After a couple of weeks of trying desperately to solve an ARG and uncover the secrets of Cryo Archive, players are preparing to access the map from tomorrow, March 20. The map will unlock at 10 AM PT (5 PM GMT), allowing players access to the ‘endgame zone’ that’s expected to be tougher than anything they’ve faced thus far.
In a post on social media, Bungie unveiled the new map, which has been the core focus for Marathon players since the game dropped on March 5.
Cryo Archive is About To Open
If you’re a Marathon fan looking for a little more meat already, then you’re in luck. Bungie has confirmed that Cryo Archive, the all-new map aboard the UESC Marathon and the ‘endgame’ environment, will be opened from tomorrow at 10 AM PT.
In a post on social media, the team wrote:
Access granted.
You have found your way to the Marathon.
The ice around Cryo Archive cracks and groans. It seems nothing can stop you from getting in.
It will be interesting to see if you can get out. 10 AM PT, March 20, 2026
In a comment under the post, Ben Starr, the voice of Durandal, the game’s rogue AI component with a thirty-year history, joined in on the fun:
Please.
Do Scream.
Yours,
dURanDAL.
In a deeper post on the Bungie website, Cryo Archive was explored in depth. It offers a little backstory about the UESC Marathon, the colony ship for which the game is named.
It also tells us that Cryo Archive will be ‘cranked to the top’ in terms of intensity. It has been dubbed a ‘pinnacle challenge’, and the team has promised that you’ll need ‘many runs’ to conquer the map. It’s a raid-style platform that features puzzles and ‘brutal extraction stakes’, just to keep things a little bit more challenging.
Oh, and it’s only playable on weekends, and you need a team of three to get in.
If you want to get into Cryo Archive, you’ll need to hit some prerequisites:
- You must be Level 25
- You must have all six factions unlocked
- You must have a minimum loadout value of 5,000 credits
In a unique twist, it was explained that Cryo Archive runs on a ‘Security Clearance’ system. The higher-tier areas, exfils, and certain rooms are locked behind specific security tiers, which you can ascend by playing through the map. You’ll find seven Vaults inside Cryo Archive, each with some seriously good loot inside.
Players will need to find keys to open the Vaults, and inside, they’ll find even more mysteries pointing to a deeper secret in the UESC Marathon – potentially a new faction, which has already been teased.
So, Cryo Archive unlocks tomorrow, March 20th. Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord server if you’ll be exploring it.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Borderlands 4 is getting a level cap increase
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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