As Season of the Deep comes to an end, Bungie have finally dropped the curtain on the finale to the light versus darkness saga. Today’s showcase was chock-full of reveals and details on everything you can expect when The Final Shape launches on the 27th of February next year.
Become Legend
The Final Shape marks the final expedition of Destiny’s first saga, which sees us venturing into the Traveler to finally confront The Witness. Fitted with the old Tower and memories of adventures long-past, The Final Shape’s narrative serves as a conclusion to our journey as Guardians. Bungie specifically mentioned their desire to pay-off the confrontation with The Witness, while also making us feel nostalgic for our previous journeys.
The Traveler is asking us for help, and all allies and Guardians have to rally together in the face of oblivion. The Final Shape will answer questions of the grandest scale, but also offer a personal journey, deepening relationships with the Vanguard and out Ghosts. While the campaign is a huge part of The Final Shape, there was specific mention of everything coming to a head with the raid, and hints at something afterwards.
Cayde’s Return
For lapsed players, Cayde-6’s return is a big point in The Final Shape’s favour. While he isn’t back from the dead, he will serve as a catalyst for other characters, acting as our guide through The Pale Heart. Bungie mentioned that this is how the story had to end – there is no end without Cayde. As expected, Nathan Fillion reprises his role as everyone’s favourite exo Hunter.
All-New Light Subclass Supers
While not the full subclass suite we got with Lightfall earlier this year, The Final Shape is still bringing new elemental firepower. Each class is getting one new super; Solar for Warlock, Arc for Hunter, and Void for Titan.
The Warlock super is a callback to Destiny 1’s Radiance super, buffing abilities and allies. Titans get Void Axes that are thrown onto the battlefield, and can be picked up after the fact to use on enemies. Hunters have access to an Arc knife that is thrown and blinked to with an AoE attack on landing, which can be done up to three times. Each class is also receiving new Aspects for their respective subclass.
More Guns? More Guns
Following in Lightfall’s footsteps, preordering The Final Shape right now nets you the Tessellation fusion rifle, which adapts to your subclass element. While we didn’t see much of what else is coming, there was some teasing of a Golden Gun-like Sniper, and a gun made out of inspiration from the Traveler’s death laser. There’s also some exotics returning from Destiny 1, with new weapon subfamilies like rocket pistol sidearms, and support frame auto-rifles that can heal allies.
The Pale Heart Holds The Key
The Pale Heart is The Final Shape’s premiere location. Infinite, vast, and unknowable, The Pale Heart is a fraction of the space found inside the Traveler. It’s got some crazy weird and abstract designs (lots of hands), that has been shaped by The Witness. The Pale Heart will also shape itself around our experiences as a Guardian.
Perhaps most interestingly, is that this is Destiny’s first linear destination. Things start in safety and comfort but slowly escalate in danger as you approach The Witness’s monolith. Things are being reshaped and reconstructed – only wrong. There looks to be a grand sense of scale in the environment overall, and Bungie mentioned that The Pale Heart will change and react to what the player does after the campaign.
Subjugators Are A Brand-New Enemy Unit
With The Witness throwing virtually everything it has at us, it’s safe to expect some new enemy types. The Subjugators are new units reminiscent of Rhulk, a disciple of The Witness. These powered-up units can wield Stasis and Strand, freezing and stringing up Guardians on the field like it’s nothing – very cool.
Beyond The Final Shape
Hot off the heels of seasonal fatigue, we got a glimpse at what content is going to look like after the launch of The Final Shape. Instead of the typical seasonal model, Bungie is moving towards Episodes instead; three larger content drops across the year. The first three are called Echoes, Revenant, and Heresy respectively.
Each one is comprised of a 3 act structure with new offerings in each act. Missions, Artifact Perks, Season Ranks, and more. It looks like it should lead to a healthier cadence of content overall alongside the returning Dungeons. Bungie expressed intently that The Final Shape doesn’t mark the end of Destiny, and Episodes are proof of this.
New Quality Of Life Inclusions
A new expansion always means new quality of life inclusions as well. While there are no doubt more to be revealed, there were some notable ones mentioned during the reveal. Firstly, some activities will introduced fixed power levels, with high-end content mostly staying the same. Fireteam Power makes it easier to brings friends into aspirational content by raising power levels fireteam-wide.
The previously mentioned Fireteam Finder is an in-game LFG system coming in season 23. It’s setup with tags and customization to allow players to find like-minded Guardians. Timeline Reflections are an all-new feature added in Season of the Witch, letting players replay missions with key narrative beats from previous expansions.
Season of the Witch Is Lightfall’s Next Season
Season of the Witch was also revealed alongside The Final Shape, which is live right now. After Season of the Deep’s revelations, we work with Immaru and Eris to revive Savathûn in the hopes she knows how to chase The Witness.
First, we have to contend with Xivu Arath and help Eris fully realize her new power as a Hive. New activities, new weapons, the Exotic Mission Rotator, new PvP content, and a reprisal of Destiny 1’s Crota’s End raid are just some of the things you can expect with Season of the Witch.
There’s still two seasons to go before The Final Shape launches in February of next year, and we’ll no doubt get more information in the coming months. There’s plenty to be excited about as we ramp up to this epic climax, and it seems like Bungie are firing on all cylinders to deliver. The Final Shape launches on February 27th, 2024, and Season of the Witch is live right now.
