Bungie Marathon Art Style Analysis

Marathon - Art Style Impressions

Posted June 2023

Introduction

The rumours turned out to be true, Bungie are working on a new Marathon game 27 years after the conclusion of the original Marathon trilogy!

When I opened YouTube to see the trailer, I was immediately floored by the art style. Bungie has always excelled at creating absorbing worlds with distinct visual styles, and it looks like this Marathon reboot will be no exception. This isn't a new world though, it's a revisit of to the same universe as Bungie's second ever FPS game.

With that in mind, I hope you’ll join me in taking a look back at the art style of the original games, and how it compares to the reboot. This is also an excuse for me to collate all the new Marathon concept art in one place.

Part 1 - AI Constructs and Cyborgs First

First off, here are some key moments from the trailer. In my opinion the most unique part of the visuals was the Runner being slowly created by the caterpillars. Runners are the player controlled characters in the Marathon reboot, and are described by Bungie as 'cybernetic mercenaries'. The ones in the reveal trailer appear to be completely artificial, although they could be cyborgs like the Security Officer from the original trilogy, or the Master Chief from the Halo games. Below you can see the stages of a runner being created step by step.

Caterpillar's creating Runner (Marathon)

The design here is totally fresh, it's unlike anything I've seen in science fiction and I'm genuinely excited to see what else Bungie's artists have been cooking up.

Not everything is brand new though. The images below show a compiler, a returning enemy unit from the original Marathon games. It's hard to tell from the image we have, but this looks very similar to the original. For reference, one image is from the new trailer, one is a sprite from the original game, and one is artwork by the legendary Craig Mullins, who worked with Bungie on both Marathon and Halo.

There are also elements reminiscent of other game series. The pixelated design below is similar to the design of Shodan from System Shock 2.

Whilst I don't think the art style is the same, I can't help but think of Mirror's Edge due to the vivid green and stark white (great game if you're interested in a virtual free running experience - although I never did play the sequel).

Part 2 - Under New Management

It's easy to conclude that Bungie has mostly abandoned the style and tone of the original Marathon, but fear not as the ViDoc shows off around 50 pieces of concept art, many of which looking very much like the classic art style.

I've been interested in Marathon ever since I picked up an Xbox magazine with a feature on Halo 3, which had just been revealed at E3 2006. I was treated to a deep dive on Bungie's history going all the way back to Gnop on PC. I learned that Halo was actually Bungie's second FPS trilogy and that almost everything I liked from Halo was present in the Marathon games as well.

Last year I finally got round to finishing Marathon 2 after trying out the first two games multiple times over the years. It took me a while to get round to it but I when I did, I really enjoyed the atmosphere of Lh'owon (the game's setting). The new art encapsulates that feeling of isolation for me, and I'm looking forward to seeing what gameplay of the reboot will look like.

For comparison, I've picked a few pieces of artwork from the original trilogy (below). I really feel like the new art matches the brooding style of the classic Craig Mullins art.

Marathon Security Officer (Criag Mullins)

Next up, the protagonist(s). In the original Marathon trilogy the player takes the role of the Security Officer, who has a look that's instantly recognisable due to the shape of the helmet. The first two images below show some variations of that design, which has now also been featured as an armour set in both Halo and Destiny.

Then in the artwork below that, you can see that a lot of that design language has carried over to the cybernetic Runners we'll be controlling in the new game. Runners still have the wide visors and body armour, but now there is a splash of vivid colour that makes for a fantastic modernisation of the classic design.

Finally, I'd like to highlight the environment art for both new and old Marathon. I loved the art of the original trilogy, and I'm very happy to say that the new artwork conveys that same tone and atmosphere, Bungie absolutely nailed it. I'll let the art below speak for itself.

Part 3 - This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us

If you watched the trailer, you might be thinking that I'm forgetting something. Yes, the classic designs are back in all their glory, but there is a second group of designs that are completely new. The Runners pictured below are sleek and clean looking with a bright colour pallette, which is in direct contrast to the gritty powered armoured characters of the original trilogy.

It will be interesting to see how this all feeds into the lore. Are there two factions that will be fighting against each other and we can choose which to side with? The third image shows Runners with a mix of styles working together so that would potentially indicate otherwise. Perhaps these Runners have different manufacturers, as Bungie frequently features multiple fictional companies within their sci-fi universes.

As many have pointed out these designs are evocative of cyberpunk anime such as Ghost in the Shell. I've included some examples below compared against Marathon concept art from the ViDoc.

Part 4 - The Library

If it isn't obvious, my closing thoughts are that I absolutely love the art direction for the Marathon reboot and I can't wait to see how all these designs look in-game.

I intend to cover more Marathon content as Bungie reveals their plans for the future. For now, I've included all of the artwork from the ViDoc below for you to peruse at your leisure.

Thanks for reading.