After 10 years, Destiny 2 will now not see one large growth per 12 months, nor the seasonal or episodic content material drops in between–in 2025, it’s going to get two expansions, with 4 “main updates” per 12 months.
Alongside a few of its performs to have a good time Destiny’s 10-year annivesary, Bungie laid out among the particulars for Destiny 2’s future in a sequence of latest weblog posts outlining plans for Destiny 2: Frontiers, the subsequent part of the sport now that its present story is being wrapped up in The Closing Form growth and the three Episodes that observe. As game director Tyson Green wrote, in 2025, Destiny 2 will see two “medium” expansions as an alternative of 1 large one, which was the method Bungie has caught with ever because the launch of the Forsaken growth in 2018.
“We’ve beloved creating annual Expansions and are particularly happy with The Closing Form. However the reality is that they dominate virtually all our improvement effort,” Inexperienced wrote. “We have to free ourselves as much as discover and innovate with how we ship Destiny 2 content material so we are able to put money into areas of the sport that can really feel extra impactful to gamers.”
The weblog submit additionally included a roadmap that provides an concept of what we are able to count on from Destiny 2 because it strikes ahead into Frontiers. The primary of the 2 expansions, Codename: Apollo, is slated for Summer season 2025. Codename: Behemoth, the second, will launch in Winter 2025.
Alongside every growth will come a “season,” although not as we beforehand knew it. That season will final the six months between one growth and the subsequent, though Bungie shared no particulars about how the season would possibly go about together with extra tales to inform past the expansions–so do not take this to imply that Bungie is returning to the previous mannequin of 4 seasons 12 months, every with its personal linear story.
As an alternative, the seasons will embody two main updates–one with the launch of the growth, and one three months later. It feels like the concept right here is that the primary main replace with an growth will introduce new content material that goes with that growth, whereas the second three months later will “refresh the Core Sport with new and reprised content material.” That content material may very well be actions like Strikes or Unique missions, new actions, weekly occasions, meta and stability adjustments, and rewards. Looks like the plan right here is for Bungie to hit Destiny 2 with some type of important refresh each three months. Every main growth can be slated to come back with a brand new reward move, which is more likely to be pretty much like what’s within the sport now.
Bungie’s roadmap particulars that each one 4 main updates shall be content material that’s free to everybody, and that leaves the implication that expansions, however, shall be paid content material, as standard.
As for the expansions, they might be very totally different from what we have seen prior to now as properly. The expansions are additionally seeking to transfer away from the earlier “one-shot” marketing campaign construction that Destiny 2 is understood for; as an alternative of a brand new growth telling a brand new story, Bungie is in search of the expansions to supply totally different experiences, and possibly to even discover totally different sport genres inside Destiny 2.
“We’re excited to strive new issues that problem your concept of what a Destiny expertise may be,” Inexperienced wrote. “We’re actively prototyping non-linear campaigns, exploration experiences much like the Dreaming Metropolis or Metroidvanias, and much more uncommon codecs like roguelikes or survival shooters. Every growth will current a brand new alternative to strive one thing totally different.”
“Non-linear marketing campaign” is one other buzz phrase that Bungie describes as an enormous departure for Destiny 2. As narrative director Alison Lührs particulars, Codename: Apollo is a “nonlinear character-driven journey.” In it, you may see a marketing campaign that features a number of out there story threads, which you may then decide your method by means of, fairly than simply going from mission to story beat to mission to story beat.
“And the choices you didn’t select? Don’t fear, these different choices are nonetheless open so that you can return and play by means of. You’ll have to!” Lührs wrote.
Lührs says Codename: Apollo may also kick off a brand new “multi-year saga” for Destiny 2, much like the Gentle and Darkness Saga that simply wrapped up with The Closing Form, though that story will not be fairly so linear as “the Darkness is coming and we’ve to battle it.” As an alternative, Lührs describes a sequence of tales which might be thematically wedded collectively, and that can have a core idea related in simplicity and expansiveness to Gentle vs. Darkish.
Bungie was very gentle on particulars about what that new story will appear like, although, or what we are able to count on for the way forward for Destiny 2 when it comes to the place the sport will take gamers and what it’s going to truly really feel like. Bungie additionally has plans to make main changes to how gamers method Destiny 2’s content material and the way they earn rewards, with extra weblog posts operating down all of the adjustments which might be coming to the sport sooner or later. If nothing else, Codename: Frontiers sounds prefer it’ll be a significant departure for Destiny 2 from what gamers are used to, and with the developer struggling by means of main layoffs over the past two years, these could also be essential to maintain the sport alive.