Watkins called the Marathon playtest an "excellent A/B test" that allowed comparing Embark Studios' decisions with those made by Bungie.
"As far as I know, none of us knew this was going to happen. For us, it was a great A/B test because, obviously, they were making decisions that we weren't, and vice versa. So we could compare and contrast how some of these things manifested. It was interesting to follow what players think about these things, what worked in their context and what didn't, and what could work in ours."
Watkins praised some aspects of the game that he saw. For example, he called the "graphic style very expressive."