Since Destiny 2 was released in 2017, the live-service looter shooter has experienced many facelifts over the years. Across its development, Bungie broke away from Activision, went independent, sold itself to Sony, went free-to-play, vaulted old content, and remixed classic raids—all of which serve both the developer and in-game narrative.
In the game's current state, Bungie adopted the seasonal model that many live-service games implemented to ensure frequent content rollouts, with every new Season advancing the game's mechanics, features, and storyline. After nearly six years and 23 Seasons, it can be a bit much to keep track of.
Year One: Destiny 2
Year One was the launch of Destiny 2, the highly anticipated sequel to 2014's ground-breaking looter shooter. Aside from the base campaign, it included two expansions, Curse of Osiris and Warmind.
Red War
Destiny 2 exploded on the scene in 2017 with the Red War, the first campaign that saw every guardian fighting for survival against Ghaul, the commander of the Cabal Red Legion. Red War introduced new patrol zones like Titan, Nessus, and Io, along with the game's first raid, Leviathan. Although this content eventually went free-to-play for all players, Bungie has since vaulted all Red War content as of the Beyond Light expansion.
Curse of Osiris
The first Destiny 2 DLC was released in December of 2017, not long after the events of the Red War concluded. Curse of Osiris introduced the patrol zone Mercury, along with a new story campaign consisting of eight story missions that pit guardians against the Vex and developed the relationship between Osiris and Ikora Rey. Bungie has since vaulted all Curse of Osiris content as of the Beyond Light expansion.
Warmind
Months after Curse of Osiris came the Warmind expansion in May 2018. This story DLC focused on Anastasia Bray's attempt to reconnect with the warmind Rasputin in order to defeat the Hive Worm God Xol, Will of the Thousands. Warmind, while not content-heavy overall, has since been vaulted as of the Beyond Light expansion.
Year Two: Forsaken
Year Two is when Bungie shifted tactics. Rather than rely on "big" expansions, the studio would produce smaller, more frequent Seasons to alleviate content droughts. Forsaken and its subsequent Seasons marked a high point for Destiny 2.
Season of the Outlaw
Year Two kicked off in September 2018 with the Destiny 2 expansion Forsaken, which brought the immediate death of Cayde-6, an iconic character that hailed all the way back to the original Destiny. From there, the Guardian hunted down the Barons of the Scorn (a brand new enemy type) and Uldren Sov, in a thrilling revenge story. Additional new content included the Tangled Shore and Dreaming City patrol zones, the Gambit game mode, the Combat Bow weapon type, and additional weapon system reworking. The Forsaken expansion also fell victim to the Destiny content vault.
Season of the Forge
Light on story content, Season of the Forge Destiny 2 DLC introduced the Black Armory, a large vault protected by Ada-1. Meanwhile, the Kell's Scourge leader (an offshoot of the Fallen) attempted a break-in, and it was up to the Guardian to prevent this from happening. Season of the Forge, released in 2018, was the first seasonal content that Bungie structured between annual expansion drops that continue to be released every Fall. The Black Armory has since been vaulted as of the Beyond Light expansion.
Season of the Drifter
Season of the Drifter launched in May 2019, placing Gambit front and center with an updated mode called Gambit Prime that relied more on team strategy and cooperation. Lore was lightly touched upon in this Destiny 2 DLC that concerned the Nine and their status in the universe, with an additional PVE activity called the Reckoning thrown into the mix. The seasonal narrative has since been vaulted as of the Beyond Light expansion.
Season of Opulence
The last seasonal content of Destiny 2 Year Two DLC was Season of Opulence, which went live in June 2019. The Crown of Sorrow raid and the Menagerie game mode took center stage during this season, which encouraged replayability for grinding rewards. Although Calus, the Cabal Emperor, has proved a thorn in the Guardian's side, players worked together to gain the Chalice of Opulence, an in-game item that helped players unlock more loot.
Another limited-time event called Solstice of Heroes took place during Season of Opulence and encouraged players to grind for Year Two Solstice Armor. Many elements of Season of Opulence, like the Menagerie and the seasonal narrative, have since been vaulted as of the Beyond Light expansion.
Related: All Destiny 2 Campaigns in Order
Year Three: Shadowkeep
Year Three's Shadowkeep expansion was met with mixed reviews. Some felt the campaign was too short, whereas others were too blown away by the appearance of a Pyramid ship to even notice. The Seasons also received mixed reviews, with some of the worst and best to date.
