Bungie had to give Destiny 2 players a clue before they finally solved the Niobe Labs puzzle

Destiny 2 players have finally solved a rock hard puzzle that had stumped them for days - but only after Bungie gave them a clue.

As we reported this week, Destiny 2 players spent days trying and failing to solve the seventh and final level of the Niobe Labs, a new DLC puzzle area available to those with the annual pass.

While Bungie unlocked the Bergusia Forge, the final offering of the Black Armory, for all annual pass owners after the community complained about it being locked behind the completion of the Niobe Labs, the puzzle itself continued to go unsolved.

Members of the popular Raid Secrets subreddit were dumbfounded, until last night, when Bungie, fresh from the announcement it had obtained the publishing rights to the Destiny franchise from Activision, admitted "some of the clues in the Niobe Labs puzzle are not as clear as we intended". It promised a clarifying update later that night.

This update turned out to be a fix for what was a broken puzzle. "Unfortunately, a string on Level 7 was improperly removed which would have provided additional information," Bungie said, before providing a clue, this "missing piece of the puzzle", to help players complete Niobe Labs "once and for all".

This is the level seven monitor clue players had to go on before this new clue was released (image credit: r/RaidSecrets):

And here's the clue Bungie released last night:

"With weapons imbued

Through sights unseen

Craft truth from the Hand

Return the dials to the crest

Stay true to the map

To prove thy knowledge of the family three."

Yeah, this doesn't make much sense to me either. But Destiny 2 puzzlers on r/raidsecrets, who had spent all week deciphering much of the language used in previous levels of the Niobe Labs puzzle, took this new clue, combined it with the in-game clue for level seven they already had and, in the early hours of this morning UK time, players completed the challenge.

Finishing level seven involves three players, each using a weapon with a different element, standing on certain plates with specific symbols (hand, butterfly, tiger etc) and shooting different symbols which you can't actually see in a specific order.

Popular Destiny streamer Gladd and his fireteam were the first to complete the Niobe Labs (you can see the moment it's done in the clip below). The reward? An exotic ghost shell and a legendary emblem.

While Niobe Labs is, thankfully, done and dusted, it's clear it failed to work out as Bungie intended. Bungie acknowledged this, saying it would take the experience on the chin and learn from it.

"We will be applying what we learned from this activity to experiences we're creating for future releases," Bungie said.

It's been one hell of a week for the Destiny community and for Bungie. Now the developer is self-publishing Destiny, the only release schedule it is beholden to is its own. What this means for the future of Destiny remains to be seen. A second annual pass for Destiny 2 Forsaken? Destiny 3 in 2020, perhaps? Whatever the future holds, Destiny 2 players can finally consign Niobe Labs to the past.