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- Primary Subject: Marathon (Season 1: Death is the First Step)
- Key Update: Bungie has revealed the "Cryo Archive," a high-stakes endgame zone aboard the UESC Marathon that requires a collective community effort to unlock.
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: March 4, 2026
- Quick Answer: The Cryo Archive is Marathon's premier endgame map. It is unlocked via community-wide progression goals and features linear, raid-like challenges and a major boss encounter.
For Marathon players, one of the things they are anticipating the most is the Cryo Archive, but it might be harder to discover than we think.
On March 5, 2026, Bungie's highly anticipated PvPvE extraction shooter will be available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. While there are a plethora of reasons why gamers are excited to jump in, one of the biggest factors is the amount of content, which includes the introduction of the Cryo Archive.
But what is it? What do we do there? How do we even get into it? Sit back and relax: this is everything we know about the Cryo Archive.
What is Marathon's Cryo Archive?
Located aboard the abandoned UESC Marathon Ship, the Cryo Archive is Marathon's premier endgame zone. It holds the remains of the original 30,000 colonists, giving players a deeper look at Marathon's past lore. Unlocking the Codex entries in the Cryo Archive will be huge for lore-heavy players, as it will explain how the colony went dark.
While similar to other maps in the game that require you to loot and reach the extraction points, the Cryo Archive's story is more linear.
Instead of wandering and exploring the whole map, the Cryo Archive requires players to solve challenges and survive events to unlock the next area. Environmental enemies are also much tougher in the Cryo Archive; you can't just outgun them. You'll need to pick up their patterns to successfully win against them.
Bungie has teased that in the Seventh Vault, players will face a major boss, an "entity even the UESC fears."
How to Unlock the Cryo Archive
The way to unlock the Cryo Archive is unique because 1), you can't do it alone, and 2), it doesn't open on a specific date.
Instead, the entire Marathon community needs to "unlock" their way to the Cryo Archive. What exactly needs to be done has yet to be announced, but it likely has something to do with data collection or completing contracts for a certain faction.
We'll only know for sure once the game launches, and thankfully, there isn't long to wait!
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