Marathon‘s First Big Update Adds End-Game Nightmare Map Cryo Archive But No One Knows How To Get There Yet

2 hours ago 1

Marathon is in its second week out in the wild and Bungie has released the game’s biggest patch yet. The update adds lots of fixes and tweaks, but the main addition is a new end-game map called Cryo Archive. It’s live in the game and presumably filled with valuable salvage but no one’s sure how to access it yet. “Good luck getting there,” reads the patch note from Bungie.

As the studio has done in the past with Destiny, Cryo Archive appears to require solving an ongoing ARG in order to unlock access to it. Marathon players have spent the last week going through puzzles and discovering some neat videos, but for most players this will be a matter of logging on one day and seeing that whatever the next phase of Marathon is as magically triggered.

And once Cryo Archive goes live, players will still be gated from playing it unless they are level 25 and have unlocked access to every Faction. That’s not super hard but it does take some time and will definitely prevent more casual players from seeing what Cryo Archive is all about first-hand.

Leading up to that event, however, Bungie has already made some welcome changes to the base game. That includes nerfing the WSTR Combat Shotgun that’s been wrecking folks inside of Marathon‘s more confined spaces and a fix for the bug that kept unequipping knife cosmetics. UESC dropships bringing in supplies will also no longer be clipping through the map or killing players when they arrive.

The two most significant tweaks are to the audio and mod swapping. Weapon mods can now be dragged and dropped on the inventory menu, making it way easier to manage your vault and change attachments. And enemy gunfire no longer travels so far. Bungie had recently over-tuned it so players were hearing gunfights from across the map. The radius for picking up on those sound effects how been lowered again.

Bungie has been quick to address other issues as well, buffing the amount of ammo drops on the map and juicing the frequency of player encounters so people don’t get bored. It’s even rushing ahead with an experimental new duos mode that the fanbase has been requesting. While some are worried it will split the matchmaking player base, it should be fun to test out whenever a squad’s third person decides to be a coward and bail early for the night.

The full Marathon 1.0.5 patch notes are below:

Item Economy

Added three new random-rolled implant perks that can only be found on implants looted from Cryo Archive:
- Covert Recovery: While in smoke, your self-repair speed is increased and you use healing consumables faster.
- Freeloader: Defeating an enemy with a knife attack grants a small amount of tactical and prime ability energy.
- Panic Response: While at low health, using a healing consumable grants the effects of Cardio Kick for a short duration.
Added three new mods that can only be looted from Cryo Archive:
- Punishment
  - This weapon deals significantly increased damage against [REDACTED] combatants.
- Testament
  - Aiming down sights for a short duration increases this weapon’s range and aim assist by a massive amount.
- Hurricane
  - While airborne, this weapon has increased stability and greatly reduced accuracy penalties.
- Sponsored Kits
  - Rook no longer gets a surplus Sponsored Kit upon death.

Combat

Players can now activate exfil beacons while downed. Good luck.
Decreased camera shake intensity from incoming melee and knife attacks.
Increased post-run spectator camera timeout from 30 seconds to 120 seconds.
Fixed an issue where a player could have a finisher used on them right as they were completing a self-revive or being revived, immediately downing them again.
Fixed instances of revive timer lockout shaders appearing on enemy Runner’s body bags.
Fixed instances where ability activations could become desynced with the server.
Adjusted the Hacked status screen effect to be lower intensity and have slower glitch crawl effect.

Runners

Assassin
- Fixed an issue where Assassin’s smoke puck would not change appearance based on the equipped Runner shell style while activating Shadow Dive.
Thief
- Pickpocket Drone can no longer loot players who are in the active exfil animation.
- Fixed an issue where Pickpocket Drone’s on-screen button prompt wouldn’t update to match a player’s changed keybind or controller button mapping.
- Fixed an issue where high-speed grapples could affect network stability.
Triage
- Fixed an issue where being close to max heat could prevent players from using the Battery Overcharge ability.
Rook
- Removed Rook’s Runner Level requirement. Rook can now be used at Runner Level 0.
Implants
- Fixed an issue where Graceful Landing V5’s unique trait could be activated by Vandal’s Microjets from flat ground.
- Fixed an issue where Graceful Landing V5’s unique trait was not scaling detonation damage correctly for longer falls.

UESC

Fixed an issue where UESC would repeatedly use the same ladder.
Fixed a number of issues that could cause AI to freeze in place or become unresponsive.

Contracts and Events

Improved the visual clarity of contract and activity waypoint icons.
Crews carrying both Coordinate Datapads must now bring both of them to the location of the cache before the loot is revealed. Previously, any crew member being present at the location would reveal the loot.
Fixed some scenarios where the MIDA Order/Chaos 1/1, Traxus Return on Investment 3/5, and Traxus Liaison could prevent players from completing the contract.
Fixed an issue where the UI could become out of sync between crew members on the same contract during a run.
- Perimeter Intercept dropships should no longer clip through the environment in South Relay.
- Tripwires places in Overflow hallways should no longer be floating in mid-air.
- Fixed an issue where DCON would not show up on the overhead map when on a contract that requires it.
Dire Marsh
- UESC dropships that arrive during the Lockdown event in the northeast corner of Algae Ponds will no longer fly in through player space, killing players in their path.
- Pinging the Stabilization Device and Anomalous Matter on the overhead map will now show a string in the crew feed, notifying your crewmates.
- Fixed an issue for the Traxus Liaison Contract where the Commander would despawn if a crew didn’t engage and kill it in time.
Outpost
- Encounters spawning on the roof of Flight Control have been improved and should now correctly engage players.

