Marathon’s Cryo Archive drops tomorrow and it sounds like almost every aspect of it will be a pain in the shell

Well, you all did it, Cryo Archive has been unlocked in Marathon. Bungie detailed the new mode in a blog post earlier today, where it shared an important thing to keep in mind with the new map: it’s only available to attempt on weekends. Aye, you’ll need to forgo any social plans you have out in the real world to tackle this one.

At the very least, “weekend” sounds like it’ll include Friday, as the new map actually goes live tomorrow, March 20th. But there’s another important thing to keep in mind, and that’s the fact it also sounds like Cryo Archive can’t be taken on solo. “It’s designed to be taken on by a team of Runners, so you’ll need a crew of three,” the blog post explains. This can of course be with a couple of mates, but if you typically fly solo, you’ll have to fill your team up with randos for this one.

Anyway, what’s this map actually like? “In game, Cryo Archive takes you through six interconnected wings with a central hub. Traverse from wing-to-hub and back again in search of frozen Vaults containing powerful loot and dark secrets. Battle your way through intense UESC security, decked out Runner crews, and a ship that seems hellbent on keeping you out.”

It is specifically designed to be challenging, more so than normal, and will apparently take a lot of runs to fully learn. Bungie also likens Cryo Archive to raids, saying it has similarly designed “puzzle solving and layered mechanics wrapped around brutal extraction stakes.” Part of this will involve gaining certain levels of security clearance, which in a run will let you access more and more rooms.

There’s also seven vaults to try and get into, with specific challenges or requirements in place you’ll have to see to first. Once you’re in, you’ll find things like high-end containers, gold weapons, and “a path toward assembling a DN~~~%^&*()8167f48f-e253-4e2f-be4c-2077b646d531+{}:”<>?~~ that leads deeper into the Marathon’s secrets and towa~~~~%^&*()_+{}:”<>?~~~~~~~.”

Getting out of Cryo Archive will apparently be tougher than normal too, but figuring out how to get off will be up to you. And for quest-enjoyers, you’ll have access to seven unique contracts to try out. Sounds pretty full on! Better you than me, I’ll stick to Peggle.