Marathon’s Cryo Archive Locks Out a Lot of Players, But Bungie Is Listening to Feedback

If you’re playing Marathon, you may have gotten to try out Cryo Archive this past weekend, the shooter’s big, raid-like endgame mode. Or, maybe you didn’t, due to its fairly restrictive requirements.

Cryo Archive is a focal point for dedicated players of the sci-fi extraction shooter, and dedication really is required; you need to be level 25, have all factions unlocked, and equip a loadout that’s worth at least 5,000 credits.

On top of all that, the mode is only live during weekends, and you can only play in a team of three.

This means that only a portion of the Marathon player base has been able to engage with Cryo Archive; those unable to play on the weekend or group up with pals simply won’t get to experience it in its current guise.

Fortunately, Bungie is paying attention.

Posting on social media, game director Joe Ziegler has identified several pinch points for Marathon players who are feeling locked out of its big endgame mode.

The studio is “watching and ingesting all the thoughts and feedback that we’re hearing” with regards to Cryo Archive, he says, summarising a few issues the team is hearing about.

This includes the potential to play solo, options for those who can’t play on weekends, and more guaranteed subroutine drops from vaults.

“Any of these may take some time to figure out so I can’t guarantee quick solutions here but we’ll definitely discuss these topics as a team this week,” Ziegler says.

This situation really reminds us of Destiny’s raids, which also felt somewhat exclusionary at first due to certain requirements.