Last updated on January 17th, 2026 at 01:28 pm
Classic Marathon 2: Durandal – Adventure Game Review
Classic Marathon 2: Durandal is a Adventure/Action game from Dome-C Studio LLC, first launched in 15th December 2011.
It’s rated 12+ and currently has 266+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Classic Marathon 2: Durandal Stand Out
Seventeen years have passed since you saved humanity from the Pfhor… Durandal, the only surviving artificial intelligence from the UESC Marathon, has kept you in stasis all this time. Once more, you are called on to save humanity. Leading a rag-tag band of humans and guided by an insane AI, you are the last hope to stave off the Pfhor invasion.
Welcome to Marathon 2: Durandal®, the second in the epic trilogy of first person shooter games that re-defined the genre. Experience the pulse-pounding action as you once again defend humanity from the alien Pfhor.
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"Move fast, seize the initiative, wield superior firepower, dive into the melee, anticipate enemy movements, slaughter the defenseless, endure."
FEATURES
- 28 levels divided into nine chapters
- missions include exploration, puzzles and extermination
- smooth game play experience
- "Carnage is as easy as point and shoot."
- 8 unique weapons including:
.45 Magnum Mega Class Pistol
WSTE-M5 Combat Shotgun
M.75 Assault Rifle/Grenade Launcher
Zeus Class Fusion Pistol
TOZT-7 flamethrower
… and the devastating SPNKR-X17 rocket launcher
** NOTE: Invert aim is available through the Settings app, under "Durandal"
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"Being naked in space stinks. Lucky for you, Mr. Security officer, you are dressed in active military uniform, complete with a Cyberhead helmet. Your Cyberhead device is your interface to your surrounding environment."
STORY
- battle against the aggressive Pfhor
- play the role of the cyborg security officer
- uncover the surprising secrets of the Pfhor and their allies
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"Carnage is as easy as point and shoot. Different weapons are characterized with different dynamics. It is unwise, for example, to use the rocket launcher in close combat."
BUNGIE™, MARATHON® and the Bungie and Marathon logos are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Bungie, Inc., used with permission.
This Adventure game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Classic Marathon 2: Durandal is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 9th September 2025
Recent improvements include:
• Update to engine 1.11 compatibility
• Audio engine improvements
• Multiplayer performance improvements
• Fixes for player and trooper sprites
• Auto-fire fixes for multiplayer
Download & Availability
Classic Marathon 2: Durandal is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Classic Marathon 2: Durandal on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
This is a solid port and Im always playing this on long trips, but there is an untextured ceiling right next to the last portal of the final level. It didnt harm our experience but itll look nicer with a texture.
The lasted version is unbelievable. High quality graphics with HDR, spatial head tracking sounds and now, a soundtrack. We are so proud to see how this game has been shown love over the years since it was originally released in 1995. We still have our original copy that we played on an Apple Performa 630. Back then we had to play with really low quality graphics to run fast. We never thought Id get a chance to play with high graphics, especially at what it has today.
We enjoy playing this old game from our childhood, glad its been adapted to the iPad. Relearning the controls for touch screen is fun, like relearning how to play the game in a way. We noticed the in several levels, when stepping on a certain square, the gun graphic is replaced by a large black square that bounces as you walk. It makes it impossible to see and game unplayable, especially when 2x guns are activated. The only way to get around it is to anticipate the polygon and switch to a non-essential weapon before you get there. Very annoying. Would be great to fix, and we can give details and screenshots if needed. The black graphic disappears when level is completed It would be great to see Forge for the iPad, haha, we know that might be too much too ask. We loved creating and games when we were a kid, and that creative aspect from games has been lost long ago unfortunately. Also, making Marathon playable modern multiplayer would be revolutionary, it was maybe the first FPS to have that option we believe. Other than the bug, it is great as it is at the moment.
It worked once but then not since. Using iOS 16.2 . We have 13 pro max. Ive deleted and redownloaded, restarted, no fix.
Im using a PS5 controller. We can do everything except open doors.
