Bungie Charts New Course for Destiny 2 in Year 3
By: Bryce L. Jackson
Bungie has launched its new self-published era with a slew of moves aimed at keeping diehard fans and newcomers interested in Destiny well into the future.
Shadowkeep Story
Destiny 2 Year 3 will be called Shadowkeep and set on the Moon with the Hive as the featured enemies. The moon is a familiar stomping ground for veteran Guardians and the Moon has been changed drastically since Guardians have last been there. Mysterious Hunter Eris Morn has returned with dire information on the goings on of the Hive and the “ghosts” of enemies slain before by the Guardians.
Chains Are Off
Bungie has announced that with the end of their agreement with publisher Activision-Blizzard, Bungie will switch from the battle.net launcher to Steam for PC Users. Bungie also announced a partnership with Google’s Stadia where new users will receive all past and future content and expansions. Bungie has done away with things like platform exclusives like Playstation Exclusive Strike Missions and Weapons. In addition, content releases like that of Curse of Osiris, Warmind, etc will be a thing of the past as Bungie moves in a new, untethered direction. Bungie will also offer what they have dubbed New Light —a Free-to-Play version of new Destiny players that starts at the very beginning of the Guardian story, the first year of Destiny 2 content, and gives new players the opportunity to play with their friends that have been Guardians for ages. On top of all of this, Bungie will introduce Cross Save, which allows users to link their accounts to any gaming platform Destiny 2 is available on, XBOX One, PS4, Steam, or Google Stadia. Bungie intends to bridge the gap so wherever players have friends that also play Destiny, they will all be able to play together with all of their personalized Guardians and gear.
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep and Destiny: New Light will be released on September 17th, 2019 on PS4, XBOX One, Google Stadia and will officially launch on Steam that day. The standard edition of Shadowkeep will cost $35 for access to the new story, raid, and a single season pass. The Deluxe edition will cost $40 for the Shadowkeep content, a 4-Season Pass, Exotic emote, emblem and Ghost shell.