A new Developer Experience Series featuring perspectives from devs at Santa Monica Studio, EA Sports, and Bungie highlights game-specific ways to optimize gameplay with the DualSense Edge wireless controller. From adjusting trigger heights to rapidly blitz on the pitch in FIFA 23 to modifying back buttons for seamless weapon toggling in God of War Ragnarök, here’s a look into how you can make the DualSense Edge wireless controller work for your style of play.

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God of War Ragnarök

Developer: Santa Monica Studio

In God of War, you’re hitting the triggers a lot because that’s where your primary attacks and aiming are, so I ended up using the low stops for the triggers to make them feel more like regular buttons.
Jason McDonald, Design Director, Santa Monica Studio

In God of War Ragnarök, you want to move the character fairly quickly, especially in the middle of combat, so the left analog stick I set to the Quick setting, and I did the inverse of that on the right analog stick, which is used for camera movement, aiming, etc.
Mihir Sheth, Lead Combat Designer, Santa Monica Studio

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FIFA 23

Developer: EA Sports

The DualSense Edge wireless controller enables FIFA/FC players to personalize their FIFA/FC experience further, focusing on what matters more to them regarding the controller. Some players prefer their right stick to be perfectly precise for Skill Moves, while others favor a specific sensitivity when Switching. Some players will want to remap controls at a system level to suit their preferences. In contrast, others will be delighted with the ability to have a quicker-to-activate Sprint by adjusting the length of the triggers.

The DualSense Edge controller helped my defending game tremendously, as I can more easily keep Running Jockey active (L2 + R2) while activating Teammate Contain or player Switching by using the new back buttons (as L1 and R1). Having extra buttons on the back of the controller and personalizing them with the command you want can become invaluable when playing a decisive FUT Champions match or a rival derby in Career Mode.
Thomas Caleffi, Gameplay Producer, EA Sports

Among the most useful features that make the DualSense Edge controller stand out and particularly suitable for FC enthusiasts are its adaptive triggers and back buttons, which enable players to have faster reactions and play smarter on the pitch by swiftly switching between different team tactics or changing the team mentality without having to take their thumbs off the sticks. In addition to that, having the option to remap any button to match your preferences and adjust the sensitivity of the triggers will give FC fans more control and customization over their gameplay experience. It is certainly a more enjoyable and improved experience.
Danillo Abreu, Game Designer, EA Sports

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Destiny 2

Developer: Bungie

The DualSense Edge Controller has been amazing for letting me dig in deeper with Destiny 2’s pinnacle activities across both PvP and PvE! I’ve currently got two primary configurations I bounce between for Trials of Osiris and Raids – and, I’ve got a matching in-game loadout to compliment each one. Being able to seamlessly swap between the needs of Destiny 2’s pinnacle activities both in-game and out of game has been a game changer!
Andy Salisbury, Senior Social Media Manager, Bungie

As a massive fan of PvP modes in Destiny 2 like Iron Banner and Scorched, the ability to map my desired controller settings makes it really easy to tailor to my specific playstyle. If I’m going into Scorched, I want chaos. Being able to charge up this mode’s explode-y goodness and then mapping out exactly how I let that fire rain from above using the switchable back options is a blast. It keeps me in the flow, keeps me out of my head, and lets me enjoy the total mayhem that always ensues when taking this mode head-on. With the different options to both the front-side and back-side of the controller, it’s a more personalized experience and that personalization means more ways for everyone to play.
Liana Rupert, Community Manager, Bungie

Destiny fans got their latest look at Lightfall in the launch trailer, which debuted today during today’s State of Play. Take a look and whet your appetite for all of the Strand-weaving, Shadow Legion-crushing, Neomuna-exploring action to come:

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Guardians won’t go into the fight against Calus empty-handed. A new elemental damage type, Strand, will let players pluck at the threads of cosmic consciousness and wield the Weave to sew destruction and chaos against the enemies of humanity. There will also be a bevy of new weapons and armor to add to your Guardian’s arsenal, including powerful Exotics, as well as a new Strand-enabled grapple ability that will give Guardians movement options they’ve never encountered before in Destiny 2.

With Lightfall, the Destiny 2 team has also been hard at work crafting a host of behind-the-scenes improvements to gameplay, armor customization, and more that will not just make your life as a Guardian easier, but more effective in combat too.

Here, we’ll take a look at some of the quality-of-life features that are coming to Destiny 2: Lightfall to learn a bit more about how they evolved in development and how Guardians can put them to best use once they hit the neon streets of Neptune’s hidden city of Neomuna.

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Crafting a better Guardian

Guardians are built for battle. Between powerful armor and abilities, plus a weapons arsenal that can only be described as “plentiful,” there are a myriad of ways to design and customize a monster-killing machine that suits practically any player’s style. But arming yourself is only the first step. Progress far enough into the game and you’ll encounter mods—upgrades that can be added to weapons and armor which offer new perks and abilities. Those mod effects stack together to create a Guardian that is as individual as the person holding the controller.

Using mods to craft a great build has been a part of the Destiny 2 experience for years now, and with Lightfall, the team is looking to make the process of taking your Guardian to the next level easier than ever. They’ve done that through some key updates that aim to make buildcrafting more approachable without losing the complexity and depth that Destiny 2 players love.

There is a lot to unpack with the updated buildcrafting system; from the retiring of the old mod energy system to Artifact mods being translated into passive perks, and more. Check out the recent post on Bungie.net for the nitty gritty details of how mods will change the game in Lightfall. Let’s focus on two buildcrafting features in particular: Mod Customization and Loadouts.

Mod customization

Much like Appearance Customization revolutionized the way players can quickly and easily customize their Guardian’s look, the upcoming Mod Customization feature will let players manage their mod collection with a dedicated interface that puts everything on one mod-focused screen.

As Bungie’s Rodney Thompson explains, one of the key goals for the buildcrafting updates was to save time.

“[Previously] it took up a lot of a player’s time to go in and modify a build,” said Thompson. “And because mods were spread across multiple armor slots, if you changed weapons, for example, there was a high likelihood that you would actually have to go in and change five different pieces of armor because your mods weren’t set up right.”

With the new Mod Customization screen, you will be able to navigate an all-in-one screen that shows all your mods and armor pieces at any given time, allowing you to quickly slot in mods without having to click on individual armor slots. In addition, you’ll be able to easily access crucial information such as your current weapon’s perks and stats, without the need to click back to your Character screen.

Loadouts

If you’ve ever gone from a strike to a Grandmaster Nightfall to an epic raid in a single Destiny 2 session, you know that switching gear is a must for the experienced Guardian. While third-party apps have traditionally been a huge help with gear switching, the new Loadouts system coming with Lightfall aims to give players all that convenience without the need to leave the game.

With Loadouts, you will be able to quickly swap entire sets of gear on the fly (yes, even gear in your vault), as well as to save, label, and visually identify new loadouts as they are created. You’ll start with six slots in which to save loadouts and will be able to earn more as you complete additional Guardian Ranks (more on those in a bit). You’ll also be able to swap between loadouts mid-activity (excluding activities where your gear is locked, such as Grandmaster Nightfalls), not just from orbit.

Bungie UI Designer Xavier Durand-Hollis explained that the Loadouts and Mod Customization systems have been designed for ease of access, with each just a button press away from the Character screen. “When you open your Character screen, there will be two buttons on either side that you can press with the directional buttons. If you press left, it will open the Loadouts panel. You press right on the Character screen and then you can quickly access all of your different gear mods.”

