Life moves at the speed of light, and there's no truer place for that than video games. One minute you're watching the reveal trailer and the next the game is on the verge of release. Such is the case with Marathon, which went from an indefinite delay to a Server Slam weekend ahead of its official release on March 5th.
Right now, thousands of people are jumping into Bungie's latest venture, and for the most part, the early results seem positive. That said, if there's one element that could use a pre-release refresh, it's the UI.
Marathon is slow, difficult and full of depth – but who is this game for?
I'm having a good time at Marathon, but something doesn't feel right about the game.
Because it's not very popular at the moment, which led to one content creator coining the term “Fontslop”.
While it's super creative, it's a little busy and includes several different sizes, colors, and even the fonts themselves.
“The UI has been my main switch so far,” wrote one user. “I'm willing to get used to the clunky movement and all, but the UI and HUD are tiny and confusing. I was frustrated and just grabbed the free loadout so I wouldn't have to deal with it or pay attention, which is pointless because I'd love to learn. I don't think the game is for me. But great art.”
“The UI is downright bad at conveying information,” chimed in another.
Whether the complaints are loud enough to force Bungie's hand, or whether there's still some room to tweak things before launch, remains to be seen. At least we have a new “problem” word to add to our dictionaries.
Fontslop didn't stop Marathon from being an early winner
Highguard 2 or Concord 2 is not the fate that Marathon will see, at least judging by how things have been going during the Server Slam so far. The game nearly peaked last night at 150,000 players on Steam alone, with roughly 73,000 players currently playing the game at the time of writing, on SteamDB.
It will take a long time for Marathon to top Arc Raiders (481,966), but he's certainly not in danger of going crazy either. In comparison, Concord peaked at 697 players on Steam and Highguard at 97,249, though many dropped within minutes.
- Released
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March 5, 2026
- ESRB
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Teen / Animated blood, language, violence, in-game purchases, user interaction
- Multiplayer
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Online multiplayer, online co-op
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