A full short film about life and death as Marathon's launch cinematic

Bungie released the official launch cinematic trailer for Marathon titled "In Death We've Just Begun". The trailer offers an extended look at the world of Tau Ceti IV – an abandoned colony where rival Runners compete for resources, take on contracts, and chase the truth behind the disappearance of the Marathon expedition a century ago. An original track from the game's soundtrack by Poppy and Son Lux plays throughout.

The whole thing looks incredibly stylish and unusual – like something out of an anthology of arthouse short films.

Marathon is a sci-fi extraction shooter where players take on the role of Runners: mercenaries dropping into dangerous zones to pull out valuable resources.

Six Runner shells cover different playstyles – Breacher, Scout, Thief, and others – each serving as a foundation for building custom loadouts from moddable weapons, implants, and system upgrades. Every run requires careful planning around squad composition and tactics, and death means losing everything you brought in.

There are several ways to play: two- or three-Runner squads, solo lobbies, or the Blacksite role – a lone scavenger with no starting gear who can drop into active team sessions mid-run. Player interaction revolves around uneasy alliances: proximity chat lets rivals negotiate temporary truces to deal with shared threats, but betrayal is always on the table.

That said, the last surviving squad member can revive everyone else who went down.

Progression in Marathon is tied to six rival factions on Tau Ceti – completing their contracts unlocks seasonal upgrades including shell enhancements, improved starting gear, and expanded storage. The endgame for Season 1 is the UESC Marathon ship in orbit: players will board its first deck, break into the cryo archive, and fight their way to the seventh vault, where something waits that even the UESC fears.

Later in Season 1, Bungie also plans to add competitive matches.

Marathon launches March 5 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series.