By cutting down the number of navigation screens, Mod Customization and Loadouts have been designed to save time for players. “The time between when you conceive of a build and the time you’re playing with it is much shorter,” Thompson said. “Basically, it means more time shooting aliens in the face.”

Up through the ranks

Another pair of new features coming to Lightfall—Guardian Ranks and Commendations—have been designed with social gameplay in mind. At their core, Guardian Ranks are a visual shorthand that will let players easily understand the experience and abilities of other Guardians they encounter. Players who complete activities in the game will move up through the Guardian Ranks hierarchy as a natural result of playing the game, and some ranks will only be available to those who complete certain activities such as dungeons, Nightfalls, or raids.

Destiny 2’s new Commendations system will let players compliment fireteam members after an event or activity has ended. Example commendations include Joy Bringer, Selfless, and Playmaker, with each used to recognize positive qualities of gameplay and teamwork. Earning commendations will help you not only access the upper echelons of Guardian Ranks, it will also let everyone know that you are a good person to have on their fireteam.

Bungie Designer Steve Dolan said there’s a lofty goal that sits behind features like Guardian Ranks and Commendations: motivating the player to be better, not just in terms of skill, but also in terms of… being a person. “The reason why you want a good [Commendations] score is because a lot of the highest ranks are about helping the community,” Dolan said. “You can get to a pretty high Guardian Rank by just being good at the game. If you want to get to the highest ranks, you have to be good at the game and contribute positively to the community. All of a sudden, you’ve got someone who’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m rank nine but I want to help these rank fives because I want to get some commendations and really boost my score.’”

With its consistent focus on trying new activities—from Seasonal Challenges to tried and true modes like strikes and Nightfalls—the Guardian Ranks system also serves as a handy tool to let players know what optional activities are available to them if they’re looking to advance. At the start of each Season, players will be reset to Guardian Rank six (assuming they’ve reached that rank during the previous Season), and they’ll need to progress through Seasonal and higher-end content like dungeons and raids to attain rank seven and upward.

[With these systems in place] there’s this great gradual stepping up in understanding the systems of the game,” said Thompson. “You’re going to have all your progression in the narrative and then you also add the Guardian Ranks progression, where, if you do the challenges and then move up through the ranks, you will learn the things you need to know as you go. That’s a huge improvement over the way we’ve done it in the past because we can now say there is a progression to follow, there’s a logical next step.”

An epic new adventure, full of challenge, mystery, and thrills, and all bolstered by a bevy of features designed to make your life as a Guardian not just easier, but more friendly as well. It’s all coming with the launch of Destiny 2: Lightfall on February 28.

Play The Witch Queen for free this weekend

Destiny 2 fans can prepare for the launch of Destiny 2: Lightfall by taking the fight to Savathûn and her Lucent Brood for free this weekend. Starting on February 23 through February 26, The Witch Queen Standard Edition will be available to PlayStation players at no additional cost. The Throne World awaits, Guardians!

State of Play: All Announcements

• Atmospheric sci-fi western roguelike The Foglands launches on PS VR2 this year 
• Dive into the jungle with Green Hell VR on PlayStation VR2, out 2023
• Synapse brings dual-wielding VR action exclusively to PS VR2 this year
• Destiny 2: Lightfall launch trailer and new quality-of-life features revealed, out Feb 28
• Humanity: intriguing puzzler gets new gameplay details and demo release today as part of State of Play 
• Journey to Foundation brings Asimov’s epic sci-fi series to life on PS VR2
• Tchia sets sail on PS4 and PS5 on March 21 as part of PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium
• A closer look at PS VR2 narrative adventure Before Your Eyes ahead of its March 10 launch 
• Street Fighter 6 rounds out its launch roster with Cammy, Lily and Zangief 
• Goodbye Volcano High launches this June on PS5 and PS4
• Baldur’s Gate 3 launches on PS5 August 31
• Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections launches 2023 on PS4 and PS5
• Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League debuts 4-player co-op gameplay and more at State of Play 
• Wayfinder: PS4 and PS5 players get exclusive Early Access to the character-based online RPG in May 
• Resident Evil 4 trailer debuts new action gameplay, announces Mercenaries mode, demo

With only a few weeks away from the release of Destiny 2: Lightfall, we’re excited to announce that starting today, the critically acclaimed Beyond Light expansion is available to PlayStation Plus members until March 6. This primer will help Guardians prepare for Lightfall by getting the most out of Beyond Light’s Stasis subclass, powerful Exotics, and more.

Not only does Beyond Light unlock an entire frost-themed subclass called Stasis, the expansion also includes a thrilling campaign filled with ice-cold cosmetics, Legendary gear, and powerful Exotic armor and weapons.

Wield Powerful Weapons

Weapons like No Time to Explain, the Exotic Pulse Rifle belonging to the iconic time-traveling Stranger.

No Time to Explain: Precision hits and hits against enemies affected by Stasis will return ammo to the magazine. Stack this effect to summon a portal which will fire bullets from an alternate timeline of the weapon.

And because of how Destiny 2 enables you to increase the strength of the weapons and armor you collect, the gear you love in Beyond Light can be as powerful as you want it to be as you embark on your Lightfall adventure. That means you can immediately start building your Guardian into a frost-slinging monster-shattering machine that will leave the Tormentors on Neptune shivering in their boots.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves; Lightfall doesn’t launch until February 28. Today we’re heading to Europa, a cold and treacherous moon of Jupiter. So, let’s start with the power that Eramis, the Kell of Darkness, is chasing—the same power you’ll be mastering as you play through the campaign.

The First Darkness Subclass: Stasis

Beyond Light is significant for several reasons, but first and foremost, it marked the first time a new subclass was added to the original trio of Arc, Solar, and Void. And it’s the only subclass that draws its power from the Darkness as opposed to the Light. Diving into Beyond Light today is your opportunity to get a head start with Stasis in preparation for the threats of Lightfall.

At its core, Stasis is a power that unlocks the ability for Guardians to slow, freeze, and shatter their foes; and each class gets their own way to wield the new element:

Warlock Shadebinder: The Shadebinder can summon a Stasis staff that fires projectiles which can freeze opponents, immediately rendering them immobile. Their Penumbral Blast melee is a quick burst of Stasis energy that erupts from the staff and instantly freezes anyone it hits.

Hunter Revenant: They can’t kill what they can’t hit. Hunters use the power of Stasis to slow down foes, doubling their effectiveness on the battlefield. The Hunter’s Super features a pair of Kama blades which explode when thrown at opponents, summoning a Stasis storm that chases down stragglers.  

Titan Behemoth: If getting up close and personal with the bad guys sounds like your style, may we introduce you to the Titan Behemoth? The Behemoth takes the most direct route to conflict resolution: forming a massive Stasis crystal gauntlet around their fist and punching their way to peace.  

Destination: Europa

It’s on Jupiter’s moon of Europa that you’ll uncover Stasis as well as Eramis, the Kell of Darkness, and her Fallen army. As you play through Beyond Light’s story, you’ll discover her motives and a dark plot unfolding right at humanity’s doorstep.

In addition to the campaign which will take you all across Europa, through Empire Hunts and Exo Challenges, there’s also a new three-player strike and six-player raid.

The Glassway: Within the Asterion Abyss on Europa lies a Braytech facility holding a unique Vex portal. Eramis has ventured here intending to use this long-dormant gateway for an unknown purpose.

