Marathon takes cues from Helldivers 2, as a cryptic message tells players to kill 500 million UESC to unlock its mysterious Cryo Archive map: "Clankers are back on the menu boys"

Marathon players are closer than ever to unlocking the game's hidden fourth map, Cryo Archive, if a mysterious in-game message is anything to go by. Cryo Archive appeared in Marathon's zone selection menu yesterday (March 17), and while it remains locked as the community continues to solve a cryptic Destiny-style ARG puzzle, Bungie has now provided the clearest instructions to date for getting inside, along with other Marathon Cryo Archive requirements.

A mailbox message sent today (March 18) from 'Cryo.Archive_Admin' calls for players to destroy UESC forces, which reads: "uesc security deployed … lethal force authorized against all trespassers … uesc security lockdown across all zones … mitigation: mass elimination of uesc security units … their death machines march on your synthetic bones … return the favor … destroy them … all of them … thank you".

While the message itself is rather vague, the smart cookies at r/MarathonSecrets have determined that players need to kill a total of 500 million UESC robots. With 300 million already destroyed since Marathon's launch, that leaves us with just (just!) 200 million left to destroy. Whether the milestone will unlock Cryo Archive outright or reveal another step to the puzzle remains to be seen, but players are already taking to the Helldivers 2-style call to action.

Parts of the community are calling for a "day of peace" to allow Runners to focus their efforts on killing UESC – which is optimistic, to say the least – while other fans don't need much convincing to destroy robots. "Looks like clankers are back on the menu boys," says one player on Reddit, as others try to work out how long it will take to reach the milestone. As several fans have pointed out, it's taken three weeks for players to kill 300 million UESC – but with in-game orders now making those instructions clear, it's likely the pace will increase.

Personally, it seems risky to kill because an anonymous email said so. Could UESC genuinely be trying to keep something – perhaps a rogue AI – contained within Cryo Archive? Are we the baddies? Could… eh, loot's loot. Have at it!

I'm playing Marathon like a single-player stealth sim, and after 70 hours of sneaking I'm begging you to try a solo run