Season of the Undying
The Destiny 2 expansion in Year Three took players back to the Moon, a fan-favorite patrol zone from the original Destiny. Nightmares have sprung from the Moon's shadows, and Eris Morn calls upon the Guardians for assistance against a long-dormant power. Throughout the campaign, players encounter shadow demons of old familiar bosses like Crota, Dominus Ghaul, and Taniks. This expansion, released in October 2019, also brought forth the Garden of Salvation raid, the Pit of Heresy dungeon, and nine additional supers across the three main player classes.
Season of the Undying launched alongside Shadowkeep upon release. This season introduced the Seasonal Artifact, a new mechanic that players receive at the start of every season. Moreover, the Seasonal Artifact helps players unlock weapon and armor mods while providing a power bonus.
Season of Dawn
Launched in December 2019, Season of Dawn sent the Guardian back to Mercury to aid Osiris against another Red Legion fallout. Along the way, players met Saint-14, one of the most famous Titan Exos who is brought to the present after the Guardian uses the Sundial item. Bungie also expanded upon the seasonal content framework with a free track of seasonal rank rewards players earn by gaining experience. A premium track with more consistent rewards was also implemented in this Destiny 2 DLC, which was available as a Season Pass for $9.99. Bungie has since adopted this premium format for each season, which also grants access to weekly story missions and additional content.
Season of the Worthy
Marking the tenth season of Destiny 2 DLC expansions, Season of the Worthy launched in March 2020. The Cabal continued wreaking havoc across the galaxy, causing Commander Zavala, Anastasia Bray, and Rasputin to recruit the Guardian to prevent a deadly crash against the Last City. Bungie also brought back Trials of Osiris, the competitive team game mode that tests each player's endgame skills. This season introduced Legendary Lost Sectors on EDZ & the Moon and also the Guardian Games, an annual class competition where Titans, Hunters, and Warlocks prove themselves most worthy.
Season of Arrivals
Mysterious pyramids emerged from the darkness in Season of Arrivals, which was released in June 2019. Most notable within this Destiny 2 DLC was the new Prophecy dungeon that balanced the forces of light and dark. Umbral Engrams were also introduced in this season, which allowed players more freedom to focus on the type of gear, stats, and perks received on a reward's roll. Season of Arrivals also marked one of the first global events in Destiny 2, where players conglomerated the Tower and watched as the Traveler healed itself in the sky.
Year Four: Beyond Light
Beyond Light is where the wheels started to fall off. Bungie began taking away content, primarily for the sake of keeping install size down. It wasn't well-received then and is still a black mark on Bungie's record.
Season of the Hunt
The third major Destiny 2 expansion launched in November 2020 with Beyond Light. The story campaign revealed the pyramids were conversing with Eramis, the Fallen Kell of House Salvation. The balance of good versus evil finally turned grey as the Guardian embraced the Darkness in order to stop Eramis' empire at all costs.
With the Darkness embraced, so too brought forth the new Stasis subclass, a dark power that freezes enemies (and infuriates Crucible players). Other new additions include the Europa patrol zone and the Deep Stone Crypt raid. Meanwhile, the Guardian worked with the Crow during Season of the Hunt, a mysterious figure who was revealed as none other than Uldren Sov returned from the dead, memory wiped clean of his previous actions.
This expansion served as one of the hardest resets for the game, one that saw tons of old content vaulted and stored outside of the game, a developer decision that saw mixed results from the player community.
Season of the Chosen
Unfortunately, the events of Beyond Light did not completely eliminate the Pyramid Ships that continued destabilizing the system. As a result, Empress Caiatl, leader of the Cabal and daughter of Calus, requested an alliance with Zavala. As is the way with Guardian/Cabal negotiations, the meeting devolved into a firefight. And so, the Guardians created the H.E.L.M., a Vanguard War Table that ensures immediate response against those threatening the galaxy, ala Avengers-assemble style. The Season of the Chosen Destiny 2 DLC went live in February 2021.
