The Sunless Cell: How Bungie Revived a Fan-Favorite Mission for a Modern Destiny 2

Episode Heresy – Act III arrived in Destiny 2 final week, the ultimate instalment of the three-part sequence persevering with the story of Destiny 2 following the occasions of The Closing Form. One exercise that Guardians will encounter this season is a revival of a basic mission from the unique Destiny.

The Sunless Cell is a strike that first appeared as a part of The Taken King enlargement for the unique Destiny, virtually a decade in the past. After all, a lot has modified by way of Destiny 2’s narrative and technological scopes – this content material should keep true to its gameplay roots whereas additionally working within the fashionable sandbox of Destiny 2. Fortunately, that is a dance that Bungie has finished many occasions now, and the studio is now a dab hand on the artwork of bringing again previous content material again and making certain that it stands tall as a compelling addition to Destiny 2’s present storyline.

However what precisely goes into this course of? Destiny 2 Design Lead Baldur Tangvald and Designer J. Valencia spoke to Wire to offer us a have a look at the decision-making behind the revivals, selecting the best content material from over ten years of story, and the right way to make it work for each previous and new followers alike.

“First we begin by elements that make the strike distinctive or memorable, any standout moments or encounters, and the way the strike flows,” Valencia explains. “Then we take the skeleton of the unique strike and replace encounters and mechanics to suit Destiny 2’s present sandbox expertise, which permits for increased combatant density and new enemy varieties, whereas holding the expertise of the unique.”

Outdated Floor, New Tips

Episode Heresy revolves closely across the Hive – an historic race in Destiny’s universe that spawned lots of its antagonists and enemy varieties. One main location is the Dreadnaught, a sprawling space crawling with Hive, which additionally serves because the setting for Heresy’s ongoing The Nether exercise in addition to the unique until Cell strike. “Heresy’s heavy give attention to the Hive inside the Dreadnaught made this strike look like a significantly good inclusion to function a beat within the story,” Valencia added. “Early on in growth we needed to maximise the quantity of house we may incorporate into The Nether exercise with our efforts to replace the Dreadnaught. The Founts space close to the beginning of the strike had good house for fight and loads of nooks and crannies required for The Nether, so we felt it was a good alternative to increase on Heresy’s area exercise, inform a stronger story, and inject some freshness into the strike playlist .”

A Fan Favourite

The unique Sunless Cell strike was a agency favorite amongst Destiny’s earliest gamers, and whereas it now feels easier than a lot of contemporary Destiny 2 strikes, a few of its fight beats nonetheless really feel distinctive and memorable at present. Within the unique model, the boss struggle towards Alak-Hul, The Darkblade occurred in whole darkness, and as Tangvald recollects, “created a hectic cat-and-mouse sport with the boss that felt completely different and refreshing.”

“The glow of Cursed Thrall heads and little Hive crystals within the pitch-black house gave it an additional cool vibe,” he provides. “This uncommon environmental component made for an attention-grabbing new set of fight pressures and challenges, and it very successfully communicated a sense of concern and hazard. It’s a knife struggle in a darkish closet, and there wasn’t one other strike boss fairly prefer it.”

(*2*)

Bungie’s purpose with the reprised model of the strike was to not solely convey it in keeping with the trendy Destiny 2 participant expertise, but additionally to weave in a number of the new Hive variants which have been launched to the narrative. The strike’s unique boss, Alak-Hul has been changed by a highly effective new Darkblade working alongside the mysterious Taken. As an alternative, Guardians should take down a highly effective new Darkblade.

“Sunless Cell’s boss struggle is one in every of its most unusual components, making the Guardian really feel hunted by Alak-Hul within the darkness,” Valenica says. “And though that feeling continues to be there on this reprise, the Guardians should now additionally take care of the Taken enemies contained in the cell and forestall this new adversary from being Taken itself.”

“Whereas the story surrounding the Guardians infiltrating the Sunless Cell has been up to date to match the story and match into the narrative for Heresy, I really feel just like the construction of the strike continues to be devoted to the unique whereas throwing in a couple of surprises and making it difficult for at present’s sandbox.”

What’s extra, Destiny’s decade-long tenure implies that, in some circumstances, those that began out as followers of the sport are actually actively engaged on it themselves, with a hand in reinventing and reinvigorating their very own fan-favorite moments for different gamers to expertise for the second, and even first time.

“About ten years in the past I used to be singing praises for this explicit strike throughout my [interviews to join Bungie],” Tangvald tells us. “We’re all excited to have it again, have strived to honor it and embrace its distinctive parts, and we hope that you just take pleasure in it as a lot as we do!”

Destiny 2: Heresy is offered now, play it on for free on Xbox Collection X|S and Xbox One.