Horror fans will know that genre video games come in all shapes and sizes. There are walking sims packed with jumpscares, slow-burn, story-driven titles that use atmosphere to make players uncomfortable, and survival horror titles where the scariest thing of all is not having enough ammo to defeat the latest threat in your path. But an extraction shooter? The genre isn't exactly known for bringing the scares, yet Marathon have achieved something absolutely incredible with the Night Marsh map that launched alongside Season 2.
As opposed to what Marathon review bombers and haters have tried to say, the game is full of brilliant design decisions and its maps are one of the brightest spots of all. Perimeter is the most relaxed place – still hard and still prone to PvP battles if you're not careful, but lower stakes with less valuable loot to match. Outpost is a brilliant piece of game design, where players invade the territory of the rogue UESC and are faced with a firestorm environmental hazard that regularly forces them indoors, tons of bots and a race to open up a loot-filled base in the sky. And then there's the Cryo Archive, which is crowded, challenging, and serves as an endgame venue where the best players can battle an enemy on par with a Fate raid boss. And now, thanks to its terrifying nighttime variant, Dire Marsh has true personality and purpose, and delivers in such a big way that all horror fans really need to give the game a look while it's free to play.
As part of the launch of Season 2 comes the whole Marathon – including its horror map – is free to play until June 9. If players like what they see, they can also buy Marathon at a discounted price for a limited time.
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Night Marsh puts other map variants to shame
In most video games that receive variations on existing maps, such as holiday themes, weather changes, or, yes, nighttime versions, the addition is usually an afterthought. Players will say “oh, cool” and quickly move on, with the change in presentation having no major impact on gameplay and being a very minor tweak in the grand scheme of things. Night Marsh, however, is a completely different beast. It has taken Dire Marsh, which was basically just an “opener perimeter”, and turned it into a full-on horror experience that can make you shake in your boots.
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In the words of SpongeBob SquarePants, Night Marsh offers not only darkness, but “advanced darkness.” The map is really pitch black, with UESC robots only visible due to the white light on their heads and a large majority of the buildings having an unsettling atmosphere. So much of Marathon is already about slow, careful approaches where players listen for any sounds that might mean someone is nearby, and the ensuing combat when enemies are in the area is just as tense. Now take the existing potential for players to come out of nowhere and add a map that is not only extremely dark, but also eerily silent. And when you hear a sound, you'll probably wish they hadn't heard it at all.
Night Marsh introduces new threats on top of bots and real players as well. There is now an Anomoly-damaged facility that fires lethal balls at the player that disintegrated when shot, prolonging the fight and attracting enemies to the gunfight. Even worse are the Husks, which are hideous infected humans with extra arms that look and sound like something out of Dead Space franchise. Sneaking around the eerie red (or pitch black) tunnels, only to hear a scream as a creature runs towards the group out of nowhere, is downright unsettling. Thanks to this setting and the enemies added right on top of the usual intensity that comes from any extraction shooter, Night Marsh is an experience that horror fans owe it to themselves to at least try.
Marathon's Night Marsh stuff proves it's worthy of its spot as a seasonal headliner Marathon already excels as an extraction game… but now it's somehow found a way to shine as a horror game as well.
Sure, a vastly improved UI, a new Runner Shell, Cradle upgrades, and leveled progression are all part of the Season 2 pie, but Night Marsh has always been treated as the biggest piece. Leaning towards a night variant may have seemed strange on paper, but this bold choice was a wise one; the map really is that special, and the added mechanics for it make it feel consistently engaging beyond the initial scare. To survive in the Night Marsh you can:
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Use a flashlight to illuminate the immediate area, risking other players seeing you.
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Equip vector rounds to your gun of choice, which create puddles of light where your bullets land, making missed shots valuable and hits game-changing.
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Throw vector grenades to mark an area, as well as flares that come in multiple colors.
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Equip a Darksight scope, which briefly illuminates the immediate area and greatly aids in traversal.
When you load into Night Marsh and crawl around the fringes of its POIs, you'll know right away that something is wrong. The birds sound infected, the map is deathly quiet, and what little lighting there is feels like it was placed solely to scare you. Brilliant environmental design will make players jump at shadows, as a radar tower can look like a human player standing still on a distant rooftop. And when you least expect it, a Husk can jump out at you out of nowhere. Marathon already stands out as an extraction shooter due to its brilliant combat, artwork and mechanics, but now it has somehow found a way to shine as a horror game as well.
- 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
