Marathon may be the Bungie sport getting all the eye following final month’s huge reveal, however the studio’s eager to remind everybody Future 2 continues to be a factor – and a factor it is planning to assist for a superb lengthy whereas. To that finish, it is now revealed Future 2’s subsequent main multi-year story arc, which’ll embody a paid Star Wars growth earlier than the tip of the yr.
Bungie first teased a significant shake-up of Future 2’s launch mannequin final September, saying it might be ditching its conventional large-scale annual expansions and as an alternative releasing two “medium-sized” paid expansions a yr. And now, because of its newest developer stream, we have a a lot clearer thought of what that’ll seem like when the plan takes impact this July.
With Future 2’s decade-spanning Gentle and Darkish Saga now formally concluded, Bungie has unveiled its subsequent main story arc, the Destiny Saga. It begins on fifteenth July with the Yr of Prophecy and the launch of a brand new paid growth, The Fringe of Destiny. “[This] is the beginning of an extended journey,” the studio writes in its announcement publish, “and we’re taking our time to inform a brand new story that for now will go away you with many unanswered questions. Every growth will assist reply some, so having two a yr will enable us to ship these beats at a sooner tempo than earlier than.”
Beginning with The Fringe of Destiny, it takes gamers to a brand new vacation spot referred to as Kepler, mentioned to be impressed by “the puzzle-solving and pathfinding challenges of Future 2’s dungeons and vacation spot design which inspires deep exploration, thriller, and player-driven discovery.” There’s speak of a brand new raid, plus new enemies, weapons, gear, and “destination-specific” skills. The latter consists of the Matterspark means, enabling Guardians to vary types to navigate the terrain – with a kind of types wanting rather a lot like Metroid’s Morph Ball.
The Fringe of Destiny additionally marks the beginning of latest season, Reclamation, and is accompanied by a free “core sport replace” for all gamers. This introduces the likes of latest occasions and challenges, alongside a spread of latest options. There is a new exercise choice display screen referred to as The Portal, as an illustration, which is meant to supply simpler entry to Fireteam Ops, Pinnacle Ops, Crucible Ops, and Solo Ops actions. It arrives alongside Future 2’s Armour 3.0 rework and a brand new tier system, with a brand new everlasting taking pictures vary – enabling raid teams to check out their techniques on completely different enemies and managers – coming later down the road.
Extra free content material arrives on ninth September below the banner Ash & Iron (Bungie hasn’t mentioned a lot about this but past the actual fact it is a “main replace” with an related Rewards Cross) and that is adopted by the weirdest a part of as we speak’s announcement, Renegades, on 2nd December. It is unclear how this Star Wars themed second paid growth is meant to suit into Bungie’s new story arc, however the studio says it will be “integral” to the Destiny Saga because it merges “Future’s distinctive storytelling and gameplay with themes and components drawn from the long-lasting sci-fi franchise”. It features a new dungeon, plus “new Future characters, progressive actions, and developed mechanics designed to shock and delight gamers.”
Lastly, Future 2’s Yr of Prophecy will get its fourth and last launch – one other free “main replace” titled Shadow & Order – on third March subsequent yr. And if both of this yr’s paid expansions enchantment, Bungie has opened pre-orders – for every particular person growth in addition to plenty of Yr of Prophecy bundles – on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Collection X, and PC. Extra particulars could be present in its announcement publish.
