August 23 saw Bungie showcase a wealth of information in a livestream starting at 5pm BST. Lightfall, the next expansion for its MMO looter shooter Destiny 2, and the game’s new season were both presented.
The stream followed a similar format to last year’s The Witch Queen showcase, including an hour-long pre-show featuring fanart and contributions from the wider Destiny community.
“The beginning of the end”
Justin Truman and Joe Blackburn (Destiny 2’s General Manager and Game Director, respectively) kicked off the main show with a first look at Lightfall. For this expansion Guardians will travel to Neptune’s capital city Neomuna, a thriving, cyberpunk-esque locale, and will wield a new power known as Strand. Strand, like Beyond Light’s Stasis, is a power derived from the Darkness, and operates in what Senior Designer Samuel Dunn refers to as a “psychic dimension”. The game’s three classes will be able to manifest this power in different ways, with Titans focusing on using claws to damage enemies, Warlocks calling on powers of telekinesis, and Hunters swinging a rope dart weaved from strands to take out foes.
We got to see the enemy forces at play in Neomuna as well as those who call the city home. The forces of Calus, deposed Cabal emperor and a disciple of The Witness—the apparent representative of the forces of the Darkness—wield Light-suppressing devices, and the secluded Cloud Striders, humans who defend Neo Luna, are entirely new to us (and us to them).
Lightfall seems to lean into sci-fi more than the sci-fi fantasy Destiny usually falls under, with its neon city on Neptune and the dynamic Strand subclass, and looks to be jam-packed with content to keep players busy. The tougher Legendary version of the campaign will be available, along with new enemies to face, such as Calus’s fearsome Tormentors.
Guardian Ranks, Commendations, and news on the DCV
Bungie is also overhauling aspects of Destiny 2 related to player experience, particularly with regard to onboarding new players and finding others to play with in-game. We saw Guardian Ranks, a way for new players to build their knowledge of the game with the help of other players. There will also be an in-game Looking For Group (LFG) feature introduced. Players will be able to praise other players after activities such as raids with Guardian Commendations and can switch load-outs and mods between activities far more easily with a new system. These features will all be available in-game during 2023.
There will be no more ‘content vaulting’ expansions either, or the removal of expansions and areas from the game to cut down the game’s file size. None of the current or future expansions will go into the Destiny Content Vault, but seasonal content will still be vaulted every year. This is a move that is sure to please current and prospective players alike and will allow for far more coherency in the game’s narrative.
A swashbuckling adventure
Some of the showcase’s revelations were far more immediate: the pirate-themed Season of Plunder launched immediately following the main show, at 6 pm BST. Players will work with shady figures such as Eliksni kingpin The Spider and rogue Lightbearer The Drifter to prevent Eramis, last seen frozen at the conclusion of 2020’s Beyond Light campaign, from stealing relics with her crew. Three activities are available to play: Ketchcrash is a six-player activity themed around pirate ships, where players can launch themselves out of canons; Expedition involves guiding an airborne drill searching for buried treasure, and Pirate Hideouts allow players to gather treasure by piecing together maps.
The rework of the Arc subclass, Arc 3.0, was also released with the season. A recent article revealed plenty of information but we got to see more of the reworked subclass in action during the showcase.
A king returns—and crossovers galore
Following in the footsteps of Vault of Glass last year, King’s Fall is the next raid from Destiny to be rereleased in Destiny 2, launching August 26 at 6 pm BST. Teams of six will take on the mighty Hive god Oryx, with the first team to complete the raid within 24 hours earning the title of ‘World’s First’.
Destiny 2 is now available on the Epic Games store, with December’s 30th Anniversary Pack free to claim on the storefront until August 30. Fortnite and Fall Guys crossovers were also announced, available from August 23 and September 17 respectively.
Finally, as part of a push to introduce new players to the universe, all of Destiny 2’s currently available expansions will be free to play until August 30.
Towards the close of the showcase, Joe Blackburn described Lightfall as “a climactic collision between the powers of Light and Dark”. With the wealth of information revealed and the new season to dig into, Destiny players have a lot to look forward to over the next six months to Lightfall, and beyond.
Destiny 2: Lightfall is available for pre-order now, and launches on February 28, 2023. Season of the Plunder is available now and will run until December 6.
Words by Mia Chitty