Deep Stone Crypt: Deep beneath the surface of Europa lies a facility created during the Golden Age. The knowledge of what it holds was lost to time… until now. Something within this hidden cavern whispers to Eramis. As she struggles to gain access, Guardians will intervene, and in the process, learn the dark truth about what happened here.

Up for the challenge? Ready to stand face to face with the power that whispers to you from the dark cold wasteland? Then we should probably upgrade your weapons and armor…

Exotic Power

From a Sniper Rifle that summons lightning to Warlock gauntlets that corrupt enemies with poison, here’s a look at three of the over ten new Exotics you can start collecting today for your mission to Neomuna in Lightfall.

Cloudstrike: Precision final blows will generate lightning bolts at the target location. Rapid precision shots will summon an entire storm at the point of impact.

Necrotic Grip: Melee attacks corrupt combatants with increasing damage over time. Defeating a corrupted combatant spreads the corruption to nearby targets and restores melee energy.

The Lament: Block with The Lament to rev the blade, then shred through shielded combatants. At its peak, damaging a combatant will heal the wielder.

Some Exotics (like Necrotic Grip) are so powerful that you can create entirely new builds around them, and others easily slot into whatever playstyle you’re into at the moment.

Beyond Lightfall

This is all just the tip of the iceberg. Once Lightfall launches and introduces the world to Strand (Destiny’s second Darkness subclass—that has a grappling hook, by the way), you’ll have brand new ways to approach Europa with a completely different build. Including mixing and matching Beyond Light Exotics with Strand abilities and vice versa.

Just imagine suspending enemies with Strand and revving up your Lament for a power attack, or freezing a Tormentor in its tracks with Stasis. Once you’re a grappling-hook pro, how cool would it be to fly through the platforming sections of the Deep Stone Crypt using Strand? The possibilities are only limited by your creativity.

In fact, you should probably just keep track of everything you think a grappling hook would be cool to shoot at.

Destiny 2: Beyond Light is available for all PlayStation Plus members to redeem until March 6, 2023, and keep for the life of their membership. It requires the base Destiny 2 game to play, but the good thing is that it’s available with no additional charge from PlayStation Store.*

Download and start playing today. We hope you enjoy your time on Europa and get ready for the next chapter coming in Lightfall. Our end is just beginning, and humanity needs every available Guardian to answer the call.

*PlayStation Plus membership may be required to access some features.

Epic Firsts

Both studios were embarking on new territory. Destiny 2 doesn’t have characters that come from other games. And on Epic’s side, although they celebrate welcoming a huge collection of recognizable faces into their universe, none of their original Fortnite outfits have appeared in any other game… until now.

“When we started talking about who would be coming to Destiny 2 from Fortnite, we knew we wanted iconic, instantly recognizable outfits that were also fan-favorites, ” said Joss Price, director of strategic partnerships at Bungie. “We came up with our short list and when we went to Epic, they were already on the same page.”

The list read: Drift, Black Knight, Oblivion.

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Since the teams at Epic and Bungie are big fans of each other’s games, it wasn’t surprising that they saw eye to eye when choosing outfits. It was easy to imagine the sleek and streamlined Oblivion as a Hunter. In other cases, it wasn’t just that Drift’s long coat matched a Warlock’s silhouette, the fact that they’re imbued with magic also came into play. Black Knight as a Titan? Easy choice.

At Home in Destiny

In a well-established universe, it can sometimes be hard to specify what makes something click into place or stick out like a sore thumb. Luckily, both Destiny 2 and Fortnite have been getting regular updates for years now and both teams have gotten really good at identifying when something blends seamlessly with the universe.

Justin Dazet, Destiny 2’s commerce area lead, spoke glowingly about the team of artists working at Bungie. “Our artists are incredible at taking something that might not seem like it fits on paper and approaching it from a place we could have never imagined. We hold our art pillars very close, and I think you can see that in the consistency of our releases. Our goal is to ensure that you’re never pulled out of the fantasy.”

There’s no single way to be a Guardian. And although they take many forms and have an infinite variety of styles (#ThreadsOfLight), we share the community’s respect for the Destiny universe, and can sense when something feels out of place.

We also share the community’s passion for playing with non-canonical elements—after all, we never stopped being fans. Our goal is to strike a balance that allows us to flex our creativity in new ways while mindfully reeling things in until they feel at home.

Price remembers, “A guiding phrase for us was, ‘Authentically Destiny 2, unmistakably Fortnite.’ We were blending two universes and we knew that staying true to both was possible or we wouldn’t have attempted it.”

Landing in Fortnite

Flying in the opposite direction (possibly in a Battle Bus) we find three iconic Destiny 2 characters: the Titan Vanguard, Commander Zavala; the Warlock Vanguard, Ikora Rey; and the time-traveling Exo Stranger.

“Just like us, Epic has a very good idea for how things should fit in their game and what their design principles are,” said Bungie Art Lead, Josh Deeb. “The fact that they’re fans of Destiny 2 made remaining faithful to what makes our characters special easy—it felt like we were speaking the same language.”

The teams identified features that make each character instantly recognizable, and sought to preserve those key aspects:

●      Zavala’s glowing eyes which are a feature of the Awoken race.

●      Ikora’s facial expressions—a signature of the Warlock’s intimidating and studious personality.

●      The Exo Stranger’s robotic elements distinguish her from her two biological companions.

PWR Joins the Squad

In addition to the three Destiny 2 characters making their Fortnite debut, Epic also worked with creator team PWR to build an entire Destiny 2 map in Fortnite.

“Javelin-4 is one of the most iconic and well-played maps and it ported really well,” said Price. “The team at PWR are huge Destiny fans, and the map was extensively playtested until it struck a balance that felt true to both games.”

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“As life-long fans of Bungie and avid players of Destiny 2 and Fortnite, it has been an incredible opportunity to work alongside such talented teams,” said PWR’s creative director of game development Boomer Gurney. “Bringing these two iconic games to life in one experience was challenging and only possible thanks to the passion of everyone involved. This project has been our most playtested game to date, and while it was invaluable to help fine-tune and capture the spirit of both titles, I think everyone was just having a lot of fun playing. We’re very proud of what we’ve been able to create together and excited for players to experience it live in Fortnite.”

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Dima Goryainov, Destiny’s universe concept art lead, spoke about one of the biggest challenges PWR faced with the recreation of Javelin-4. “PWR did an incredible job of finding really creative ways to use the existing Fortnite asset library and Creative toolset to very closely match the visuals of Destiny 2. Some areas of the map look nearly identical to the original Javelin-4 and even for something as specific as the rocket, enough similar pieces were creatively utilized in order to still get the overall feel across. They absolutely nailed the look in terms of visual design, detail density, and lighting.”

Crank the Cute Slider to 100

Joining the party and adding a little extra chaos to the crossover, Mediatonic made the Fall Guys collab as painless as a pillow fight. As developers of Fall Guys , Mediatonic are all pros at this and have nailed adding new characters to their universe plenty of times. But for us, this was untraveled territory. We’ve never seen the three Destiny classes represented as Bumbling Beans before—most of us had never even considered what that might look like—but as soon as we witnessed Mediatonic’s eye-opening implementation from concept art to adorable playable characters, the approval on our side was a breeze. I mean, c’mon:

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As if that wasn’t enough, Katie Lennox, director of consumer products at Bungie, hinted at something both teams are working on, “I can’t say much now, but we’re really excited to be partnering with our friends at Fall Guys on some extra special squishy offerings for fans that will be revealed at a later date!”

