Destiny 2: How Vesper’s Host Became the Most Challenging Dungeon Yet

In Destiny 2, dungeons are designed to be self-contained experiences typically regarding a wider narrative department of the Destiny universe, however constructed with their very own gameplay mechanics, boss encounters and, most significantly for a lot of, themed loot. The challenges confronted inside a dungeon require wits and a coordinated fireteam (though the most seasoned gamers can attempt to full it solo), and conquering a bit of high-level content material like that is considered one of the most rewarding Destiny 2 experiences.

With that in thoughts, they’re additionally a marvel of recreation design. Whenever you first enter a dungeon, nearly every little thing is a thriller. There’s no waypoint, no steering – even discovering the proper approach to go is a take a look at of your instinct, and that’s earlier than you’ve encountered any puzzles, enemies, or high-octane boss encounters.

Destiny 2’s latest dungeon, Vesper’s Host, was launched at the begin of Revenant earlier this month and is an thrilling continuation of the dungeon entries. Vesper’s Host takes Guardians into the depths of an deserted Braytech house station being broken by a mysterious anomaly, and the setting takes an unnerving horror flip as you uncover its depths.

Inside this atmospheric new atmosphere, chances are you’ll come throughout a brand new set of armor, in addition to a recent pool of weapons which are unique to this dungeon. Amongst them is the returning Unique Sniper Rifle Ice Breaker, an authentic Destiny weapon that has lastly returned to the recreation with a set of up to date perks that complement the present Destiny 2 expertise. With loads of model new and returning treats up for grabs, it’s the excellent time to drop in and take a look at your mettle towards what lurks in Vesper’s Host, and for those who’ve not been following the evolution of Destiny 2’s dungeons, you’re in a for a nice shock.

We spoke to a number of key designers and builders on the Destiny 2 staff to interrupt down a few of the core parts of Vesper’s Host,  talk about what goes into drafting and crafting the dungeon expertise, and ask about a few of Vesper’s Host distinctive additions that make it the most mechanically distinctive dungeon but.

Delving In

Earlier than a dungeon can enter its granular planning phases, a number of high-level selections must be made about its setting, and the way it slots into the catalogue of present dungeons, based on Destiny 2 Design Lead Brian Frank. The staff deliberately seeks to create distinction from one dungeon’s theme and setting to the subsequent. The final dungeon, Warlord’s Destroy, came about in a brisk, fantasy-style enviornment, stuffed with snow-capped medieval structure – a starkly totally different setting to the laborious sci-fi design of Vesper’s Host.

“Guardians have explored Braytech amenities earlier than, and whereas beforehand it’s felt very clear and sterile, an enormous environmental aim was to take one thing acquainted and twist it into a brand new context that felt recent and thrilling,” explains Ryan Baker, Senior Setting Artist on Destiny 2. “There’s a theme of house insanity with the Fallen spinning this net compelled by an alien thoughts, one thing has damaged containment and swept via the station.

“We actually wished Guardians to step onto the station and really feel like discovering an previous crime scene after one thing horrible occurred.”

Destiny 2 additionally shines in its means to point out Guardians the means with environmental nods and intuitive stage design, a shrouded ledge or a well-placed mild that alludes to an accurate path. Nonetheless, this aptitude shouldn’t be at all times used for good – gamers are sometimes tricked by what seems to be the means ahead, solely to satisfy a fast finish in a lure or down a gap. The peril is short-lived and of no consequence (except you’re aiming for a flawless run with zero deaths) however laying out plausible paths to ship gamers the mistaken means additionally encourages exploration and fast pondering.

“Utilizing Revenant’s horror theme, we are able to run with a movie analogy [in Vesper’s Host],” Baker tells us. “Our strategy is like writing a script. Considering of the atmosphere as the participant journey, we have to determine the place to create pressure or present a second of respite to absorb the surroundings and get your bearings. The identical peaks and valleys include an excellent horror film, and too many traps, like leap scares, may change into stale and even tedious. Inside the context of the total dungeon expertise, together with the surrounding encounters and main emotional beats, we are able to house traps out appropriately to at all times really feel warranted.”

“An excellent instance: The second encounter is frantic and intense. After clutching the win, Guardians will start a spacewalk for the second traversal. It’s a quieter second to breathe and take up the new environmental storytelling. Simply as they get comfy, we begin raining down lightning bolts, ramping up the pressure by introducing a brand new environmental hazard spewing from the anomaly.”

A New Encounter

When you’ve made your means via the winding, haunting corridors of the station, chewed via waves of smaller enemies and familiarized your self with the dungeon’s mechanics, you’ll land at a boss room. Boss encounters are a core part of dungeons – and there are normally three very totally different encounters all through every.

As a fundamental overview, gamers will usually be introduced with a one massive enemy that’s immune to break, and fascinating with a set of mechanics or objectives will unlock a limited-time part to deal as a lot ache as doable earlier than the immunity returns. The goal is to repeat these steps till the menace is taken care of, which sounds simple sufficient, however on a primary run, it’s a tricky battle.

