An Ode to extraction shooters and why you should try them too.

Recently I was seeing a lot of negative sentiment towards the new Marathon game being and extraction shooter, so I thought I'd give my 2 cents as well. In this post I will present a couple points to consider regarding what makes extraction shooters fun and I will also address some concerns I have seen being raised so far.

Just before we begin, full disclosure: I am a big fan of extraction shooters, with over 1K hours in both Hunt: Showdown and Escape from Tarkov. I am not a very good player by any stretch of the imagination, but I get by and have a fantastic time still every time I play.

1.) Why are extraction shooters so special?

It all comes down to the fact that everything you do actually matters. Your decisions carry weight. The skills you choose, the gear you pick, the strategies you employ all matter, because in the end, if you die you lose everything. This makes every single match feel like there is something real on the line, making the gameplay significantly more exhilarating than other shooters. Going back to something like CoD after playing these games just feels super flat as you just run in over and over again with a 3 second respawn timer. In other shooters (besides BR) death is basically meaningless, only really changing your K/D which doesn't matter in the end.

Compared to battle royal games you have a lot more agency as you can decide how you want to approach every situation. You can also decide to avoid fights or extract early if you had your fill already.

These games also introduce a new concept: gear fear and scarcity. Every time you bring your strongest loadout with your best, most expensive guns, you risk losing them all, but you also increase your chance of winning encounters. These games force you to optimise and make decisions about your loadout to achieve the best outcomes. You will learn to get by with every gun not just with the "meta" picks. Nothing feels better than taking down a geared team with your scuffed warm up kit and then making it out with all the sweet loot.

This brings me to my favourite aspect of these games. The highs are high and the lows are low. Sometimes you'll get destroyed over and over again losing a lot of good gear and it's going to hurt, but you'll forget it the next day. But sometimes you will win big, you'll pull off that clutch, you'll crush a team solo, you'll hit that insanely long distance headshot and you will never forget it. You will think about it going to sleep and waking up. If you recored it you'll rewatch it over and over again. The highs are so high it's a bit hard to explain. Winning when all the odds are stacked against you is an incredible feeling and extraction shooters deliver on that feeling incredibly well. I still remember the first time I wiped a trio alone in Hunt: Showdown 5 years ago. The dopamine and adrenaline you can get from these moments is just so unique to this genre in my opinion.

2.) Common concerns

I have seen this mentioned the most: losing your gear sucks. What if I run out of guns or go completely broke? Most extraction shooters have a mechanic to protect you from this. In Hunt Showdown you can always recruit free hunters that are already equipped with some free guns and consumables. In tarkov you can go on a loot run with a scav which is a similar concept. Yes, you will be at a disadvantage with a bit worse gear, but this is the perfect set up for a win that feels absolutely incredible. I think in Marathon each class will come with a basic starting kit that you just always get for free so you can always just run with that. (this is fully just speculation)

Another concern I saw a lot was regarding lore. How is the game being an extraction shooter will effect the story of the game? In my opinion this all comes down to personal preference. It is very much possible to deliver meaningful lore and story bits in an extraction shooter, but it probably won't be as elaborate as in a single player experience with cut scenes. I do enjoy the work of figuring out the lore and the story from all the items, buildings, creatures, quests found around the world. I have confidence that Bungie will strike a good balance.

3.) Conclusion

Based on the quality of trailers, music, visual design I feel like Marathon has the potential be an excellent game. I encourage everyone who is sceptical of the extraction shooter genre to give it a chance as it can provide a very unique experience not found elsewhere.

If you have any questions about extraction shooter mechanics, my experiences or anything else feel free to leave it below.

Tl;dr: extraction shooter good, worth giving a chance to