Follow Fall Guys and the Bungie Store on Twitter to make sure you get updated when the announcement happens.

Sharing a Love for Games

In hindsight, this partnership was a no-brainer. There’s a lot of crossover between communities; people who like to play Fortnite end up liking Destiny and vice versa. In fact, it was easy to find examples within both our studios. Here at Bungie, Dazet can’t start his day without a game of Fall Guys. Destiny 2’s Game Director, Joe Blackburn, loves playing Fortnite with his family, and Epic’s Chief Creative Officer, Donald Mustard, has said that Destiny 2 is one of his favorite games of all time.

When you combine fandom with a passion for creativity, the results can be astounding; just look at the incredible work that comes out of both communities. That magical combination was found throughout this collaboration.

“Although this was our first game of collaboration, it felt like we were at the World Series,” Said Deeb. “And to stretch the analogy a bit, when you work in games, it often feels like you’re in the same sport’s league. So, it’s understandable that some people might see that as a hyper competitive landscape, but it’s the opposite. We’re all fans of playing the game, so to speak, and getting to partner up like this is incredibly fun.”

And so, as you prepare to take your new Black Knight ornament out for a Nightfall spin, throw a fluffy-fisted haymaker, or leap out of the Battle Bus with signature Sparrows and sword-themed pickaxes in hand, count yourself among the hundreds of fans that made this a reality. We hope you love playing what we made as much as we do.

We’re all Guardians, now. See you starside.

Destiny 2, Fortnite, and Fall Guys are available for free on the Epic Games Store and the PlayStation Store. PlayStation owners who link their account will be able to unlock a new Destiny 2 emblem set to release on September 1. Destiny 2 content is available today in Fortnite. Fortnite-themed armor ornaments are available today in Destiny 2. Guardian-themed costumes coming to Fall Guys beginning on September 17.

These references are all chapters in a story that began long before our Guardians and will hopefully survive long after their Light fades away. As we discover characters, locations, and items, new parts of that story click into place like space-magic puzzle pieces. And wouldn’t you know, there’s someone at Bungie dedicated to solving puzzles. 

We sat down to discuss some of the elements present in Season of the Haunted, where this tale began, and how the rift that formed long ago between an iconic emperor and his daughter brought the ghosts of the past to humanity’s doorstep. 

Without further ado, I present Bungie’s Destiny historian, Ashley Flanagan. 

Legendary Lore: An Emperor Adrift 

Richard Barrick: Thank you so much for spending this time with us today. Let’s start off with who you are and how you got here. 

Ashley Flanagan: My name’s Ash. I’m Bungie’s Destiny historian. This is not the first time I’ve been a historian of sorts, although not always for video games. I have a masters in Roman history and I used to teach that as an adjunct professor for a couple years—which is super relevant to the Cabal stuff we’re going to talk about today. I got into games about ten years ago when some friends of mine started working on an indie video game and asked me if I wanted to do some writing for it. 

Having a background in real-world history feels relevant to that because I’m pretty good at sifting through information and identifying what’s a reliable source. An unusual thing about Destiny is that a lot of our lore is filtered through characters who can be unreliable narrators—I mean, are you going to take what Savathûn says at face value? 

Well, it sounds like you’re the perfect person to talk to about Season of the Haunted—there are two elements to the Season that become much cooler when you know more about them, Calus and his massive planet-devouring ship, the Leviathan. Let’s start with Calus; who is he? 

Calus is the former emperor of the Cabal. Most of the Cabal players run into are in the military, so it’s easy to think of all of Cabal culture as being super militaristic. But Calus is different in that he’s a bit of a hedonist. He thinks that the military is a means to an end, and that end is having a good time all the time. Everyone else can have a good time too (as long as they don’t get in his way). Because of this, by most accounts Calus was a pretty popular emperor.

But this also led to him making enemies in the military. His reign came to an end when Caiatl (his daughter) and a bunch of his closest confidants conspired to depose him in an event known as the Midnight Coup. 

To hear Calus tell it, their one big mistake was that he was too popular to kill. So, the solution they came up with was to put him on a ship, disable the navigation system, and send it into the depths of space.

So, Calus was exiled and drifted through the stars on the Leviathan until one day when he looked out into the void and had a profound experience where he felt like something looked back. He had an epiphany where he came to believe that there was an inevitable end that’s coming to the whole universe. He decided that the only thing to do was to try to have as much fun as he could on the way out. 

Is that the reason for the “games” he played with Guardians on the Leviathan back during the launch of Destiny 2? 

Yeah, he needs to be entertained all the time. As far as far as Calus is concerned, him being mildly bored for even five seconds is the worst thing that could happen. 

Calus also really likes Guardians as long as they’re not getting in his way. He thinks they’re really fun and exciting. He loves promising prizes to Guardians and bribing them to fight for him. The Vanguard really hates that Guardians are susceptible to flattery and bribes. 

So, he gets exiled, has this epiphany, and then decides to make the most of it by giving in to his hedonism. Was he affected at all by the fact that he was betrayed by his daughter and closest friends? 

It affected him very much. He was actually too depressed to do anything about it until the experience that he had when he looked into the void. That’s what gave him the motivation to take control of the Leviathan, turn it into a pleasure barge, and start recruiting champions to seek revenge on all the conspirators who participated in the Midnight Coup. This is when he decided to head to the Sol system and find Ghaul. 

There was actually a printed list included in the Destiny 2 Collector’s Edition with the names of the people who betrayed him. And Ghaul was very high up on that list. 

Why is that? Who was Ghaul? 

Ghaul’s storyline pulls from Roman history, which has always been a big inspiration for the Cabal. He was abandoned as an infant and raised by one of Calus’s political enemies who he’d wronged on his way to becoming emperor. Ghaul was a gladiator for a while—one of Calus’s favorites—who he began to view as the son he never had. He eventually joined Calus’s court and was given a leadership position in the military. So, it was pretty brutal for Calus when he was deposed by a conspiracy that intended to put Ghaul on the throne instead of him. That was almost as big a betrayal as his own daughter taking part, although not quite. 

We met his daughter, Caiatl, in Season of the Chosen, right? Why did she go along with it? 

Ghaul was someone Caiatl admired, or she would never have taken part in the conspiracy. She did it because she thought he would be a better leader for the Cabal than her father was. For a long time, she saw Ghaul as the kind of soldier she wanted to be, and the kind of leader she wanted to be. 

She does not approve of anything he did in Destiny 2. For her, it was like seeing your idol fall off this pedestal. And she now realizes that he always had these big flaws, and he ended up making some really dumb decisions that she never would have approved of.

But she still has these feelings about him from the days when she saw him as her hero, and she still wonders whether he would approve of anything she’s done—whether the Ghaul she remembers would be proud of her. 

It sounds like she related more to Ghaul than to her fun-loving father. What was her relationship like with Calus before he was deposed? 

Caiatl never really understood her father because she’s a Cabal soldier and far more in line with the militaristic part of their culture. She’s never gotten his whole “party” thing. 

In the future, we’re going to get more into Cabal family life. What fatherhood was like for Calus, what Caiatl’s childhood was like, and we’re going to see Caiatl trying to understand her father—trying to figure out if it even matters that he has a reason for being the way he is. Since the Midnight Coup, their relationship has been mostly them trying to kill one another. But I think if you asked either of them, they would say there was a time when they loved each other. 

