Destiny 2’s new seasons are going to literally change its world. Developed by Bungie, who helped to create the framework for modern first-person shooter games with their iconic Halo series, Destiny 2 is now in its third year and, looking forward, it seems like this might be the game’s most ambitious one yet.
Although a recent delay pushed Destiny 2’s Shadowkeep update to October 1st, it’s beginning to look like that extra development time paid off. As the first major content update since Bungie split from Activision, the latter having helped to develop the original Destiny, Shadowkeep is not only enhancing Destiny 2's finishing moves and adding a free-to-play version called Destiny: New Light but also bringing in new, sweeping changes the developers hope will entice fans new and old alike to jump back into the shoes of a Guardian.
Unlike previous iterations, Destiny 2 is now adding a Fortnite-style battle pass system complete with seasonal progression, here called a “Season Rank". According to an official Bungie blog post, by the end of each season, the world state will physically change in some yet-unknown fashion. The company promises that everyone who plays will be able to see how the world is different, and although players who have purchased a Season Pass will be able to participate in special seasonal activities similar to the Annual Pass access system the game used to employ, everyone who plays the game will be involved in how the world of Destiny 2 changes.
While Bungie said they are also planning overhauls to both Destiny 2's armor system and Nightfall strikes, perhaps one of the most intriguing new additions are Seasonal Artifacts, which will be free to all players and will allow them to further customize their Guardian every season. Bungie admits to being "a little terrified" at the concept because these Artifacts will increase in level simply by playing and will continue to grow until the end of the season with no level cap. This means that a diligent player can effectively end up with some ridiculously high-powered mods. These upcoming seasons will be purchasable at $10 apiece, and according to a recent Twitter post by Forbes gaming writer Paul Tassi, seasons will be cross-account purchases if you buy them on your main platform first, so that a player who buys a Season Pass on PS4 will be able to play with those same benefits on PC.
With their upcoming free-to-play version and the announcement of Destiny 2 on Google Stadia, Bungie is clearly making strides to bring their newest sci-fi franchise to as many new players as possible while still keeping current fans busy with new and enhanced content. While players will have to wait another month to see just exactly what sort of changes are in store for the world (and moons) of Destiny 2, it seems that Bungie has no plans of abandoning the game's universe prematurely in favor of starting from scratch, which is great news for all the people who have already sunk hundreds of hours into the game and are itching for more.
Source: Bungie/Twitter(via Paul Tassi)