Marathon’s Cryo Archive End Game Map Goes Live Tomorrow And You’ve Likely Got Some Prep Work To Do

Bungie has revealed that Cryo Archive, the first end game map for its recently released extraction shooter Marathon, will go live tomorrow, March 21.

Marathon has been in the wild for a few weeks now, with players spending time on Tau Ceti IV looting, shooting, extracting, and completing contracts for shady, faceless mega corporations…and MIDA. While many of us have been focused on collecting gear and desperately trying to avoid losing everything to a three-person squad of knife-wielding Assassins, there’s a dedicated portion of the passionate community that has been deciphering ARG puzzles that Bungie has been drip-feeding to us.

These cryptic clues have all led to the Cryo Archive, Marathon’s fourth and most dangerous map set aboard the titular Marathon ship. Bungie made it clear that this endgame area would unlock once the community solved the complex multimedia puzzle, and that’s exactly what they did.

With the final ARG puzzle solved, Bungie has lifted the lid on Cryo Archive, confirming that the map will go live from tomorrow. Before you load up with a sponsored kit and get ready to do some sightseeing, there are a few requirements you’ll want to know about. A Bungie blog post has outlined the requirements players will need to meet before entering the death trap of a map, and they certainly hint at Cryo Archive being a meat grinder.

To enter Cryo Archive, players will need:

• A minimum Runner Level of 25
• All six factions unlocked (liaison contracts completed)
• Minimum loadout value of 5,000 credits

In addition to these requirements, the blog post states that Cryo Archive will only be available on weekends, preventing players from grinding the map and making it more of an event. This will likely be a divisive choice, but, as someone who can get levelled by a standard UESC bot, I’m cool with it.

So, when Bungie says end game, it means end game. The level gate we’ve known about for some time, with an in-game message confirming the requirement, but the hefty 5,000 credit loadout means you’ll need to be taking your best gear with you. Obviously, this ups the ante in terms of player versus player engagements, but the latest trailer for the map all but confirms that the UESC won’t be the only AI threat aboard the ship. Yes, it looks like the S’pht, the alien race from the original games, will make an appearance, and they don’t look friendly.

You can watch the Cryo Archive launch trailer here:

Now, Cryo Archive won’t just be another map. Bungie claims that this end game location is more of a raid-style affair, with puzzles, high-tier loot vaults, and challenging enemy encounters. Directly from the blog post, the key takeaways are:

• Intensity: Cranked to the top. Cryo Archive is a pinnacle challenge and will take many runs to learn and master.
• Playstyle: Think raid-style puzzle solving and layered mechanics wrapped around brutal extraction stakes.
• Design: A labyrinthian layout where tight corridors give way to massive open spaces, pitting enemy crews against each other to unseal frozen Vaults.

A few of us here at WellPlayed have been spending a lot of time with Marathon, and our thoughts are mostly positive. It’s highly competitive; the gunplay is tight; the visuals are crisp; and the game’s vague story is surprisingly compelling. We still have questions about longevity and retention, but Cryo Archive will go some way to finding answers to those queries.

Are you playing Marathon? Are you scared to jump into Cryo Archive? Let us know in the comments or on our social media.