Since Caiatl arrived in our galaxy solar system, she’s formed an alliance with the Vanguard. That seems like it will only complicate matters for her and Calus. 

A new empress forming an alliance with the Vanguard against other Cabal factions was a really huge and risky decision. We’re going to see her wrestle with that and try to find balance this Season. 

In addition to his quest for fun and revenge, what else does Calus have up his sleeve? The Leviathan looks different than it did the last time we saw it. It reminds me of the ship we saw a few Seasons ago in the Presage mission. That ship had ties to Calus, right? 

Calus has been doing some experiments using the artifact known as the Crown of Sorrow. The ship in Presage was part of that. Because of his partying, we don’t really think of Calus as an intellectual, but he’s been fascinated with learning more about the nature of the Darkness ever since that experience where he looked out into the void and felt like something looking back at him. 

I guess it would be foolhardy to assume we know everything Calus is up to. For example, we know the Leviathan is approaching the Pyramid ship on the Moon, but we don’t know why. Are you able to talk about that at all? 

We’re going to be learning a lot more about the history of the Black Fleet soon, so I don’t want to say too much, but there was spooky stuff happening on the Moon quite a way back. The Moon’s usually bad news in Destiny.  

It has that vibe about it. Sorry, Moon. 

We hope that you enjoyed learning about one of Destiny’s favorite Cabal icons. And we hope that when you step aboard the Derelict Leviathan this Season, this helps you appreciate the journey the ship has been on, and how you have now become part of its history.  

Season of the Haunted starts today. Everyone can play for free or unlock some of the Season’s extra features by picking up a Season Pass. On behalf of everyone at Bungie, we hope to see you in-game—writing your own legend in the stars.

After spending the last year untangling the webs of Savathûn’s lies, Guardians will now take the fight directly to The Witch Queen on her home turf – her enigmatic Throne World, a brand-new destination in Destiny 2. There, they will encounter a twisted maze of challenges as they uncover the mysteries of Savathûn and her Lucent Brood – Hive enemies now powered by the same Light that protects Guardians.

Today we’re going to dive into the campaign for The Witch Queen and give you a look at why this adventure is the most “definitively Destiny” campaign Bungie’s ever made. Don’t worry, lore lovers, we won’t be spoiling the storyline here. Instead, we’ll be focusing on the challenge and excitement that lies ahead and how the Bungie team dove deep to make this campaign one you won’t soon forget.

More is more

“One of the things that I think we did really well in this campaign is making every mission feel uniquely memorable,” said Destiny designer Andrew Hopps. “That was one of our tenets. We wanted each mission to feel like individual TV episodes from a season of ‘Star Trek’ or ‘The Mandalorian’ rather than a sliced-up movie. Each mission should be immediately memorable for its distinct themes, player journey, and unforgettable moments while still delivering the major campaign narrative arc.”

When speaking with the team about what direction they took for campaign missions, the same adjectives popped up over and over. Terms like “epic” and “unforgettable” and even “bombastic.” As development took shape, the team also looked to the non-campaign aspects of Destiny to gain inspiration, specifically dungeons.

For those who don’t know, Destiny dungeons are longer adventures that feature unique and often complex gameplay mechanics, storylines, as well as challenging opponents. They also offer greater rewards upon completion.

“We wanted to make the campaign missions feel a little bit more like a dungeon,” said Destiny designer Alex Pfeiffer. “Dungeons and Exotic missions like Presage are very aspirational and are very sophisticated, but not everybody gets to experience them. They’re very difficult, they require you to put a team together, and so we wanted to extract what makes those things special and bring it to a wider audience.”

In the new campaign, that sense of sophistication and challenge is found in many forms. Pfeiffer refers to the campaign’s epic new traversal sections as a good example, where Guardians will stretch their legs and explore massive locations that push the possibilities of movement. 

Looking back at the development of the campaign, Pfeiffer recalls an internal review of the build over the summer, where the feedback on the campaign was simple: add more of everything. “We got a bunch of feedback from leadership, and it was like, ‘Plus it up. This is good, but let’s just keep pushing it up.’” That “push” manifested itself in numerous ways – from those epic traversal sequences to bigger and better bosses, as well as new mechanics that borrow from the more complex rules-based gameplay found in dungeons and raids.

“There’s a lot of cool exploratory bits in our game, and that’s some of the best parts,” said Destiny producer Katherine Walker. “Just being able to learn and explore. The discovery aspect of understanding a new gameplay mechanic is a really cool part of [the new campaign].”

Destiny designer Matt McConnell agrees. “That’s where the comparison to dungeons really shines,” he said. “You look at a dungeon like Pit of Heresy and you remember, ‘Oh yeah, I used that Sword [and] that was a very memorable aspect. It was something I did in a fight that was very different than any other dungeon.

“Most of [The Witch Queen campaign] missions have an equivalent to that,” McConnell said. “They have something that sets them apart mechanically, and that makes them stand out from one another.”

During development, the team spent a great deal of time focusing on different levels of difficulty. After all, while dungeon-inspired mechanics and tough encounters are fun for some players, the point of a game’s campaign is to, you know, actually finish it. That careful tightrope walk was a constant source of discussion for the team.

“I think the shift players will notice is an emphasis on big action, exploration, and creating more tense encounters. There are more moments where it gets a little sweaty, but it’s accessible,” said Destiny Test Lead Nathan Thorell. “The Campaign is designed so that, whether you’re solo or in a fireteam, there is an appropriate challenge level for you.”

“We thought of it as a holistic experience,” said McConnell. “Like a story where you need quiet moments and peaks of interest and intrigue – and also difficulty – we wanted to have those align in ways that create a lot of variation in the experience.”

Become Legendary

Then there are those Guardians who are looking for something a bit more spicy. The kind of players who wake up and pour nails into their cereal bowls every morning. Beyond the epic scope and variety of the campaign missions themselves, the Bungie team wanted to make sure that those veteran Guardians who were looking for a fight found a level of challenge suitable to their skills. Thus, the introduction of Legendary Mode in The Witch Queen campaign.

Legendary Mode will be available from the start of The Witch Queen’s campaign – no need to beat the game first to enter this higher level of challenge. What can players expect? As Alex Pfeiffer puts it, the team was meticulous in their dedication to making Legendary just the right amount of sweaty, but also well worth the effort needed to get through it.

“We went in and very surgically tweaked variations on every encounter to match the higher difficulty,” Pfeiffer said, pointing to Darkness phases on big encounters, when a team wipe causes players to reset back to the beginning of the encounter, as an example. Not only did the team spend extra time working on a framework for these high-impact missions – including the number of major encounters, enemy strength, and so on – they worked hard to strike a balance so the player doesn’t feel overwhelmed.

“For the first time in a Campaign, you’ll have Campaign Banners that give you a full Super, ability energy, full ammo and when you successfully complete this really epic encounter, we give you double the rewards chests [compared to Normal Mode] on the first playthrough. All of this really raises the intensity level of the experience.”

“We wanted the rewards to feel more satisfying than ever, no matter which difficulty you choose. [Bungie’s] Joe Sifferman worked closely with the Rewards team to make that happen,” said Hopps. “At the same time, we also wanted to make sure players felt incentivized and rewarded for their time and effort if they were willing to rise to a greater challenge in the Legendary Mode. Players who conquer this higher difficulty will complete the Campaign closer to Raid-ready and earn additional unique rewards.”

