Bungie Announces Marathon Vault Breaker PvE Mode July 21

Bungie has announced a new player-versus-environment (PvE) mode for its extraction shooter Marathon, scheduled to launch on July 21. The mode, called Vault Breaker, will allow players to explore the game's challenging endgame map, Cryo Archive, without facing other human opponents.

Vault Breaker is designed as an experimental addition to Marathon's ongoing second season and will be accessible to solo players, duos, or full three-person crews. Players will tackle a series of progressively difficult vaults filled with computer-controlled enemies. A key departure from the game's core extraction-shooter mechanics is that any gear or loot found during a Vault Breaker run cannot be taken out of the mode. Instead, players will extract with a new currency called Vault Data, which can be spent to upgrade a special Vault Breaker Sponsored Kit or to acquire gear usable in other game modes.

According to the developer, this design prevents "flooding the economy" with high-powered loot obtained in a low-risk PvE environment. The mode will feature its own self-contained progression system, allowing players to grow stronger across multiple attempts within Vault Breaker itself.