The Darkness Strikes Back in Destiny 2 Reveal

Greetings, Guardians!

After three years of extensive quest lines, countless raids, hundreds of hours of engram farming, a handfuls of DLCs – with a few delays here and there – Bungie finally gave its fans a taste of what’s to come Thursday morning with the first look of the anticipated sequel to Destiny.

Sure, it was all cinematics but it sure does look pretty! From the look of things, The Tower has fallen, The City has been conquered and many guardians (along with the legendary handlers?) perished in the battle. Now displaced, undermanned and outgunned, players must grind their way back to the top against a more imposing Cabal force led by GARY! (real name: Ghaul) The scariest of all the Cabal Ultras, obviously.

In what was likely the first of many looks until its September 8 release, Bungie also announced that the first in-game reveal will occur on May 18 during a livestream. Additionally, Destiny 2 will have an open Beta, yet those who pre-order will receive first access. So how what exactly does one receive?

First off, PS4 will retain its exclusive content (sorry, XBOX) and after a lot of hooping and hollering, the Destiny franchise will finally be available on PC. The standard edition of the game will retail for $59.99 US; it will also be packaged with an Expansion Pass bundle at $89.99 US.

A Deluxe Edition will also be available – with exclusive digital content for $99.99 US. Last but not least, a Destiny 2 Collector’s Edition featuring a steelbook case, Cabal-themed collector’s box and Frontier bag – will be priced at $249.99 US.

Say what you will about how Bungie handled the delivery of its content and expansions with the first game, its developers and community managers have said all the things players have wanted to hear, namely creating a richer story. The Destiny community remains one of the more loyal and consistently active social gaming networks, and for the most part, their voice matters in the evolution of Destiny.

Now that The Tower and the guardians within appear to be in dire straits, can this massive shift in narrative reinvigorate interest in former players and inspire newbies to jump into the expansive franchise… or will past disappointments about a lack of strong narrative and underwhelming DLC content – as well as the high price for top tier pre-order packages – keep gamers leery? We’ll know by September!

Destiny 2 – featuring the voice talents of Lance Reddick, Nathan Fillion and Gina Torres – is developed by Bungie and published by Activision.