Destiny The Dark Below Release Date Revealed, Raises the Level Cap and Tries to Fix the Story

In an interview with Eurogamer, Harold Ryan, the president of Bungie, reveals a bunch of new details surrounding the upcoming Destiny DLC titled The Dark Below. First up, we now have a confirmed release date of December 9th. We also know a fair amount of the content that it will include, such as new armor, weapons, and gear as well as a new set of multiplayer arenas, a strike mission, and a new raid. The light level cap will also be raised from 30 to 32, allowing players who have already maxed out to use the new content to level up. Destiny The Dark Below will also address one of the main criticisms of the main game, the story.

The structure of the story in this expansion is different than the story in the core game.

A set of story missions will be added to Destiny in this first DLC which will all be handled by a new vendor named Eris. “She’s going to send you on a mission against the Hive to help stop Crota and his efforts to invade and take over the Solar System,” explained Ryan. This new mission won’t just be rehashed story elements from the main game though. “Looking at how the story plays and how we wanted to repackage it and reacting to fan feedback, we’re taking a different approach to the story in this one.”

As an example of how this story will play out, Ryan gave the exotic quest “The Thorn Quest” as an example. “So, looking at how the exotic quests work, like the Thorn quest, was the inspiration for how we’re attempting to tell the story in this expansion. And so it’s going to feel much more emergent and interactive in the world as you play through and unlock the story of Eris.”

Along with this story piece comes the aforementioned strike and raid. The strike is called The Will of Crota, which seems to indicate it will tie into the story missions as well. Playstation gamers get more exclusive content with the release of The Dark Below, with the addition of The Undying Mind strike mission. This will take place in the Black Garden and feature a new exotic item to earn. The Dark Below will also add in Destiny’s second raid, after The Vault of Glass. Called Crota’s End, it is set in the Hellmouth.

Destiny The Dark Below will be available by itself for $19.99 or as part of the Season Pass, which includes the second expansion House of Wolves, for $34.99.