After a couple weeks of very nerdy grinding, Marathon fans and ARG gamers have helped to unlock the fourth, endgame map Cryo Archive.
The high-tier difficulty location opens up tomorrow at 12pm CT, but its accompanying trailer is overflowing with hype. Most notably so, because it’s narrated by Ben Starr, who is the voice of rogue AI Durandal of the franchise’s original trilogy fame, and that’s enough to get anyone invested.
Starr kills it, as always, bringing his expertise from roles like Verso in Expedition 33 and Clive Rosfield in Final Fantasy 16 to Bungie’s dark sci-fi universe. The UESC Marathon ship carrying 30,000 people in cryostasis has been shrouded in mystery and suspense for decades, even since the first games launched in the 90s. The ghost ship now hangs above Tau Ceti IV, and it’s finally time to go there, and Durandal is the one rolling out the red carpet.
The video teasing the map was launched by Bungie after the final step of a lengthy, convoluted ARG was solved, thanks in large part to efforts of the community led by streamers such as Skarrow9 and MrRoflWaffles, who were flown out to Bungie to finish the fight and debuted the video live.
The 90-second teaser is dripping with aura and style, as Marathon is wont to do, hinting at near-impossible battles for those brave and geared enough to go within to fight new enemies. Only premade trios will be able to enter, and you must be level 25, have a minimum loadout value of 5,000, and have unlocked all of the game’s factions. As the game’s director Joe Ziegler teased, “surviving will be a challenge for even the most prepared of crews.”
The trailer ends with a bang: a tease of what looks like a boss battle of sorts with the menacing S’pht Compiler enemy. In-game achievements confirm that you’ll have to take one of these down if you want to survive, and that may be the game’s toughest challenge yet. But the loot will presumably be quite rewarding, worth tens of thousands of Credits, along with much more. You’ll just have to survive the UESC on board, along with doing battle against other players, of course.
Bungie said Cryo Archive is “Marathon’s first end-game zone, a high intensity, raid-style PvPvE activity built around security systems, Vault chases, and contested exfils.” And I am so scared, but also pumped.
Amid the excitement was also some disappointment and a lot of confusion, with Bungie confirming that Cryo Archive will only be available to play on weekends. Marathon’s Ranked mode will also only be playable on weekends, potentially alienating players who can’t log in at that time. Why both need to be locked to a couple of days of the week is unknown at this time, but if players voice their concerns loudly enough, this could possibly be changed.
As for the map itself, this is the moment Marathon gamers have been waiting for. And reviewers, too. My Marathon review for Destructoid has been done for quite some time, but I’ve been waiting to hit publish to see what Cryo Archive has to offer (seemingly countless other outlets have been doing the same). I very much doubt the score will change much (if at all), but Bungie’s expertise in endgame activities like Destiny’s raids could mean that this location may bring the likes of something that the genre has not seen before, so I will be watching and playing intently.
Cryo Archive arrives in Marathon tomorrow, so the clock is ticking if you’re looking to be geared enough to fight the horrors that lie within. Personally, I’m ready to lose my entire vault.
