I'm playing Marathon like a single-player stealth sim, and after 70 hours of sneaking I'm begging you to try a solo run

My best friend in Marathon is a knife. When nobody has me in a shootout – not my empty Bully SMG, not my ludicrously over-scoped sniper – I know the knife has my back. I've won many fights against players who underestimate melee, who desperately try to reload even as I bear down on them, and many a would-be ambusher has chased me blindly into the Assassin's smoke cloud and never left.

This reflects less on the knife (though it remains deeply underrated) and more on my own playstyle, which has evolved specifically to survive solo runs. I initially disabled autofill out of necessity, to squeeze in more time with Marathon while my friends were unavailable, but I've grown increasingly fond of playing alone – and if you're yet to visit Tau Ceti IV on your lonesome, you're missing out.

Metal Gear Marathon

In past extraction shooters, playing alone has always felt like a chore. My frail heart can't handle the horror game that Escape from Tarkov becomes – solo players are still matched against teams, and I'm prone to freezing up whenever there might be a player within earshot. Arc Raiders, on the other hand, is such a socially-driven game that I simply don't click with going topside solo. In both games, running solo can feel like trying to cram a square peg in a round hole.

Rather than feel like a disadvantage, playing Marathon alone feels like a supported playstyle in itself. The game's tutorial teaches you to move stealthily, and that's integral to running solo. Brute-forcing your way into a UESC-guarded base is harder, yes, but there are ample opportunities to simply stroll in undetected. Scoping out quest locations for ways in – be they ventilation shafts, rooftop hatches, or convenient parkour courses – has become a thrill, as has hiding from UESC once within.

As a bonus, sneaking around and getting to know each map has also made me far more confident in PvP. Marathon's lightning-fast time-to-kill is initially intimidating, but in solo play, it hardly matters: barring any catastrophic fumble, whoever gets the drop on their opponent should get the kill. The balance of power in Marathon is thinner than it may seem, and free kits can be more than enough to take down better-geared players if you catch them unprepared.

I like taking PvP contracts, and have found that the situational awareness that keeps me alive in solo runs also helps to hunt down less-careful Runners. You can put UESC to work as walking tripwires if you take care to avoid them, and by moving slowly within buildings you can often hear signs of other players doing the same – lighter footsteps, clanking vents, breaking glass – and track them down. Even a lack of noise is important: if you can hear a player moving inside without looting, chances are they already know someone is nearby.

I've fallen in love with this clinical approach to PvP. It's less present in squads, partly because it's harder for six players to quietly pass each other in the night and partly because of the safety net that having two friends provides. I'm often reminded of stealth sim Dishonored, and – small flex – the many runs I've completed without ever being seen. There, enemies and your environment are secondary puzzles to be solved in service to a more important task, and while Marathon doesn't ask me to kidnap nobles or brand overseers, its contracts provide the same sense of overarching purpose.

A lot of people I speak to are surprised by how much I've played Marathon solo. I'm surprised more players aren't. Tau Ceti IV is thematically richer for the vulnerability and tension that being alone fosters, while Marathon's rapid time-to-kill (TTK) is far more satisfying when you pay more attention to the quiet moments leading to each confrontation. And if the loneliness of solo runs puts you off, just know you're never alone. There's always – always – an Assassin by your side.

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