The Vaults Are Open: Bungie Officially Unlocks the Cryo Archive Raid in Marathon

The most insane Alternate Reality Game puzzle in recent history is finally complete. After days of deciphering scrambled camera feeds, linking terminals across Dire Marsh, and collectively slaughtering two hundred million bots, the Marathon community has officially cracked the code!

Bungie just dropped the launch trailer confirming that the highly anticipated endgame raid, the Cryo Archive, is officially opening its doors tomorrow, March 20, at 10 AM Pacific Time. If you thought dropping into Tau Ceti IV was already stressful, you have absolutely no idea what is waiting for you on the actual UESC Marathon ship.

Let us break down exactly what you need to survive the ultimate extraction heist.

The Cost of Admission

You cannot just spawn into this map with a free rookie kit and hope for the best. Bungie is gating this content specifically for the hardcore veterans.

• The Checklist: Before you can even queue up, you must reach Season Level 25 and have every single faction fully unlocked.
• The High Roller Tax: You are required to equip a loadout valued at a minimum of 5K credits. Players are already noticing that equipping a standard shotgun easily eats up half that value, so you are going to have to risk some serious blue tier gear or purple weapons to get past the bouncer.
• Squad Up: There is absolutely no solo queue for this raid. You must bring a full squad of three, so get your communications locked in.
• The First Hit Is Free: Thankfully, Bungie is giving everyone who meets the requirements one free blue tier bundle. This lets you attempt your first run without risking your absolute best gear.

A Labyrinth of Danger

Once you are on the ship, the rules of the game completely change. The Cryo Archive is a massive maze of medical bays and storage wings built around a central hub.

Your main objective is to locate and breach seven different Vaults containing the most lucrative loot in the entire game. However, accessing these rooms requires specific Vault Keys that you have to extract from the other three maps beforehand! Even worse, Bungie confirmed that extractions on the ship follow completely different rules than the planet surface, making your escape significantly less reliable.

The Weekend Lock

There is one highly controversial detail that has the community completely divided right now. Just like the upcoming Ranked mode, the Cryo Archive is only going to be available to play on the weekends. Bungie wants the community to spend the weekdays rebuilding their vaults and grinding for Vault Keys on Perimeter and Outpost, saving the high stakes heist attempts for Saturday and Sunday.

The gear fear is about to be very real. Getting wiped in the Cryo Archive means losing everything you brought, plus whatever Vault Keys you had in your inventory. Are your squads ready for the ultimate test?

For BREAK THE META, this is WILD SURF. Catch you on the next drop!