“I actually got the chance to play through the entire campaign on Legendary towards the end of production,” said McConnell. “What Legendary Mode meant to me was that I finally got to break a sweat in the campaign. Even though I’ve been working on this team for so long and I’ve played that content to death every release, it felt like it was the first time where I wanted to put the controller down and just breathe heavily for a second… and then go right back in. It really was a true challenge and that felt new and exciting. It legitimately pushed me as a long-time player.”

As Hopps put it, “We want players to feel like they’re taking the ring to Mordor, not like they’re just leaving the Shire. So, every mission should feel like a grand adventure full of discovery. To do that you need to drive the player off the well-worn path and take them to interesting, unexpected places.”

Destiny 2: The Witch Queen launches today.

As Bungie celebrates its 30^th anniversary in 2021, we’re celebrating in the only way we know how: By continuing the party in Destiny 2 with our amazing community. As part of that celebration, we’re bringing back Gjallarhorn with a new Exotic quest that will grant players the opportunity to add the powerful Rocket Launcher to their arsenal.

While the Gjallarhorn of Destiny 2 will feel familiar to long-time fans, the team behind its return have included some fun twists that prove that even old… ahem, wolves can be taught new tricks. Recently we caught up with the Destiny development team to learn more about what went into the return of Gjallarhorn. 

Legacy of Boom

“Gjallarhorn was one of the first Exotics that really made you feel overpowered, especially against bosses,” said Bungie designer Brandon, who led the gameplay design on the weapon’s return to Destiny 2. When asked about the legacy of the weapon he added, “It was also incredibly elusive for players that didn’t buy it from Xûr in the early weeks of Destiny.” [Editor’s note: “Why would I waste my heavy slot on an exotic rocket launcher?”] 

Those who managed to snag Gjallarhorn from the vendor were lucky indeed; most players found it as a rare drop at the end of raids such as Crota’s End or Vault of Glass, among other sources. But even then, it remained elusive and (as such things are wont to be) highly sought after. As Brandon puts it, “Who didn’t scream out loud when they finally got the weapon to drop after months of grinding?”

Bungie’s Mark Flieg, a senior artist who worked on the visual effects (VFX) on Gjallarhorn in Destiny 2 as well as on the original weapon in 2014, thinks there are several reasons for its hallowed reputation. “It was one of the first Exotic weapons in the game, meaning there were far fewer other ‘hero assets’ to choose from (since you can only equip one Exotic at a time). It’s a beautiful weapon with a unique and regal look that set it apart from the others; and the ability to clear the playing field with a few shots made it a fun tool in your arsenal.”

That ability to clear a room is thanks in no small part to its intrinsic Wolfpack Rounds, where rounds fired splinter into multiple clusters of explosives tracking down their targets. As a result, a fireteam full of Gjally-equipped Guardians in the original Destiny would cause even the staunchest foes to cower in fear. 

For the weapon’s return in Destiny 2, the team gave the Rocket Launcher some timely updates that make it just as effective. Lead designer Brandon said the goals were to maintain that feeling of being overpowered that the original Gjallarhorn offered, while also giving it a touch up to compete with the Exotic Rocket Launchers found in the modern sandbox.

“There was no question that the Wolfpack Rounds perk from the original was a crucial part of the weapon’s identity, so we kept it as the intrinsic perk in Destiny 2,” he said. “We also wanted to update the weapon by adding a new perk called Pack Hunter which would give it even more power when using it in a fireteam.”

That new Pack Hunter perk is one of the prime examples of how Bungie can update a weapon for the modern sandbox, while still maintaining a weapon’s original flair. With Pack Hunter, Gjallarhorn extends the Wolfpack Rounds to Guardians in range who are wielding a non-Exotic Rocket Launcher. In addition, the Destiny 2 Gjallarhorn catalyst enhances the perk to create more Wolfpack Rounds when the initial round gets a final blow, and also gives the weapon two rounds in the mag.

“The Pack Hunter perk came about when we were thinking about the player experience in the original Destiny,” Brandon said. “Often fireteam leaders would require that everyone in the group have Gjallarhorn equipped for harder content such as raids, much to the dismay of players that didn’t have the weapon yet. I thought it would be fun to turn that idea on its head by making the perk require only a single person to have the weapon equipped while still allowing everyone in the group to ‘have’ Gjallarhorn.”

Beneath the Ice

The work of bringing Gjallarhorn into the modern age was a careful balance of past and present. As Bungie staff artist Matt Lichy says, “I wanted to try and keep the overall look that was crafted back in Destiny 1 as much as possible but bring it up to the current quality standards that we use now.” 

Lichy said he referred to the original textures of the weapon (built by former Bungie artist Mark Van Haitsma) and updated it for the modern game’s higher geometry budgets and new PBR (physically-based rendering) shader methods. Though the Destiny 2 Gjallarhorn does have some additional detail to the front of the weapon and its upper cowling, Lichy said the goal was to maintain the iconic look of the original.

“Weapon reprisals are what I’d consider ‘iceberg assets,’” said VFX artist Mark Flieg. “The final product that players see represents only a fraction of the work that goes into each one.” So what, then, was the “work hidden beneath the surface?”

“My primary focus [was] to drive the design and provide players feedback to their actions. If people are focusing on the VFX after the first few shots, however, I’ve missed my mark – my intention is to help you feel your shots, without taking away from the action.”

True to its namesake – the mythical Norse horn blown by Heimdall – Gjallarhorn is more than just its iconic look; it needed to sound great too. Bungie sound designer Noah Sitrin worked on making the wolf howl. 

“We wanted to make the weapon feel as special and powerful as players remember when they first got ahold of it in D1,” Sitrin said. “We also wanted to distill the weapon’s audio theme and spread it across every sound it makes. This meant leaning heavily into the ornate, wolfish, and larger-than-life qualities of the Gjallarhorn.”

While much of Gjallarhorn’s fundamental sounds – such as firing and its associated explosions – are relatively unchanged from the original Destiny, some of the secondary sounds were significantly upgraded. “I started from scratch on secondary sounds, such as reloads, handling, and targeting and packed a lot of character in to make it feel like a finely crafted, but brutal weapon. We used plenty of heavy mechanical elements, and animal growls morphed with synthesized basses to give it that intense, animalistic quality.”

If you already think the Wolfpack Rounds perk is cool, just wait until you hear it. Sitrin explained, “A big part of the fun in this new Gjally is being able to share the Wolfpack Round perk with your teammates. Initially, the only way you could tell if the perk was active was the short growly sound that plays when teammates get in range. This indicator gets the job done, but we felt that there was an opportunity to go for some stronger theming here. 

“We thought, ‘What better way to let you know wolfpack rounds are active than for everyone’s Rocket Launchers to howl as they fire?’ This change was really well received in playtests, and personally made me smile as soon as I got it working, so of course it had to stay.”

A labor of love – that’s what the return of Gjallarhorn has been for the entire team at Bungie. We look forward to seeing Guardians enjoy this reprised weapon and watching the videos of all those Wolfpack Rounds creating chaotic beauty across the solar system. Enemies of humanity, consider yourself warned! 

Bungie’s 30^th Anniversary Pack is available now.

At the start of Season of the Lost, the truth was revealed. In case you didn’t already know — SPOILER ALERT — Osiris wasn’t Osiris. In fact, Osiris hadn’t been himself for quite a while. Savathûn, the Sister of Shapes, the Witch Queen herself, revealed to Guardians that she had traded places with Osiris months prior, and had been sowing discontent in the Vanguard ever since, creating rampant speculation and spawning wild theories among Destiny lore hounds throughout the community along the way. 

