On Tuesday, Bungie officially unveiled Destiny 2: The Final Shape in its yearly Destiny Showcase. We got a glimpse at the cinematic trailer, a look into the new location (which is inside the mysterious traveler), the “return” of Cayde-6, and so much more. Bungie also dove into what’s happening to Destiny 2 once the studio ends the “Light and Darkness saga” in 2024.
Here’s every major announcement from the 2023 Destiny Showcase, and a recap of everything we learned about the next few years of Destiny 2.
An adventure inside the Traveler
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The Final Shape will take players into The Pale Heart, the new location within the Traveler itself. The destination is a mashup of multiple locations we’ve seen in the past as well as some completely new architecture. It’s a nostalgia play, and Bungie isn’t being coy about it.
The Final Shape’s destination will also unfold differently than other new locales. There is no patrolling The Pale Heart until after the campaign is over. Players have “a job to do” on day one, and the game will only serve up missions to players until the campaign is over.
Perhaps most exciting for many veteran players, the original Destiny 1 tower will seemingly act as the player hub for the location — standing in stark opposition to The Witness’ Monolith citadel.
Bungie will launch The Final Shape on Feb. 27, 2024.
Season of the Witch
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Season of the Witch sees players attempt to resurrect Savathun, the Witch Queen. But before they can do that, they need to deal with her sister, Xivu Arath. In order to handle that problem Eris is going full Hive, transforming herself via a new ritual.
This season seems to be taking on a new model, offering up a new upgrade system called the Deck of Whispers to augment how players use their skills and abilities over the course of the season.
Crota’s End returns
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Crota’s End, the second Destiny raid ever, is finally coming to Destiny 2. Last year players took down a reprised Oryx; now they’re taking down a reprised version of his son, the titular Crota.
This raid is free for all players and will include the incredible Age of Triumph armor from the original Destiny. The Necrochasm Exotic auto rifle also appears to be back in the raid.
Bungie will launch Crota’s End into Destiny 2 for all players on Sept. 1.
New supers for Void, Solar, and Arc
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The three classes are each getting a new Super in The Final Shape. Titans will get a new Void Super, Hunters are getting another Arc Super, and Warlocks are getting a new Solar Super. Each of these updates will come with new Aspects as well.
The new Titan Super allows them to chuck massive Void axes at targets, which then remain on the ground for allies to use as Relics. Warlocks are getting a version of Radiance from the original Destiny, supercharging their abilities and empowering all Solar damage for nearby allies. (Bungie has also confirmed that self-res, a feature of the original Radiance, will not be back with this new version). Hunters are getting a knife that allows them to teleport into an area and clear entire waves of enemies.
New weapon subfamilies
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One of the smaller announcements in the showcase is new weapon subfamilies coming to the game. Starting in The Final Shape, sidearms will get a new “special ammo” family that launches rockets instead of bullets. Bungie is also adding a new auto rifle type that can heal allies as well as deal damage to enemies.
Power rework
Bungie is reworking Power in The Final Shape in order to help players play with their friends more easily. Fireteam Power is the big, new thing. When players join a group, the player who has the highest Power will be able to share that Power with the rest of their allies. Some activities will remain Power-focused, like Nightfalls and raids. Other activities will be “Power-locked,” meaning that the difficulty will be fixed regardless of the player Power level.
Episodes
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After The Final Shape, seasons will be replaced by Episodes. These work similarly to seasons, but should pump a bit more juice into the game on a regular basis.
Instead of new seasons coming to Destiny 2 four times a year, the game will see three different Episodes a year. Each of these Episodes has three acts, with each act adding new Artifact perks, season pass levels, weapons, and more. Each individual episode will also come with a new Exotic via the season pass and a new Exotic mission.
These Episodes will also be divorced from the game’s main story and should — theoretically — be playable in any order. Bungie did clarify in an after stream Q&A that these are only replacing seasons, and that the studio’s developers still want to create the big, exciting content players love.
Nobody said the word “expansion,” but it was heavily hinted that players will see something similar to another Destiny expansion in the year following The Final Shape.