Which Marathon Games Can I Play with Aleph One?

Updated

Aleph One natively supports all three classic Marathon games: Marathon, Marathon 2: Durandal, and Marathon Infinity. It also runs many community-made scenarios and net maps. The engine is the open source continuation of Bungie's Marathon 2 engine and is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

The three native Marathon games

Game What it offers Best for
Marathon The original fight for survival against the Pfhor, an alien race attacking your colony ship Story fans who want to follow the trilogy from the start
Marathon 2: Durandal A popular single player campaign, with updated graphics from the XBLA remake; you and other survivors hunt for an ancient ally to topple the Pfhor empire Solo play
Marathon Infinity A campaign where you rewrite history to prevent the destruction of the universe Online multiplayer — most online matches are played with Infinity

All three run natively, so you do not need separate engine builds or compatibility layers for each title.

Multiplayer: what you can play and how

  • Up to 8 players can join multiplayer matches or co-op play.
  • All multiplayer games are peer-to-peer, working over a LAN or, if the host is configured properly, over the Internet.
  • You can find and chat with other players in Aleph One's global matchmaking lobby.
  • Signing up for an optional lhowon.org account lets you track your play history and compete for a spot on the monthly leaderboards.

If you mainly want to play online, Infinity is the version to install first, since that is what most online matches use.

Beyond the trilogy: community scenarios

The Aleph One engine powers dozens of community-made games, from new levels to total conversions, with new weapons, monsters, and storylines set inside and outside the Marathon universe. Major scenarios are listed on the site and can be played with the same engine download.

Getting started

  1. Download the Aleph One engine (latest release listed on the site: 1.11.1, dated 2026-09-30) for macOS, Windows, or Linux.
  2. Pick the game you want: Marathon or Marathon 2 for the story and solo campaign, Infinity for online play.
  3. For multiplayer, join the global matchmaking lobby; create an optional lhowon.org account if you want play history and leaderboard tracking.

Aleph One is distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), and the source code is available for download. The site is hosted by lhowon.org and mirrored at aleph-one-marathon.github.io.