As if Bungie didn't have enough on its plate, Marathon's Season 2 continues its epic speedrun through Disaster%, with the studio forced to disable the Cryo Archive endgame mode after players discovered a nasty bug preventing revives, according to GamesRadar.
For the uninitiated, a bug that blocks revives in an endgame PvE mode is basically the equivalent of removing the respawn screen from a battle royale - you know, the whole thing keeping players from alt-F4-ing in frustration. Cryo Archive being completely pulled offline means players are locked out of what should be a key endgame draw for the season.
Season 2's bad luck streak hits a new low
This latest blunder adds yet another entry to what has become a truly legendary kill feed of Season 2 woes for the PlayStation-owned studio. Bungie has been taking hits left and right lately, and losing access to a flagship endgame mode is not exactly the confidence-boosting patch note anyone was hoping for.
The timing couldn't be worse. Endgame modes are supposed to be the carrot on the stick that keeps players grinding, logging back in, and telling their friends "just one more run." When that carrot gets yeeted into the shadow realm by a revive-breaking bug, your player retention strategy starts looking a little thin.
Bungie's respawn timer is looking real long right now
It's worth remembering that Marathon is still a game fighting for its life in the ultra-competitive extraction shooter arena, going up against established juggernauts with loyal playerbases. Every bug, every disabled mode, and every week of bad press is basically a free kill handed to the competition on a silver platter.
Whether Bungie can patch things up - literally and figuratively - fast enough to keep players from dropping the game entirely remains to be seen. But right now, Marathon's Season 2 is playing on Hardcore mode with permadeath enabled, and nobody asked for that difficulty setting.
