In Marathon, players are currently solving a complex puzzle to unlock a new map. The complexity and structure of the puzzle are reminiscent of good times.
What kind of puzzle is this? In Marathon, players are currently solving what is known as an Alternate Reality Game (ARG). It is essentially a puzzle that consists of numerous smaller puzzles created by Bungie.
The community never knows what the next step of the ARG looks like or how many steps are still to follow. They have to figure everything out themselves. Some information comes from an external website, while others are found in the game. For example, the puzzlers had to find terminals on different maps and interact with them in a specific order.
Later, they had to visit locations in the game shown to them in photos and check the compass to get the solution to a new puzzle based on the compass markings. At one moment, they decipher coordinates; in the next, they follow clues from cryptic images.
The solution to the puzzle brings the endgame
Why is the community doing this? Once the community solves the ARG, a new map will be unlocked for all players of Marathon. This map is called Cryo Archive and initiates the endgame of the extraction shooter.
Bungie emphasizes that Cryo Archive should be a real challenge for players. Therefore, they must meet certain requirements to even be able to play the map. For instance, they need to be at least level 25 and carry equipment worth over 5,000 credits – which is a lot, so we’re talking purple weapons, backpacks, etc.
What lies behind the 60 pages? The solution to the ARG has been ongoing for several days. Every time the community solves a puzzle, they receive a new one.
To ensure that all players participating in the puzzle are up-to-date, understand the previous puzzles, and can assist in solving the current puzzles, the community maintains a document. This document collects not only puzzle solutions, hints, and theories but also a wealth of screenshots.
The entire document spans over 60 pages – that’s almost 8,000 words and about 48,000 characters. For comparison: This article has about 4,100 characters.
What is the status of the ARG? Players are likely in the final phase. It is expected that the ARG will be solved soon. Bungie has already added the new map Cryo Archive to the game.
Lore and puzzles for anyone interested
How does this remind me of the greatest strength of Destiny 2? Okay, this might be a bit controversial, but: The ARG and how deeply part of the community puzzles while other players simply play reminds me strongly of what I truly love about Destiny.
When talking about the greatest strength of Destiny, one could also think of the excellent gunplay, the appealing loot, or the raids and dungeons. However, I primarily think of world-building, the lore, and how deeply one can get entangled in it – if one wishes to.
There have also always been ARGs in Destiny, where the community puzzled for days on end. I find that fascinating every time. Not many games manage to create a situation where players can spend days outside of the game wracking their brains to solve puzzles. But that allows fans to dive even deeper into the story of the respective universe.
The art of it is that you are not forced to participate. If you just want to farm loot, you can do that. It is not part of a playable story campaign where at some point you are forced to solve a puzzle to continue playing. If you are not interested in the lore or simply don’t like puzzles, you can completely ignore it.
How it ends when players who are working on the ARG and want to unlock the new map encounter players who are just playing the extraction shooter is illustrated by the story of the YouTuber Skarrow9. Spoiler: His encounters while puzzling are not always peaceful: Trio mocks friendly player in Marathon, shoots him mercilessly – catching the one runner everyone wants to survive
