Destiny 2's free-to-play New Light version launches today, and it begins very differently to the Destiny 2 which veteran players will know.
Up until now, Destiny 2 has begun with the start of its Red War campaign. This saw the Destiny 1 Tower destroyed, and required you to complete a number of story missions before the game properly opened up.
Destiny 2: New Light does away with the need to do all that.
Bungie are busy today with the launch of Destiny 2‘s free-to-play edition and the new expansion, Shadowkeep, but it’s not all Destiny round Washington way. The gang who also made Halo and Marathon have said they plan to have something new-new and non-Destiny out by 2025. I thought that sounded at least 17 years away but I’m now told 2025 is in barely 5 years and EXCUSE ME? Did the tensies just not happen? Did we go straight from noughties to nineteen? Anyway. New-new Bungie game. Mysterious. Unknown. By 2025. Which could be tomorrow for all I know. Maybe the new game’s out now. Is it any good? Help me out.
This week is one of the biggest yet for Destiny. Not only is most of Destiny 2's existing content going free-to-play, but it's also the first major update since Bungie's split from publisher Activision - with a new expansion, a swath of changes to how Armour and monetization works (yes, there will be a Battle Pass) and a change of platforms on PC, with the game moving from Battle.net to Steam (which you can do as part of the newish cross save feature).
There's a lot happening, then, and this Destiny 2 Shadowkeep guide will explain what's changing for returning players, and what all the New Light content is if you simply want to play for free.
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On the eve of Destiny 2's re-launch as a partly free-to-play game, Bungie has revealed that plans are now in place for the release of at least one non-Destiny title by 2025.
Bungie first confirmed it was working on new experiences outside of Destiny last year, when Chinese publisher NetEase announced it had invested over $100 million USD in the studio. At the time, Bungie said the investment would help it "explore new directions", while NetEase revealed the studio would "begin the creation of new worlds" as part of the deal.
Although there's been limited news regarding Bungie's future non-Destiny endeavours since then, the studio has now opened up a little about its ambitions as an independent developer, following its split with Activision earlier this year.
Destiny 2 is offline until tomorrow, which leaves diehard fans with a problem. What to do until then? Fortunately for all, Bungie has an idea: Come hang out in the new, official Discord server.
The server is heavily populated, as you'd expect, and has links to all the Destiny and Bungie-related resources you could ask for, including Bungie blog posts, tweets, social media sites, vidocs, and Bungie support updates. There's no open chat channel, but there are links to Destiny 2 LFG and Destiny Reddit servers where you can talk your face off with your fellow Guardians. A couple of Bungie staffers, including social media manager Griffin Bennett and community manager dmg04, also appear to be hanging out.
I'll admit to being a little surprised that there wasn't an official Destiny 2 Discord server before today—it's such a natural, obvious thing for a multiplayer-focused game that I would have just assumed it was there. Better late than never, though, and it certainly seems very well thought-out.
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep and New Light are set to go live on Steam tomorrow, October 1.
On the eve of Destiny 2's re-launch as a partly free-to-play game, Bungie has re-confirmed its intentions to become a multi-franchise studio, with plans now in place for the release of at least one non-Destiny title by 2025.
Bungie first revealed it was working on new experiences outside of Destiny last year, when Chinese publisher NetEase announced it had invested over $100 million USD in the studio. At the time, Bungie said the investment would help it "explore new directions", while NetEase confirmed the studio would "begin the creation of new worlds" as part of the deal.
Although there's been limited news regarding Bungie's future non-Destiny endeavours since then, the studio has now opened up a little about its ambitions as an independent developer, following its split with Activision earlier this year.
Here, whatever happened to that wizard? The one wot came from the moon? Has anyone checked in on them, are they doing okay? Is the Shadowkeep their house? It’s an awfully nice house, that. I think it’s time we paid the wizard a visit. Mind, you never know with these space rascals, so I think I’ll pack a heavier kit this time around. Y’know, just in case. With less than a week until everyone else goes rocketing off for the moon, Destiny 2: Shadowkeep proves Bungie still have some surprises left up their sleeves, as you can see in the trailer below.
One of Destiny 2‘s most coveted weapons, a deceptively small grenade launcher named The Mountaintop, today became a whole lot less frustrating to earn. The Mountaintop is one of the most powerful weapons in the MMOFPS at the moment across both PvE and PvP but it’s locked behind a long PvP quest involving grinding out hundreds of grenade kills. No more! Bungie have massively cut The Mountaintop’s quest requirements, and the same for unlocking the Wendigo GL3 grenade launcher.
Today’s update also starts a week-long community challenge, offering players a special emblem if they help grind out a whole lot of murder on Mars.
Yesterday, Bungie dropped some pretty big news on how it'll be handling new seasons in Year 3 of Destiny 2.
With four seasons planned in Year 3, each one will kick off with a new seasonal event, the first being Season of the Undying which will begin with the events of the Shadowkeep expansion.
Every player will be able to see how the universe of Destiny changes during each season, and at the end of it the collective actions of all Destiny 2 players will cause the world state to change. However, those who purchase a Season Pass will have access to a "seasonal matchmade activity" which allows them to get "that extra level of sweet gear".