Destiny 2's big Forsaken expansion will add new PVE/PVP mode
Fresh story and raid locations teased.
Destiny 2: Forsaken will launch on 4th September and include two new in-game destinations, a new PVE/PVP mode named Gambit and a new chunk of story.
Along with Nathan Fillion's Cayde-6, you'll head back to the Reef to chase down escapees from the Prison of Elders. In a new Bungie ViDoc, the developer described the story as having a grittier tone with a "Western revenge vibe".
This darker tone will be welcome to fans who complained Bungie went too far in the Firefly direction last year, although it's disappointing to see the Fallen, again, being used as enemies. Where are those pyramid ships?
As well as the Reef's new location, The Tangled Shore, you'll also visit The Dreaming City, a second location built to house end-game content such as Destiny 2's new raid. It's the home to the blue-skinned Awoken faction of humans. It looks beautiful.
The other big addition is Gambit, a sort of Prison of Elders mode where you fight enemies as a fireteam while another fireteam does the same. You can interact with your rivals, block their progress, and sometimes go in and try to take them out yourself.
There are nine new Supers to collect, including ones with Solar knives, a Rise of Iron-style hammer tornado and a Void teleportation Warlock. There's also a new weapon type - a bow and arrow.
"All the feedback we've heard the past year, it's in Forsaken," Bungie says in the above video - which acts like a checklist of things fans have asked for over the past year. Coming alongside Forsaken whether you buy the DLC or not are Collection screens, in-game Triumphs and Lore sections, weapon slot changes, random weapon rolls, more vault space and, finally, a way to delete more than one Shader at a time.
Many of the above existed in Destiny 1, but their return in Destiny 2 is still welcome. I'm most interested to see power levels return to Iron Banner and Trials - meaning PVP players once again need to focus on levelling.
Forsaken is available to pre-order now in either a vanilla version or an edition with an Annual Pass, which will add new challenges and weapons to the game over the course of the following 12 months.
It sounds like September will be the one big new story update for Destiny 2 until September 2019, at least in terms of story told through missions and cinematic cut-scenes.
Content drops accessible through the Annual Pass comprise Black Armory (Winter), Joker's Wild (spring 2019) and Penumbra (summer 2019).
Bungie will show off more of Forsaken's story at E3 next week. The developer also dated its forthcoming summer content drop for the game, its new Solstice of Heroes event, for 17th July. This will also return six-versus-six multiplayer as a permanent mode.