This was one of our first shooters on PC, and we loved it. Coming back to it so many years later is fantastic. It really holds up and offers the same simple, great shooter experience we miss in many newer games. Guns and movement with no special moves or finishers, or anything else. Playing with the controller makes aiming a bit more challenging, but playing on normal offers a great challenge while not being overly frustrating. We have a mouse and keyboard for the iPad, but there does not appear to be any support for it, which is a bit of a shame, but not a big deal.
This is a high-quality build of the classic game from the 90s which was a quantum leap forward for the FPS at the time. Put a few hours into it and enjoying some nostalgia, our only complaint is that we had so much trouble finding out how to invert the y-axis using a Bluetooth controller. We did do it (or else this wouldnt be a 5 star review) but it took way too long to figure it out.
New update crashes to desktop when starting game. Im on iOS 12.4.
Never played any Marathon, always knew of the nostalgic connections with halo and Bungie. Just spent some time with it, and it deserves its reputation. Right up there with Doom (even more so). With controller support this is a classic game that will never leave us iPad. PS: new players make sure to tone down the joystick speeds!! Its way to high at default settings.
Great game! But no sound on iPad.
We love the power up refill option in the pause menu. If it had an option for weapon selection, & shield amount it would be even better.
Maybe Im being a Nostalgia Neddy here, but M2:D was our first video game, back on an old iMac, and it holds our standard for deep-as-you-want-to-get narrative gameplay. Aleph One has allowed us to rediscover all three Marathon games, and having them on our iPad has been a joy. Currently using a Nimbus controller, which has made the experience fresh again. The few bugs Ive seen, Ive sent an email, and lo, they were fixed in the next update. The developers are doing Durandals work without complaining, as any good Mjolnir Mark IV cyborg should.
Amazing to have this fully functional on iOS all these years later. Thanks for making this happen.
We have not played these 3 games in nearly 30 years. Get a $20 game pad on Amazon. The experience is better than the original.
Last time we visited these we remember wishing there were a way to use gyro since swiping gets a bit old with boomer hands. But thank you.
We played the demo on a greyscale PowerMac. This is like a time machine. But in color.
How do we Change from HD to classic graphics.
This games single player is an absolute blast to play. The hud on the multiplayer is wonky, though, with the crosshair actually on the other side of the screen. If this issue was fixed itd definitely be a five star.
UPDATE TO 5 STARS: Found the Invert toggle (in the app settings panel in iOSs Setting app – thanks to the dev for his reply below). Very happy now! ORIGINAL COMMENT FOR POSTERITY: This is coming along nicely, Mr. Developer, but there is still one glaring omission. We literally cheered when we saw the update included MFi support (been waiting for this in these iOS Marathon games for literally years now), but our heart SUNK when we realized there seems to be no option for inverted controls. This makes it all but unplayable for those of us who have spent an entire gaming career on flight sticks and inverted controls. Add this one tweak, and this will be nearly perfect. Also, what the heck is that Master Chief button for? We cant find any explanation in the game as to what it does.
Marathon is back and better than ever on iOS! Thank You.
Thank you so much for reading our review! Its hard to find a developer who does read reviews. This series is awesome, and Ive recommended it to all our friends. There are only two things we would change. One, like this game The first two do not deserve a 17+ age rating. We would recommend changing those to 12+ like this one, as more people would have access to play them. The other thing would be an invisible joystick of sorts. The joystick is a little twitch on these games, though it isnt AT ALL overbearing. Thanks for reading and we hope you consider our suggestions.
We cant thank you guys enough for updating the series. We have been waiting a long time and cannot believe its finally here in all its glory! You guys have done a stellar job with all 3 updates and hope that you are able to continue. We tried to donate but apparently the donate button is not working properly? Anyway, thank you, thank you, thank you.
This update is tremendous and allows us to enjoy Marathon on the go again with the most up-to-date enhancements. Thanks Daniel for the update! Also there seems to be a bug on the Tip The Developers page on each of the three games where the prices disappear before we can even tap them and Im greeted with a thank you screen. Would love to tip you for all the work youve done.
