We all knew Bungie was going to be revealing this year's major expansion for Destiny 2 during a livestream today. However, the studio gave us much more than we bargained for, lining up the next three major expansions and some huge changes to Destiny to finally turn it into the singular, all-encompassing online game that it was originally pitched as all those years ago.
Destiny 2 director, Luke Smith, stated during the reveal that the team does “not want to start over from scratch and make a sequel”, instead, the next couple of years worth of Destiny 2 are now planned out with a story line that will carry through and build up to a big finale. That all starts with Destiny 2: Beyond Light, which releases this year on September 22nd.
Beyond Light will sent players off to Europa, a brand new destination in Destiny 2 where a dormant pyramid ship has activated. Europa is also the birthplace of the Exo race, so if you are into Destiny lore, this will be one of the most interesting expansions to date.
Beyond Light will see the introduction of Eramis, she is a new villain hoping to gain revenge on The Traveller. During the expansion, Guardians will also learn how to wield ‘the darkness' for the first time, starting off with a new power called ‘Stasis'.
This is all just the beginning though, now that Bungie has a long-term plan in place, we can expect the long-dormant Darkness to continue to reveal itself, leading to a multi-year, multi-expansion story. The next chapter will arrive in 2021, with Destiny 2: The Witch Queen. Then, in 2022, Destiny 2: Lightfall will release.
These new expansions will include new planets that have not appeared in Destiny 2 previously. Bungie is also planning on implementing the ‘Destiny Content Vault', where certain bits of content will cycle in and out of the game periodically. The downside to this is some missions won't be available for a while, but the upside is that Bungie will be bringing back older Destiny 1 content . With that in mind, expect to see the Vault of Glass raid return, in addition to some fan-favourite strikes and other missions.
The first example of Destiny 1 content returning will come with the Beyond Light expansion, as the Cosmodrome will be explorable on Earth once again.
Big features are being worked on, like transmogrification, a long requested feature so players can keep their characters looking the way they want without sacrificing gear power. Inter-generation cross-play is coming to the console versions of the game, so PS4 players can play with PS5 players, Xbox One with Xbox Series X etc. Eventually, full cross-play may be possible, but not for the time being.
Destiny 2 will also get a free upgrade for those upgrading from PS4 to PS5 or Xbox One to Xbox Series X. Meaning all previously purchased content moves to the new console with you, as well as your characters and progress. The game will also be updated to 4K and 60 frames per second on the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
There will be plenty more for Bungie to share in the future but for now, that's most of the information we have. Tonight, Destiny 2 kicks off the Season of Arrival, so more in-game teasers and content will be coming over the next few months as we build up to Beyond Light's launch.
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KitGuru Says: For a 30-minute stream, Bungie really threw a lot of information out, to the point where it was almost difficult to keep up. However, there is no denying that the triple-expansion reveal was hype worthy. What did you all think of today's big reveal? What are your thoughts on the new changes coming to Destiny 2 over the next couple of years?