, not because the game punishes them mechanically, but because the culture will be hypercompetitive. Squads will not hesitate to eliminate lone Runners, and some may even seek out solo players. People will camp at the extraction points, and ambushes will be common. The game’s tense atmosphere will reward paranoia just as much as skill.

In Marathon, survival will depend on constant vigilance. Listening for footsteps. Checking angles. Avoiding predictable routes. Using verticality to your advantage. Retreating when needed. And most importantly, understanding that every encounter is a potential threat. Solo players have to be hyper-focused on these elements, as they do not have teammates to watch their back or make callouts.

For players used to the relative friendliness of Arc Raiders, the intensity of Marathon might feel overwhelming at first. But there is also something exhilarating about a world where every second demands your full attention. When you escape with high-tier loot in a game as unforgiving as Marathon, the victory hits different. You earned it because you survived a system built to stop you at every turn, and coming out on top as a solo player will be so satisfying.

The PvE vs. PvP Debate Will Get Even More Heated

If you have been following the Arc Raiders community, you already know how intense the PvE vs. PvP conversation has become. The game’s surprising friendliness sparked debates about whether extraction shooters should lean into cooperation or competition. Some players love the relaxed pace, the AI-focused encounters, and the emergent alliances, even going so far as to ask for PvE-only lobbies. Others argue that the genre loses its identity without meaningful player conflict and feel the aggression-based matchmaking hurts the core experience of extraction shooters. With Marathon, that debate is only going to escalate.

Bungie’s extraction shooter leans unapologetically into PvP. While AI threats will exist, the core experience revolves around player-driven danger. Ambushes, fights over objectives, and unpredictable engagements will define the game’s identity. This divide may fracture the broader extraction shooter community into two distinct camps. On one side, you will have the Arc Raiders crowd, who enjoy exploration, PvE encounters, and unexpected cooperation. On the other side, you will have players drawn to Marathon’s intensity, craving the high-stakes tension that comes from facing unpredictable human opponents.

The PvE vs PvP debate will likely grow even louder once Marathon releases. Reddit threads will explode, new YouTube videos will be posted, and in-game discussion will be hostile. Extraction shooters have evolved since Escape From Tarkov made the genre popular, and games like Arc Raiders and Marathon are pushing it further. This back-and-forth discussion will likely raise the visibility of the entire genre, but it will also polarize players in ways we have not fully seen yet.

I find both approaches compelling. Some days, I want a tense extraction where every moment could mean losing everything. Other days, I want a cooperative adventure where players work together while surviving brutal AI encounters. The beauty of the genre is its flexibility, but Marathon and Arc Raiders represent two very different visions of what extraction shooters can be.

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