Destiny 2: Forsaken

Destiny 2: Forsaken
Developer(s)	Bungie
Publisher(s)	Activision
Composer(s)	Michael Salvatori C. Paul Johnson Skye Lewin
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4 Xbox One
Release	September 4, 2018
Genre(s)	Action role-playing, first-person shooter
Mode(s)	Multiplayer

Destiny 2: Forsaken is a major expansion for Destiny 2, a first-person shooter video game by Bungie. Released on September 4, 2018, as the third expansion of Destiny 2, it revolves around the player's Guardian seeking to avenge the death of Cayde-6 by the hands of Prince Uldren Sov. Uldren, corrupted by the Darkness, is in search of his lost sister, Queen Mara Sov, both of whom were thought to have died in Destiny: The Taken King. Along their journey, players face the Scorn, undead versions of the Fallen race that have been revived and morphed into a new race. Forsaken adds content across the game, including new missions, Player versus Environment locations, Player versus Player maps, player gear, weaponry, and a new raid. Upon the expansion's release, retailers also issued Destiny 2: Forsaken Legendary Collection, which includes the Destiny 2 main game, Forsaken, and the previous two expansions, Curse of Osiris and Warmind.

Its release coincided with patch version 2.0 for Destiny 2, which made fundamental changes to the core functionality for all players to mark the start of "Year Two" of the game's lifecycle. Through the development of Forsaken, Bungie sought to address criticisms from players and critics; many changes to the game were direct responses to this.

Gameplay

Main article: Destiny 2 § Gameplay

In comparison to the previous two expansions of Destiny 2, Forsaken features a "full campaign" with two new patrol areas in the Reef, the Tangled Shore and the Dreaming City (the latter which serves as the end-game area), four new multiplayer Strike missions (one of which is a PS4-exclusive), and a new mode which combines elements of Player versus Environment (PvE) with Player versus Player (PvP). A new raid was also added, called "Last Wish", as well as a new horde mode called "Blind Well", both of which take place in the Dreaming City. The developers claimed that it has more bosses than any previous raid (including from the original game) with a massive roam area, puzzles, and the raid will change over time based on players' actions in the raid itself. A new weapon type, a bow and arrow, was also added. The EXP level cap was raised to 50 and the Power level cap was raised to 600.

The new mode that combines PvE and PvP is called Gambit, a best-of-three rounds mode featuring the Drifter as its non-player character (NPC). A 24-hour free trial of the mode was made available to all players on September 1, 2018, three days prior to the launch of Forsaken. In this mode, two teams of four players compete against each other by defeating PvE enemies. Enemies, when defeated, drop motes which players can pick up and deposit in a bank in the center of the arena. Depositing 5, 10, or 15 motes sends small, medium, or large enemy blockers, respectively, to the opposing team's arena and locks their bank; the opposing team must defeat the blockers in order to reactivate their bank. Every 25 motes deposited opens a portal where one team member can invade the other team's arena. Motes are permanently lost if a player is defeated by a PvE enemy or a member of the opposing team. After depositing 75 motes, a boss will spawn in the middle of the arena; if a team member is defeated by an invading member of the opposing team, the boss regains health. The first team that defeats their boss wins the round.

Plot

Forsaken focuses on Prince Uldren Sov, who, along with his sister, Queen Mara Sov, were thought to have died at the onset of the Taken War three years prior. Uldren is in search of his lost sister, believing her to still be alive. The Guardian and Cayde-6 travel to the Reef, where they aid Petra Venj in securing a breakout from the Prison of Elders by an enemy called the Scorn, which are undead Fallen that have become their own race. However, during the assault, Petra discovers that someone else had released the prisoners and escaped. Cayde goes to find them, only to be attacked by the Scorn and his Ghost is destroyed. The Guardian and Petra attempt to rescue Cayde, but Uldren, who was behind the breakout, murders Cayde with his own handgun before fleeing; as Cayde's Ghost was destroyed, he is unable to be revived.

The Guardian takes Cayde's body back to the Tower, where Ikora Rey holds a funeral for the fallen Vanguard. Ikora wishes to pursue vengeance against Uldren, but Commander Zavala refuses to go to war in order to protect the Traveler and the Last City. Without the support of the remaining Vanguard and only a small lead from Ikora, the Guardian sets out to hunt down Uldren and avenge Cayde, tracking him and the Scorn to the Tangled Shore, a lawless wasteland in the Reef. The Guardian is contacted by Petra, who introduces them to Spider, the leader of a Fallen crime syndicate, and establishes an alliance. With help from Spider and Petra, the Guardian sets out to eliminate the eight Scorn Barons, one by one. Meanwhile, Uldren, who was corrupted by the Darkness after the Battle of Saturn, is apparently guided by visions of Mara to free her, and takes a shard of the Traveler from the European Dead Zone.

