Somewhere in the heavens, they are waiting. A new update for Bungie’s new Marathon game is out now. Update 1.0.5 brings a number of quality of life updates, fixes but most notable is the addition of content surrounding the extraction shooter’s endgame map: Cryo Archive.
Cryo Archive, the first floor of the UESC Marathon colony ship (the titular Marathon), is technically now available in the game, but not accessible quite yet. Developer Bungie notes “good luck getting there” in the patch notes, but on a seperate social media post, has also provided exact requirements to access the endgame map:
- Runner Level 25
- All six factions unlocked (liaison contracts completed)
- Minimum loadout value: 5,000 per run
This does mean any player dare to step foot into Marathon, the ship, will need to complete all the “Introducing” faction quests. If you can’t complete “Introducing: Sekiguchi” which require you to visit to points of interest in one run and finding two of its rather hidden objective points all while surviving enemy runners that usually prowl around the choke points that connect these two locations, then you’re not ready to face whatever punishing content that awaits up in the Cryo Archive. Fair requirements, if this endgame content is really supposed to be tough.
In addition, the requirement of having a $5,000 loadout also means players need to risk something. No sponsor kits (they are all valued at $0). Some blue loot is required. For players still feeling good from a good haul of an exfil worth $1,000 (usually green loot), that’s not enough.
The codex is now filled with entries that hints on what to expect from Cryo Archive. Most notable is the addition of new skin unlocks which require players to defeat a Compiler and exfil out. It’s confirmed, the horrors the UESC dared not say is indeed the same aliens as seen in Classic Marathon, the S’pht Compilers, as featured in the key art.
In the Classic Marathon series, you play as a specialised, stronger version of a human that can take on these Compilers like regular enemies. In Nu Marathon, one Compiler is enough of a major threat.
Game director Joe Ziegler says that “surviving [Cryo Archive] will be a challenge for even the most prepared of crews” and that it’s “a Pinnacle Challenge in more ways than one.” Players familiar with Destiny 2 will be familiar with the “Pinnacle” phrasing, things don’t just difficult, but also complicated.
If Marathon’s Cryo Archive is just a competitive Destiny raid where you have to solve puzzles, race to be the first to complete and also wipe them out for the honour of facing the big boss that also can wipe you out, that’s already hardcore enough.
It’s still unclear when exactly Cryo Archive is unlocked. A community of alternate reality game (ARG) puzzle solvers are unlocking new secrets that may or may not tie to the unlocking of Cryo Archive—though the short cinematics like this, this, this and this are all fruit of the ARG community’s efforts.
There is however an exact time on when Ranked mode is unlocked—it’ll be available later this weekend, with an in-game timer counting down.
Outside of upcoming new content, the 1.0.5 update also brings some quality of life changes. Consumables, ammo, salvage (items used for barter and faction upgrades) and grenades now have larger stacks when stored in the Vault, freeing up space for more loot. There are other fixes like how Thief can’t pickpocket using the Pickpocket Drone on players locked in the exfil animation (while funny and tricksy, it’s unfair to the exfilling runners who have no option to fight back) and a rollback on a previous update change where gunshots are made way too loud as a way to get players to come together more often and fight.
Full patch notes can be found here.
Marathon (2026) is out now on PS5, PC (Steam) and Xbox Series X|S.