We remember this whole series. Loved everyone of the games. Number 2 even better. So happy to be playing it again.
This was a fantastic follow up to the original Marathon. Durandal is such a friendly, complicated character in this. It's just brilliant, good fun.
Well, as excited as we are that Marathon has come to mobile devices, trying to play through the game with nothing more than a pitch black screen and some trigger controls is not in the LEAST bit helpful or entertaining! We certainly hope someone fixes this bug. We're using an iPod Touch to play this, by the way. Been a fan of the Marathon Trilogy for many, many years (since we were a child, really), and would love to be able to ACTUALLY PLAY this wonderful series on our breaks at work without having to lug a laptop around. Hopefully they fix the bug soon.
It's great someone added this. Needs multiplayer.
First game on iPhone made by bungi.
This thing is AWSOME!!! But can there be survival mode cause we really wanna do survival.
The only reason it crashes is because there are not enough its bada**ness.
Such a great game. We find the controls hard to master.
Awesome game Takes a little bit of time to get use to the controls but it's awesome game nonetheless . Sensitivity can be adjusted so once you get use to it you can change it around to your style of play.
It's great but the sensitivity for walking it just to fast.
What's gonna be weird but unlikely is that we might mistake cortana for durandal because cortana is gonna be rampant in halo 4.
Awesome port! Love marathon! Good controls love the in app purchase of he mode, support the dev! Id love some of the mod packs they did like the Excalibur or medieval style one they did.
We never did have an opportunity to play the Marathon trilogy, so this is just fantastic.
This game takes us back to some great times. We just wished they have added multiplayer. Our friends and we used to play it in our schools library(library guy was a gamer) and man it was fun!!! Hopefully they could add it in the future but other than that, we're happy :D.
Game crashes just after "capture" on iPad 3. Play from beginning to that point several times. Crashes every time.
Its good but sometimes the aim freezes and we have trouble getting the aim to work again. This is an iPad 2 with iOS 5.1. We use all three in-app packs enabled. We still think the trilogy needs some footsteps added when you are walking/ running. It would be a small touch but a cool effect.
This is our dream come true. Finally a game we played on our old system 7 Mac on our iPad. Joy.
We really miss the heavy techno soundtrack this game had. We suppose there must have been some licensing issue. We would have been happy to shell out a bit on in-app purchase to get it. With music -5 stars. Without music -4.
Thanks to the team that brought these back from the brink. The joystick idea is cool but needs some work as it seems a bit sensitive, a little easier on the iPad, maybe using the gyro for navigation would be an option.
So good we have for Xbox360 and ipod.
A great port to iOS! Many, many hours logged on this and other Marathons, back in the day of Power Computing Mac clones. Not sure how to properly control swimming/running; it is very awkward . Also, ability to turn OFF auto-center would be nice. Other than that, we anticipate playing this a lot. NICE JOB.
Brings back fond memories, very playable and fun. Odd bug at launch makes us tape "ok" in response to "could not connect to iTunes Store." About 11 times.
The game still crashes after a couple of minutes of gameplay.
We love marathon for the pc, but this game needs to be fixed for the 2nd gen iPod because on ours it starts black and then is frozen.
This is such a tease. It is a flawless reproduction of the originals, but with the worst control scheme. If you were able to turn instead of strafe, it would be usable. Come on, why make it impossible to move forward while turning at the same time? Unless we grow a second thumb on our left hand, we guess we're deleting this one. Sigh.
Do not buy HD if you think it will come full screen. We mean come on we're on an ipad mini so it's a tiny little square and the HD difference is not much of a change. Soooooo lame. Give us our dollar back please.
When we start a game the screen is black. We cant move or aim or anything for that matter. This happens with the other two Marathons as well. Please fix. We use a 2nd generation iPod Touch.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 6.7
- Size: 1,109.20 MB
- iOS: 15.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory: Frequent/Intense Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
- Developer: Dome-C Studio LLC
Last updated: 9th September 2025 | Genre: Adventure, Action | Developer: Dome-C Studio LLC