Marathon is a greatest hits of '90s futurism, according to Bungie lead, who says the shooter was "deeply inspired" by wild PlayStation ads and "translucent DualShocks"

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Marathon is a greatest hits of '90s futurism, according to Bungie lead, who says the shooter was "deeply inspired" by wild PlayStation ads and "translucent DualShocks" News By Ashley Bardhan published 2 February 2026

Who wouldn't be?

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If it were a person, Marathon seems like it would spend the most time out of its house after 1AM. Its characters wear chunky, neon helmets that make them look like grasshoppers at Coachella, and its official music is all electronica that would sound better in a humid basement, because, according to Bungie global franchise director Philip Asher, the upcoming extraction shooter is largely influenced by late '90s debauchery.

He says so in a Twitter exchange with Michael Douse, publishing director at Larian, which is currently working on Divinity. That series is more concerned with the kind of debauchery that happened around the time of the Ottoman Empire, but Douse nonetheless writes in a post that Marathon "reminds me of the 90s and 00s PlayStation UK era which was dominated by club culture in their comms, bright colors and big speed. (A complement)."

Asher agrees, explaining, "We're deeply inspired by that era’s futurism and how we can pull it forward to today's fashion/club/design scene." In particular, the juicebox-colored 1995 racing game "Wipeout, the PS ads of the 90s/00s (Mental Wealth), translucent DualShocks are all huge influences."

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I'm particularly interested to see how Mental Wealth impacted Marathon. The commercial was one of the most infamous PlayStation ads of the late '90s – though the time period, in general, gave fledgling video game companies many opportunities to be esoteric.

The ad featured the young Scottish actress Fiona Maclaine, whose face had been distorted to look like a balloon animal alien with pigtails. She monologued about why you should "forget progress by proxy. Land on your own moon." So I'm now taking this to mean Marathon will either feature a similar motivational message, or it'll have people who look like they're about to leak helium.

Bungie fixes Marathon pre-order glitch that caused Destiny 2 to start installing on Steam, to the amusement of everyone: "Like something out of The Onion."

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Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. TOPICS Bungie CATEGORIES PC Gaming Xbox Series X PS5 Platforms Xbox PlayStation Ashley BardhanSenior Writer

Ashley is a Senior Writer at GamesRadar+. She's been a staff writer at Kotaku and Inverse, too, and she's written freelance pieces about horror and women in games for sites like Rolling Stone, Vulture, IGN, and Polygon. When she's not covering gaming news, she's usually working on expanding her doll collection while watching Saw movies one through 11.

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