User Interface and Experience

Achievements
- Fixed an issue where players would not get the “Welcome to Tau Ceti” achievement.
Armory
- Item tooltips in the Armory now primarily show the purchase cost instead of the value the item sells for.
Codex
- New Codex challenges added for Ranked and Cryo Archive. A “NEW” indicator will appear on Codex categories containing challenges added in Patch 1.0.5.
- Fixed an issue where inspecting an item in the Codex could display flickering text.
- Fixed an issue where “Acquired Items” challenges in the Codex indicated that the challenge could be completed by simply picking up the item. Challenges now accurately state that successful exfil with the item(s) is required.
- Fixed an issue where the WSTR Shotgun Codex challenge incorrectly noted that it could be completed by downing a Runner. Updated the text to indicate that a full elimination is required.
- Fixed an issue where the Thief Codex challenge “Shattered Hopes” incorrectly tracked combatants. This challenge has been updated to track Runners only.
- Fixed an issue where the Thief Master Codex challenge “No Target too Great” was only tracking Wardens. This challenge will now track Wardens and Commanders.
- Fixed an issue where the Destroyer Codex challenge “Close the Gap” would not complete when downing a Runner too close to the initial Thruster activation.
- Fixed an issue where claiming Seasonal Level rewards from the Codex could displace items in the overflow, causing them to be lost. Challenges granting gear rewards will now check for items in overflow and prevent claiming until the overflow has been emptied.
- Fixed an issue where inspecting non-weapon items in the Codex would display a “Compatible Weapons” string.
In-Run
- Improved the overall legibility of the Revive prompt.
- Some waypoints will now fade when aiming down-sights (ADS).
Items
- Exfilling with a Temporal Fragment will produce variable rewards depending on your seasonal Runner Level.
Lobby
- Loadout will now show a banner warning you that you have overflow items.
- Added a shortcut for “i” or “start” to open the Loadout menu.
- Added a shortcut for “tab” or “options” to open the Loadout menu while preparing for a run.
- Updated Missing Equipment warning to clarify that players are missing Health or Shield consumables.
- Fixed an issue preventing commonly found items from being shown when selecting map regions.
Ping System
- Activity icons pinged from the overhead map will more reliably show their waypoints.
Rewards Pass
- Premium Rewards Pass Voucher items should no longer appear in your inventory.
Run Report
- Fixed an issue where the Runner Level Up rewards screen was sometimes blank.
Social
- Added the Rated tab into the Runner Connections panel so that you can see how you stack up against your connections.
Store
- Updated incorrect item rarity for the Luxe Palace, Overdrive-TSL, and Cyber Red Runner Shells from Deluxe to Superior.
Vault
- Consumables, Ammo, Salvage, and Grenades now have larger stack sizes in the Vault.
- Added filter tabs for keys and backpacks.
Voice Chat
- Added an option for consoles and gamepads to support Crew Voice Push-To-Talk while in a run. This only applies to runs; the lobby will still utilize an open mic.
- Adding an additional Push-To-Talk option, “Tap”. When set, tapping the Proximity or Crew Chat button(s) will open the mic until you’re done speaking or tap the button(s) again.
- Fixed a number of issues causing voice chat interruptions and inconsistencies.
Weapon Customization
- Optimized sticker and charm placement on a handful of weapons.

Stability

Added AMD Anti-Lag 2 Low Latency to Video Settings.

Ammo Crate
- Fixed an issue where Ammo Crates could not be interacted with when placed close to walls or terrain.
Cardio Kick
- Fixed an issue where normal and depleted versions of Cardio Kick’s status icon appeared separately in the HUD.
Claymore Mine
- Fixed an issue that prevented Claymores from taking splash damage when attached to other objects.
Knife
- Knife cosmetics will no longer unequip after failing to exfil.
V75 Scar
- Fixed an issue with the Ram-Page Mag that was causing bullets to ricochet off turrets, despite dealing damage.
WSTR Combat Shotgun
- Reduced leftward motion in firing recoil.
- Increased duration of spin ready required before it can be interrupted by weapon fire.
- Redistributed damage falloff. It now retains near-max damage at point-blank range but falls off much more quickly.
- Reduced aim assist cone size and reduced the influence of aim assist on pellet spread as they travel.
Misriah 2442
- Reduced leftward motion in firing recoil.
Longshot
- Fixed an issue with the gold mod resetting its counter incorrectly and disappearing from the buff tray display.

Mods

Drag & Drop can now be used to remove weapon mods from weapons.
- Dragging a mod attached to a weapon into the backpack or Vault will now remove the mod and place it into that inventory rather than moving the entire weapon

Chips
- Endless Runner
  - Fixed an issue with the Superior rarity version having an incorrect string.
- Optics
  - Thermals
    - Fixed an issue where thermals were not highlighting invisible UESC combatants, ticks, and tick nests.
  - Generators
    - Fixed a tooltip display issue that incorrectly labeled the decreased charge time as increased charge time.
  - Magazines
    - Cloudfeather Chamber was missing its Weight Reduction stat bonus, making it too similar to Turbo Chamber. It now correctly grants a bonus to Weight Reduction.
  - Barrels
    - Suppressors
      - Removed the health display scramble and the 2D damage indicator effects that happened to victims shot by a weapon with a suppressor attachment.
    - DEVELOPERS NOTE: We may revisit this in the future but for now we believe this muddied the gameplay language too much and the benefit of a quieter weapon is attractive enough for these mods.