After the Guardian eliminates six of the eight Barons, they are contacted by Petra, who informs them that Uldren is headed for the Awoken Watchtower in the Tangled Shore. After defeating the sixth Baron, the Machinist, the Guardian, aided by Spider's crime syndicate and Petra, assault the Awoken Watchtower and eliminates the final Baron, known as the Fanatic. The Guardian makes their way through the Watchtower, as well as the Ascendant Realm in search of Uldren, who offers the shard and his own Darkness to open a gateway to the Ascendant Realm. Instead of Mara, however, Uldren is devoured by a grotesque creature called the Voice of Riven. The Guardian slays the abomination, releasing a weakened Uldren. They retrieve Cayde's gun, and soon after, Petra arrives, with Uldren adamantly declaring that everything he did was for his sister. The Guardian and Petra then point their weapons at Uldren and execute him, avenging Cayde.

After Uldren's death, the Guardian speaks to Petra and is presented with a broken Awoken talisman. They set out to repair it with Light and Dark energies, and after doing so, they meet her at the Awoken Watchtower again. The Guardian follows her into the Awoken homeland, the Dreaming City, where Petra attempts to contact Mara Sov using an Awoken device. The Guardian and Petra repair the device and establish contact with the Queen, who became trapped in the Ascendant Realm during the Taken War. She reveals that the Taken corruption in the Dreaming City, as well as Uldren's corruption, were caused by Riven of a Thousand Voices, a powerful dragon-like creature called an Ahamkara that can grant wishes similar to a genie, and the last of her kind, who was taken by Oryx during the war. The Queen then opens the Dreaming City to Guardians in hopes of ending the Taken threat by killing Riven. A fireteam of Guardians assembled by Petra make their way through the Keep of Voices in the Dreaming City, freeing two Awoken Techeuns, Kalli, the Corrupted, and Shuro Chi, the Corrupted, from their Taken corruption. They advance further and kill Morgeth, the Spirekeeper, and unlock a maximum-security Awoken vault before facing Riven herself. After killing her, the Guardians take Riven's heart out of the keep to be purified by Shuro Chi and Kalli, unwittingly unleashing the Taken curse upon the Dreaming City in the process.

Following the corruption of the Dreaming City caused by Riven's last wish, the Guardian continues to work with Petra against Hive and Taken forces over the course of three weeks. On the third week of the curse, a fireteam of Guardians enter Eleusinia, the Throne World of Mara Sov, in order to end the curse. They fight their way through and find Dûl Incaru, the Eternal Return, a powerful Hive Wizard and daughter of Savathûn, a Hive god and sister to Oryx. The Guardians defeat Dûl Incaru and seemingly end the Taken curse. However, the curse reverts the Dreaming City to the state it was in after Riven was killed, indicating that the Dreaming City is caught in a time-loop.

Release

Forsaken is available as paid downloadable content (DLC) to owners of Destiny 2 and its two existing expansions, Curse of Osiris and Warmind, and is priced at US$40—double the price of the previous two expansions individually. Forsaken is also available as part of a new SKU of Destiny 2 known as the Destiny 2: Forsaken Legendary Collection, which features the game and all downloadable content up to and including Forsaken. A Digital Deluxe Edition is also available and includes extra DLC, such as a legendary set of armor. Per an ongoing exclusivity agreement with Sony Interactive Entertainment, certain content in Forsaken is exclusive to the PlayStation 4 platform until fall 2019. This content includes a Strike, a gear set for each class, a ship, and an Exotic weapon. Furthermore, players who purchase Forsaken receive an item that boosts one character to the minimum level needed to play Forsaken's content.

Post-release content

See also: Destiny 2 post-release content

Upon release of Forsaken, Bungie also released an Annual Pass that players can purchase either bundled with or separate from Forsaken. The Annual Pass includes three pieces of premium downloadable content to be released in Winter 2018 and Spring and Summer of 2019. The Winter 2018 content drop will be called "Black Armory", which will be followed up with "Joker's Wild" in Spring 2019 and "Penumbra" that summer. Content in these content drops include new endgame challenges, new weapons, armor and "vanity rewards" to collect, new and returning Exotics, new pinnacle activities, new triumph records to collect, and new lore to discover. Additionally, Black Armory and Penumbra will include a new raid lair each. The "Festival of the Lost" holiday event will also return in October 2018.