“We begin all encounter designs by defining an expertise assertion, which describes the participant fantasy for the encounter in a single sentence,” explains Chris Manprin, Design Lead on Destiny 2. “They’re guideposts to assist drive numerous key design selections, together with narrative, boss behaviors, puzzle mechanics, and map layouts.”

With that in thoughts, Vesper’s Host contains a significantly attention-grabbing encounter – Raneiks, a Servitor that may shift its type between one massive sphere and 9 smaller ones. It’s the first dungeon boss that locations a premium on space of impact injury that may harm a number of smaller targets without delay, fairly than solely hitting huge enemy as a lot as doable, which is a primary for Destiny 2’s dungeons.

“In the Raneiks Unified encounter, being swarmed was a core a part of the expertise assertion,” Manprin provides. “This theme resonates all through many parts of the encounter design. Gamers are trapped in a confined house, full of enemies, then when teleported outdoors they’re instantly surrounded by Shanks. Raneiks bombards gamers with bombs, and even in demise, Raneiks multiplies tenfold.  Nearly each ingredient of this encounter ‘swarms’ the participant.”

The distinctive design of Raneiks additionally in flip conjures up versatility in how Guardians select to overcome it, which, for a recreation that options over 1000 distinctive weapons and numerous perk potentialities, is at all times extraordinarily welcoming. With a number of targets to break, there’s rather more room to get artistic with these high-level loadouts.

“We’re at all times searching for methods to react to the evolving meta and create experiences that really feel not like something gamers have encountered earlier than,” explains Julia Condemi, Designer on Destiny 2. “With Raneiks, we wished to construct a boss that may reward gamers for utilizing their data of the recreation’s sandbox and their assortment of weapons in a means they hadn’t thought of beforehand.

“You’re welcome to make use of your previous dependable favourites, however this boss says, ‘Hey, that Grenade Launcher you haven’t used since you bought it? These Heavy weapons with the One for All perk you’ve gotten gathering mud in your vault? These is likely to be nice right here!’”

A Worthy Contest

The Destiny staff additionally had one other ‘first’ to contemplate throughout the launch of Vesper’s Host. That is the first dungeon launch to incorporate Contest Mode – which challenges gamers to finish the dungeon at a heightened issue inside the first 48 hours of it being dwell. This mode has usually been reserved for Destiny’s raids – endgame content material that challenges a full fireteam of six to finish. That mentioned, the neighborhood remains to be extraordinarily keen about dungeon completion at launch – seasoned gamers will nonetheless race to be the first to beat it, and the introduction of Contest Mode to Vesper’s Host is an official acknowledgement of such and provides that mandatory further hurdle for Destiny 2’s most practiced Guardians.

“We wished to strengthen and amplify what was already taking place in the neighborhood when a brand new dungeon launched,” says Frank. “Given historic completion occasions for dungeons with out Contest Mode, we knew the issue would must be elevated to make the occasion worthy of the caliber of groups making day one makes an attempt. “

The strain of competitors and a restricted time to earn rewards sees these gamers quickly develop and refine methods for overcoming Vesper’s Host’s distinctive puzzle mechanics, nevertheless it’s value nothing that not like Destiny 2’s raids, dungeons are designed to be completable solo. That is an extremely aspirational achievement, the most tough factor to do in the recreation by a major margin, however doable.

“Each encounter is designed with the intent {that a} single participant with mastery over the encounters, sandbox, and buildcrafting can full it,” says Manprin. “Mechanics that lean too far into coordination or complexity are modified with consideration for the solo expertise.

“The addition of Contest Mode got here with systemic modifications to assist it.  We branched the issue settings for regular and contest, which allowed for tuning boss well being independently between the two variations.”

Breaking the Ice

Dungeons usually are not constructed to be accomplished as soon as – they’re designed to be run a number of occasions and include a various loot pool of armour and weapons, in addition to one Unique weapon with a uncommon likelihood to drop when the dungeon is accomplished. In Vesper’s Host, the Unique drop is Ice Breaker, a reintroduction of an Unique Sniper Rifle that dates all the means again to 2014’s Destiny.

Longtime followers of the franchise have been eagerly awaiting the return of the weapon, however the staff felt Vesper’s Host’s ultimate encounter made for the excellent place to lastly earn it again.

“With us coming into Destiny‘s tenth Anniversary 12 months we’ve been Destiny weapons gamers keep in mind most fondly, and Ice Breaker is true at the high of that checklist,” says Chris Proctor, Senior Design Lead. “Given how robust the weapon is in endgame PvE content material, it’s becoming it come from a difficult PvE supply, and so Vesper’s Host made a ton of sense.”

“We put a while into updating the design of the weapon to match the Destiny 2 sandbox, making an attempt to retain the really feel of the authentic, however making the loop extra attention-grabbing and giving it the Unique 2.0 therapy to deliver it as much as our Destiny 2 Unique weapon high quality bar. At the finish of this design course of, we had one thing we had been excited to ship, incorporating excessive ammo uptime and a Photo voltaic and Stasis tie-in.”

Should you’re itching for a brand new Destiny 2 problem otherwise you’re a seasoned Guardian that’s due one other run to attain the coveted Ice Breaker Unique, Vesper’s Host is on the market to play in Destiny 2: Revenant now.