Today Bungie revealed the next expansion coming to Destiny 2, though not before playing an eight-minute, forty-six second tribute to George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, and shared information for those interested in helping the cause and protests currently rocking the United States. It was a powerful way to start off the reveal, and cemented Bungie’s position on the topic.
After the video segued into a taped recording with Luke Smith and Mark Noseworthy sitting six feet apart in a studio, who opened by admitted the team has had to adapt to working from home.
A trailer shortly followed, starting with the small clip revealed last week. We then see Eris Morn struggling to cross Europa as the Drifter lands on the icy moon. It appears like some darkness shenanigans are afoot, as Pyramid rise from the frozen surface as the two were approached by none other than The Stranger. The expansion is titled Beyond Light, so the Darkness will play a key role here.
Europa will be the new destination, and Guardian’s will have to channel their inner darkness if they wish to thwart an attempt to take revenge on the Traveler. A gameplay trailer followed the cinematic showing buried industrial ruins, glacial caverns, and what appeared to be the interior of the pyramids. The trailer concluded with the launch date: September 22nd.
Mark confirmed stasis is the new power, and acts as a new damage type alongside solar, arc, and void. So, if you thought the gear grind was already intense brace yourself. Mark and Luke also confirmed Beyond Light will kick off a new era for Destiny, including The Witch Queen in 2021 and Lightfall in 2022. (Meaning no Destiny 3 any time soon, because they are committed to a single evolving world).
Luke Smith promised the developers planned to address the current FOMO issues within the seasonal format, as well as next-generation support (such as 60 FPS/4K on the new consoles, and free upgrades for existing players with full progression crossover). Inter-generational cross-play will also be supported, though they would like to add full cross-play next year.
The Witch Queen and Lightfall will include all new destinations and enemies, and older legacy content will be removed from the game when an expansion drops and moved into a content vault to ensure the game is easier to update. That means they can also bring old content out on occasion (including Destiny 1 content, like the Vault of Glass). A full article on Vaulting can be found here.
The announcement concluded with a trailer for Season of Arrivals, which will act as a prequel to Beyond Light (and it sounds like Savathun and the Darkness will play a large role). The Season officially starts . . . today, including a new dungeon (Prophecy: free to all players) about the Nine! The brief trailer for the trailer was a bit of a mind-fuck, so if you enjoy some reality-bending Prophecy should tickle your fancy.
Suffice to say, all of this information taken together: it all sounds rather rad, but we need to see how well Bungie executes on their plans. I like that they finally confirmed Destiny 2 will continue forward for years to come, and the Vaulting idea seems like a smart way to make the game less cumbersome all around while bringing back popular content from ages past for special events. There are a host of promises made today Bungie will need to keep, but color me excited.