And that’s exactly the way the Bungie Narrative team planned it.  

Over the past year the Narrative team has dug deep, planting the seeds of Savathûn’s deception throughout the game in unexpected ways. Today we’re looking back at some of these pivotal moments and talking with the team about what it was like to bring this story to life. 

The First Glimpse 

The Savathûn/Osiris narrative was the result of countless discussions within the Destiny Narrative team and something that was planned long before it unfolded in the game. The team had an overarching goal of raising the narrative stakes in the game without resorting to killing characters. They also knew they wanted to embed Savathûn into the Last City; as a born trickster, having her impersonate someone and walk amongst the people felt right in line with her character. Furthermore, the Last City was chosen because Savathûn knew it was the last place her sister and rival, Xivu Arath, would look for her.  

“From there it became a conversation in the writers’ room about who the best candidate was for her to impersonate,” said Bungie’s Senior Narrative Lead Julia Nardin. “We landed on Osiris because of his relationship with Ikora, his former apprentice, which gave Savathûn the most direct access to the Vanguard.” 

The first moment where the Witch Queen took over for Osiris came during Season of the Hunt. Early on, players found a series of audio messages from Mara Sov and Osiris in Zavala’s office. The line where Osiris declared that his Ghost, Sagira, had died in an attack – that was not Osiris at all, but rather Savathûn taking the Warlock’s place for the very first time, beckoning players to the Moon. For extra credit, Savathûn orchestrated the player’s first meeting with Crow, creating the situation where players witnessed him “rescue” Osiris from one of Xivu Arath’s minions.

What followed was a carefully calculated campaign of Savathûn manipulating people and spreading distrust and doubt within the Vanguard. Nardin said one of her favorite examples of this was how quickly Savathûn-as-Osiris tanked the initial meeting between Caiatl and Zavala at the start of Season of the Chosen. As soon as Caiatl proposed the alliance between the Cabal and the Vanguard, Savathûn stepped out of the shadows and began questioning Caiatl’s trustworthiness. 

As Nardin explained, “Savathûn couldn’t afford an official alliance between humanity and Caiatl’s Cabal, so she sabotaged it. But she did so in a way that prevented Caiatl from launching a full-scale assault on her hiding place, and when it came time to de-escalate the conflict she helped to create, she made sure that her solution kept all the players on her chess board.” 

Family Ties 

After assuming the identity of Osiris and driving distrust at every turn, it was inevitable that Savathûn’s ego would get the best of her and that her façade would ever-so-slightly slip. A good example of that was evident during the showdown against the High Celebrant in Season of the Hunt, where Savathûn-as-Osiris, in a prideful outburst, briefly belied her real attitude towards her sister Xivu Arath, claiming she “has no ambition.”  

“This line came from a discussion in the Narrative Writer’s Room where someone suggested, ‘What if Savathûn is really annoyed that Xivu Arath has no imagination and is basically just copying her?’” said Bungie Senior Narrative Designer Nikko Stevens. “It showed a little flash of who was behind the Osiris mask and was one more clue that there was more happening underneath the surface.” 

It just goes to show that even when control of the universe is at stake, there’s still room for sibling squabbles. 

A Step Too Far 

By Season of the Splicer, Savathûn’s schemes moved into even more dangerous and divisive territory. As Osiris, Savathûn leveraged people’s fears and distrust of the Eliksni refugees living among them, and weaponized it against the Vanguard through Lakshmi. When Saladin came knocking to make amends and help strategize, Savathûn implied that the people believed he was behind the earlier assassination attempt on Zavala’s life and turned him away. Every move she made continued to distance Zavala and Ikora from their existing allies. Perhaps worst of all, she used Osiris’s relationship with Saint-14 to try to get him to help overthrow the Vanguard.   

Yet all this subterfuge was beginning to take a toll on the Witch Queen. “Even though all this deception feeds her worm, this parasite that gives her power, it still wasn’t enough,” Nardin said. “Savathûn made so many mistakes during Season of the Splicer because she was in a great deal of pain. She was desperate, and when Savathûn gets desperate she gets sloppy.”  

For example, at one point, flustered and weary from months of shapeshifting, Savathûn stammers through a contradiction during a conversation with Mithrax, claiming the Black Armory has things under control. Sharp dialogue enhanced by a great performance from Osiris voice actor Oded Fehr really brings Savathûn’s momentary struggle to life.  

“We worked closely with Oded on the Savathûn-Osiris storyline twist,” said Stevens. “In fact, when we told him of the swap, he was delighted and immediately adjusted his performance for Season of the Lost to sound more like ‘Savathûn-as-Osiris.’” 

Savathûn Revealed 

Throughout multiple Seasons, the team worked to bring the Savathûn-as-Osiris plot to life in different ways. Still the team knew that “the big reveal” would need to make an impact. They also knew that many players would have seen information on The Witch Queen after the Destiny Showcase in August, so the decision was made to put Savathûn’s admission front and center immediately in Season of the Lost.  

“At the time we were working on Season of the Lost, we didn’t yet have a character model for Savathûn, so we had to get creative with her onscreen transformation and how she’d maintain a physical presence in the world leading up to Witch Queen,” Nardin said. “So much of game development is finding solutions to these sorts of challenges, especially when we’re walking multiple creative paths at the same time.” 

The Savathûn reveal was the payoff for all the breadcrumbs and subtle nods that were threaded throughout the last three Seasons and a grand setup for the action yet to come. Guardians now know the truth and, while Savathûn’s deceptions have been revealed, the fallout is something that Guardians will be contending with in The Witch Queen expansion, in Season of [REDACTED], and beyond. 

Interested to know what happens next? Don’t miss The Witch Queen when it’s released on February 22, 2022! 

With the launch of Beyond Light on November 10 we released our first next-gen improvements, with additional enhancements announced for release on December 8. Best of all, Destiny 2 owners who play on PlayStation 4 are able to upgrade to the optimized version on their new PlayStation 5, completely free.

As soon as PlayStation 5 launched on November 12, owners began making use of the console’s ultra-fast SSD hardware to improve load times significantly. The faster load times affect systems throughout Destiny 2. From starting the game to loading UI elements, and even navigating through menus; multiple heavily trafficked areas of the game were upgraded to become smoother and more responsive.

And launch was only the beginning. With today’s update, the next-gen optimized version of Destiny 2 brings console players a series of firsts. Destiny 2 will be playable at an awe-inspiring 4K resolution. But making the game look incredible was only half of the equation. Knowing how crucial fluid gameplay is to the action MMO, Bungie bundled this improvement in graphical fidelity with a buttery smooth 60 FPS. That’s 4K at 60 FPS – a first for Destiny 2 on console.

Along with this responsive high-resolution presentation, another Destiny 2 first is included with this update: A customizable field of view slider. This hallmark of FPS gaming is a powerful feature that allows players to modify the way their character visually interprets every environment in the game. It’s an incredibly personal aesthetic that provides players with a custom way to view the world of Destiny 2. Think about whether you like pictures that are zoomed in and highlight specific subjects, or if you like pictures that are wider and allow you to take in an entire scene – the control to choose a view that feels natural is now at your fingertips.

