Bungie has issued its biggest patch yet for Marathon, now in its second week, introducing a new end-game map called Cryo Archive. The update includes numerous fixes and tweaks to improve gameplay. Access to the map requires solving puzzles and meeting specific prerequisites.
Marathon entered its second week with Bungie deploying the game's largest update so far, version 1.0.5. The headline addition is Cryo Archive, a new end-game map that is live but not easily accessible. Bungie's patch notes state, “Good luck getting there,” hinting at the challenge involved, similar to Destiny's ARG puzzles. Players have already engaged in solving puzzles and uncovering videos over the past week, with further phases expected to trigger automatically for most users soon. To enter Cryo Archive, runners must reach level 25 and unlock access to every Faction, a process that demands time and effort, potentially excluding casual players initially. Alongside this, Bungie addressed several base-game issues. The dominant WSTR Combat Shotgun received a nerf for its effectiveness in tight spaces. A bug causing knife cosmetics to unequip has been fixed, and UESC dropships no longer clip through maps or harm players upon arrival. Inventory management improved with drag-and-drop functionality for weapon mods. Audio tweaks reduced the enemy gunfire detection radius, correcting a recent over-tune that allowed sounds from across the map. Additional buffs increased ammo drops and player encounter frequency to reduce downtime. Bungie also introduced an experimental duos mode, responding to fan requests, though some worry it may fragment matchmaking. Full patch notes are available separately.
