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An entire civilization disappeared seemingly overnight somewhere far away across the stars. Decades later, you’re sent in as a mercenary to figure out what happened — not because you’re a hero, but because you’re expendable.
In Marathon, almost everything you learn about that mystery comes not from cutscenes or exploration, but from the people paying you. As you complete contracts and connect with new factions, corporate liaisons call in, each trying to steer you toward their version of the truth. You’re drip-fed the story one transaction at a time — and you’re paid to participate in it.
This narrative gimmick helps make Marathon the most compelling video game of 2026 thus far. But it’s also what made 2023’s Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon so memorable as well.
Despite sharing a similar premise, intense difficulty, and mature sci-fi vibes, these two games could not be more different. Marathon is a first-person extraction shooter. You play as a disembodied consciousness who pilots disposable Runner shells on the abandoned colony of Tau Ceti IV. You loot what you can on each run, survive firefights against enemy players and NPC robots, and pray that you can exfiltrate offworld before you’re killed and lose everything.
Armored Core 6 takes place on Rubicon, a planet destroyed decades ago by a mysterious disaster. In this third-person action game, you play as a cybernetically modified human piloting your mecha to earn some cash as a merc for the various factions at play. Strip away the genre differences, and the similarity becomes obvious: you are a tool. The story is told through the people who use you — but at least you still get to choose who to work for.
If you find yourself hooked on the way Marathon slowly unravels its mystery through the contracts and chatter with various vendors, Armored Core 6 offers a similar experience with even more depth and a more streamlined narrative.
You play as a silent mercenary known only as Raven (a stolen callsign, by the way). Whatever personality the game has comes from the voices in your ear. For most of the game, that’s the cold and commanding voice of Handler Walter and the constant guidance coming from the ALLMIND artificial intelligence. Armored Core 6 offers a branching narrative where your decisions and interactions with various parties determine the outcome. Side with one faction and you might get locked out of helping the other. This gives the game a great deal of replay value, and I sort of wish Marathon took a similar approach when it came to the factions.
Combat is punishing and fast-paced in Armored Core 6, but the level of customization allows you to kit out your Armored Core in whatever way suits your playstyle. All of your choices — from who you take credits from to what kind of weapons you attach to your robot — fundamentally shape the experience.
Marathon offers that same kind of flexibility. Combat can feel unforgiving at times, but as you settle into your favorite runner shells with unique abilities and gradually collect better gear, things get easier. It’s all about finding a playstyle and gameplay flow that works for you.
Ironically, Armored Core 6’s story feels like a sprint, while Marathon’s is a true marathon. The game is only a few weeks old, but the framework is already clear: player choices will shape the story over time, as evolving relationships with faction vendors deepen the mystery season by season. The first season’s raid-like Cryo Archive map only just hit the game on March 18, and players had to work together to solve an interactive community puzzle just to unlock it. This is a novel approach that reinforces the idea that player agency matters more than in most games.
In both games, you’re not the hero of the story. You’re just the vessel being used to tell it. The only difference is how long that story takes to play out. Marathon could take years, but if you love the vibes and want closure after about 15 to 20 hours, then Armored Core 6 is well worth your time.
If only we had Armored Cores on Tau Ceti VI. Those UESC bots wouldn’t stand a chance.
