Marathon community crushes Cryo Archive puzzle, unlocks release date, and learns the map is only playable on weekends

After weeks of teasers, Marathon’s fourth map is right around the corner. No, like, for real this time: the Cryo Archive map option has appeared in Marathon with a countdown ending tomorrow, March 20. That’s the same time that its complicated ranked mode arrives.

To commemorate the dogged community solving the Cryo Archive ARG, Bungie unlocked a launch trailer that gives us the closest look at the endgame map yet. What I’m reacting to immediately: extremely close-quarters, a density of UESC bots, and the realization that the only alien in this map might be the S’pht Compiler hiding on the ship.

That would be a little disappointing, because I was half expecting Cryo Archive to introduce a full-on secondary faction of S’pht aliens pulled from the original Marathon games. But aside from that, Bungie’s own description of Cryo Archive in a blog post published today confirms the map will be dense with puzzles:

• Intensity: Cranked to the top. Cryo Archive is a pinnacle challenge and will take many runs to learn and master.
• Playstyle: Think raid-style puzzle solving and layered mechanics wrapped around brutal extraction stakes.
• Design: A labyrinthian layout where tight corridors give way to massive open spaces, pitting enemy crews against each other to unseal frozen Vaults.

The blog goes on to explain how this map will make the other three look like a walk in the park. Apparently there’s a whopping seven vaults packing “some of the most lucrative loot in the game, some of which you can’t find anywhere else.”

To no surprise for seasoned Destiny players (but sort of a surprise to me), Bungie also says Cryo Archive will operate like its ranked Trials of Osiris mode in Destiny 2: it’ll only be available on the weekends. That might prove controversial for basic accessibility reasons, but the timing around the weekend limitation also makes this whole puzzle business look more arbitrary—this puzzle seems to be wrapping up close to the date that Bungie was probably aiming for no matter what.