Extraction shooters have officially taken over the landscape in 2026.
Whilst the genre was once dominated by military sims that felt like doing your taxes in a war zone, we now have two heavy hitters that prioritize style and feel.
Arc Raiders and Marathon are both vying for your time, and honestly, they both deserve it for very different reasons.
One is a soulful, third-person journey through a rusted-out Earth, and the other is a neon-soaked, high-stakes sprint through a digital fever dream.
Both are in regular play for me, and I’ve grown to love the extraction shooter genre, which I never saw coming! It’s become a genre with nuance and choice.
What a great time to be a gamer!
The Grounded Grit of Arc Raiders
Embark Studios has done something special with the atmosphere of Arc Raiders. It feels heavy, tactile, and surprisingly human. This is what turned so many of us onto Arc Raiders and ultimately into extraction shooters.
Set in a post-apocalyptic Italy, you spend your time scavenging for parts to keep the underground colony of Speranza running.
The third-person perspective is the real hero here. It changes the pace of the game, allowing you to peek around corners and plan your movement with a bit more deliberation.
You aren’t just a floating camera with a gun; you are a Raider trying to survive against the machines.
The strength of Arc Raiders lies in its community and its sense of scale.
The ARC machines are terrifyingly large, and seeing a massive harvester on the horizon creates a genuine sense of dread. It is less about being a super-soldier and more about being a scavenger with a modified rifle.
The game encourages a bit of cooperation too. You will often find other players willing to wave and move on rather than opening fire immediately, mainly because the world itself is so hostile that you don’t always want to add another enemy to the list.
The Neon Precision of Marathon
Bungie is back in the driver’s seat with Marathon, and it is every bit as sharp as you would expect from the creators of Halo. It isn’t Destiny the extraction shooter, nor is it Master Chief with Cortana.
This is a first-person experience through and through, focusing on tight gunplay and a much faster time-to-kill than its competition. You play as a Runner, using various Shells that act as character classes with specific abilities.
It’s colourful, loud, and incredibly aggressive. While Arc Raiders feels like a survival story, Marathon feels like a professional sport played for the highest stakes possible.
The core strength of Marathon is that signature Bungie game feel.
The movement is deliberate and the weapons feel like precise instruments. There is a verticality to the maps that keeps you on your toes, and the sound design is absolutely top-tier.
Everything from the click of a reload to the hum of the environment tells you exactly where you stand. It is a game designed for the competitive soul, where your build and your reflexes are the only things keeping you from losing your entire inventory.
Perspectives and Pacing
The most obvious difference between the two is how you see the world.
Third-person in Arc Raiders makes the combat feel more like a tactical dance. You use the environment, you set traps, and you play the long game.
Marathon’s first-person view is immersive and claustrophobic. It forces you to commit to every corner you turn. Because Marathon has a much faster pace, a single mistake usually means you are heading back to the lobby without your loot. Shifting the pace, changes the approach to the extraction shooter gameplay, considerably.
Progression also feels distinct. Arc Raiders is very much about the scrap and the craft. You are looking for specific components to build that one better scope or a more reliable gadget.
Marathon leans more into the build-crafting of your Shell, using faction reputation and implants to fine-tune your performance.
One feels like you are rebuilding a world, while the other feels like you are upgrading a machine. How good is it to have games in the extraction shooter genre that feel so different?!
Why You Should Play Both
We are in a golden age for this genre because these two games don’t actually step on each other’s toes as much as you might think.
Arc Raiders is the game you play when you want to get lost in a world, when you want to feel the tension of a night raid and the satisfaction of a hard-earned extraction with a backpack full of electronics. It is beautiful, slightly slower, and rewards patience.
Marathon is the game you fire up when you want that shot of adrenaline. It is for the sessions where you want to test your aim, engage in high-speed chases, and experience a world that looks like a high-end sci-fi art book come to life.
Both games have mastered their specific niches, and whether you prefer the rusted hills of Earth or the synthetic corridors of Tau Ceti IV, you are getting a world-class experience.
The extraction shooter has finally grown up, and it looks better than ever.