Coupled with the aesthetic improvement a custom field of view slider provides are numerous gameplay implications. When your view is wide, you can see more enemies, but those enemies are also much smaller and harder to aim at. Conversely, narrow your view and targets become much larger, but your peripheral vision is much more limited. No one option is “best” for everyone and every situation and therein lies the importance and power of this new feature.

The only thing more impressive than these new features might be the seamless way players can upgrade to the PlayStation 5. In the past, console developers and game studios have faced a question when creating new hardware and updates to their games. Namely: Do players who upgrade lose their ability to group and adventure with players who do not upgrade? Furthermore, in a time when so many players have multiple ways to log into Destiny 2, are players asked to have multiple accounts, characters, and progress on each platform they use and own?

The answer to both these questions is a resounding “no.” Bungie worked with Sony to ensure that PlayStation 5 owners are able to continue playing with everyone on PlayStation 4. Dividing the Destiny 2 universe was never an option. Bungie also made sure to provide players with Cross Save, a feature that empowers players to carry their characters and progress between multiple platforms. So, regardless of where you’re at: On the couch, at your desk, on your phone, previous generation or next generation, your characters are always available, and your friends are always a fireteam invite away.

Great care was taken to ensure that nothing players had grown to love about the world of Destiny 2 was sacrificed. The feel of controlling a Guardian, the critically acclaimed gunplay and arial action is all present and familiar. And now, everything looks better, loads faster, and is more customizable.

The stars have truly aligned for the launch of both Beyond Light and PlayStation 5. The new version of Destiny 2 steps into the next generation of gaming and as it does, Guardians take a giant leap into the frozen frontier of Europa. Power has certainly taken a new form, it’s in 4K, and it’s available today.

For some creators, there’s an alchemy in video games that draws them to work in this space. There are unique experiences that can only live in this interactive medium. Within the universe of Destiny, some of those experiences look like Scourge of the Past or the Leviathan. Behind each of those projects are hundreds of people in the pursuit of something unexpected – something new.

Two of the people involved in those raids are Brendan Thorne and Andrew Hopps. Over the last seven years, they’ve worked together on more than 10 raids and dungeons that have pushed the boundaries of what an action MMO like Destiny 2 can do. The latest project they worked on went live a week ago with the launch of Season of Arrivals and takes players into a pocket universe created by the mysterious entities known only as the Nine. Welcome to Prophecy. 

The rules that govern this pocket universe allowed the team at Bungie to experiment with a bunch of exciting mechanics and ideas that players have never seen before. To call this dungeon unique would be an understatement.

We had a chance to sit down and talk to Brendan and Andrew about the new dungeon and how it fits into Season of Arrivals – the latest chapter in Destiny 2’s evolving story about the last of humanity raging against the dying of the Light.

It’s nice to meet you both. Can you give us an idea of who you are and what you’ve contributed to at Bungie?

Andrew Hopps: I’m the world lead on the Raid team. I’ve been at Bungie for almost eight and a half years. I started out on the Cosmodrome, but eventually worked on the Dreadnaught which naturally led to working on the King’s Fall Raid – I never left the Raid team after that.

Brendan Thorne: I’m a senior designer on the Raid team and I’ve been at Bungie since a year before launch – so almost seven years. I think Crota’s End was the first thing Andrew and I worked on together. No wait, it was Vault of Glass. Wait no, King’s Fall was the first thing we started. Sorry. Welcome to quarantine day 3000 — everything is starting to blend together.

Speaking of quarantine, what’s it been like working from home?

Andrew: Efficiency feels really good, playtesting is definitely the most challenging.

Brendan: It helps because the whole team already knows each other and we understand each other’s personalities.

That’s good to hear. Can you give us an idea of how Prophecy began? It’s such a different take on a Destiny dungeon.

Andrew: It started with us aligning with the Creative Leadership team to figure out where this dungeon was going to take us. We were really excited about going to talk to the Nine. The Nine’s realm is a really cool place that we haven’t explored a lot. We have The Reckoning and some PvP maps but that’s about it.

Some wild stuff came out of the prototypes and it worked really well with the Nine theme. After that, we went to Robbie Stevens (creative lead) and Tom Farnsworth (design lead) and started talking to them about how to integrate it into their plans for the Season.

How did those conversations go? Can you talk about how the dungeon fits into that larger Season of Arrivals and Beyond Light story?

Brendan: We know the Darkness is coming back and we finally get to explore the question, “what exactly is the Darkness?” This is something that’s still shrouded in mystery. So, when Eris and the Drifter send you to the Nine for answers – as wild as that sounds – it’s a smart trail for Guardians to follow.

Andrew: It’s intentionally vague because we didn’t want to spoil the mystery. We put clues into the dungeon knowing that players will theorize over the meaning. Later on, we’ll be able to help them understand.

Brendan: I hope players are going to look at this dungeon and realize that Bungie has been telegraphing this for a while. Like those major events with cataclysmic ramifications that reverberate throughout the universe and change everything. It’s surprising in the moment but when you look at it in reverse you can see exactly how it came to be.

Did working with the theme of the Nine give you an opportunity to do anything you wanted or was it constraining because of how mysterious they are?

Brendan: I think it was an opportunity. We wanted this to be extraordinarily different from the previous two dungeons, Shattered Throne and Pit of Heresy. Those have a distinctly old school dungeon crawler feel to them – with descents through all these forbidden places. Generally, when we start with a project, we talk about what the themes are. I think for this one it was “new perspectives,” right?

Andrew: Yeah. That came about after some prototyping. Once we started experimenting, we knew we wanted to go off the deep end with the abstract look. The Nine are all about that.

Brendan: We try to pick a really understandable set of thematic experiences and verbs – in the last one, it was “use a sword in different ways to defeat enemies.” In Prophecy, the thematic experience is “use Darkness and Light as a tool.”

Andrew: That fit really well into the “new perspectives” theme as well. When we started talking about how the Darkness is coming, it all tied together.

Brendan: Other than going into a dark tunnel and your Ghost turns on its light, I don’t think we’ve ever used light as a game mechanic. Like actual volumetric lights.

Andrew: Right. I don’t think so either.

Brendan: I can’t wait for people to see what Madison Parker (senior lighting artist) did – it’s like a dungeon in a really awesome modern age art gallery designed by MC Escher.

Did you run into any snags or interesting challenges?

Brendan: There are challenges with playtesting that come about when working from home.

Andrew: Something that helps is having experts in the studio to help test. We started calling them the Kraft Singles because they’re individual players from Team Velveeta – internal expert players that try to find cheese. They’re some of the best players in the studio and they helped test the dungeon so we could better tune the difficulty.

Brendan:  Even if players end up finding cheese, sometimes that stuff is so cool. We want people to use the dungeon like a playground. I’m expecting a lot of YouTube videos and GIFs.

Andrew: Someone is going to sword-fly across this whole thing and we’ll think it’s really cool.

It really sounds like the kind of dungeon that people are going to want to play over and over again because of how unusual it is.

 Andrew: There are plenty of reasons to play the dungeon more than once a week, so I’m pretty happy how that went.

Brendan: Yeah, I am too. One thing that’s going to suck about working from home is that we’re not going to be able to be in the Bungie theater watching players run through the dungeon and experience it for the first time. Because there’s some really cool stuff in this dungeon – not just mechanically. It’s so visually breathtaking and disorienting that I can’t wait for people to see it. I’m going to have like ten Twitch streams up on the first day.

The Prophecy dungeon went live on June 9 and is free for all players. Hop in today to earn the dungeon-exclusive Daito armor.