Season of the Splicer
Released in May 2021, Season of the Splicer has the Guardian work with Mithrax, the iconic Fallen Kell, to thwart Vex technology that poses an unknown danger. Now its own dedicated location above the Tower on the Destinations map, the HELM developed into more than just a Vanguard War Table. Season of the Splicer also re-introduced the Vault of Glass, a classic raid from the original Destiny. Throughout the season, Trials of Osiris and Iron Banner are available, along with the return of Solstice of Heroes in July 2021.
Season of the Lost
Mara Sov, Queen of the Awoken, has returned. Her deceased brother, Uldren Sov, has risen as a Guardian under the new name of Crow. Xivu Arath is making her presence known and Savathun was revealed as the mastermind behind the Endless Night. The Hive Queen of Cunning now comes to the Awoken Queen seeking aid in removing her worm. In exchange, she will release her hold on the Warlock, Osiris.
Related: How to get the Thunderlord Exotic Catalyst in Destiny 2
Year Five: The Witch Queen
The Witch Queen and its Seasons might be the best that Destiny 2 ever was, rivaled only by Forsaken. The story beats were incredible and brought hope back to a lot of players.
Season of the Risen
Savathun, the Witch Queen and sister of The Taken King Oryx has returned. This time, the Light has sided with the Hive, creating the Lucent Brood. It was released in February 2022 and had Guardians return to Mars to partake in the new weapon crafting system before heading to Savathun's Throne World to foil her plot of stealing the Traveler.
As if that weren't bad enough, another Pyramid was located in her Throne World. This led Guardians to the Vow of the Disciple Raid as their hands were already full with the Wellspring activity. Void 3.0 was introduced, and the Light subclass was reworked in a fashion similar to Stasis. In an effort to thwart the plans of Savathun, the Vanguard worked with the Cabal to infiltrate the minds of the captured Hive and figure out their schemes.
Season of the Haunted
Calus returned in May 2022 with his Leviathan and attempted to commune with the pyramid on the Moon. In order to stop him, the Guardian, Crow, Commander Zavala, and Empress Caiatl boarded the gargantuan ship and confronted their worst nightmares. Solar received the same update that Void had in the previous expansion, and the new Duality Dungeon was released. The Solstice was reworked for its return this year.
Season of Plunder
In August of 2022, Eramis, Kell of Darkness broke free from her prison. The Guardian, working with Mithrax, Eido, and the Drifter, takes to the cosmos to do a pirate-style battle with the Spider's ketch. The last of the Light subclasses, Arc, saw its 3.0 rework. The Kings Fall raid from Destiny's The Taken King expansion also returned to challenge Guardians in new and exciting ways.
Season of the Seraph
Xivu Arath, Hive God of War, is working with Eramis, Kell of Darkness, to take over Rasputin's warsat network. The Guardians, alongside the Bray family, must work to restore the fractured warmind and reclaim its network. After doing so, Rasputin decided the best path forward without playing into the Darkness' hands was to destroy himself. This coincided with the Pyramid fleet arriving and the Traveler leaving Earth.
During this time, Google Stadia was shut down, and Destiny 2 players needed to set up cross-save before losing their data. Crucible received an overhaul. Deep Stone Crypt weapons can now be crafted and receive a new perk pool. Destination Materials were made obsolete, and vendors like Devrim Kay and Failsafe had their reputation systems removed. Operation: Seraph's Shield acted as DSC-lite, and Spire of the Watcher launched as the latest dungeon.
Year Six: Lightfall
For how good The Witch Queen was, Lightfall was equally disappointing. From the largely pointless campaign to Seasons of questionable quality, players were not happy. Then, on October 30, 2023, reports began coming in that Bungie had laid off 8% of its staff. Suspicions about Bungie pulling resources away from Destiny 2 and only putting out the minimum viable product were being confirmed.
Season of Defiance
With Calus being instated as the Witness' latest disciple, the former Emperor of the Cabal is waging a two-pronged assault against the Light. Guardians have to fight on both Neptune and Earth against overwhelming odds. Season of Defiance launched with Lightfall on February 28, 2022.
Season of the Deep
Season of the Deep had players returning to Titan. Except, instead of bringing the vaulted location back, Bungie created a room that acted as a hub that was stationed on Titan. Guardians worked with Taken-afflicted Sloane and the proto-worm, Ahsa, for a Season whose story resulted in "Talk to Savathun to figure out what's going on."
Season of the Witch
Season of the Witch is one of the most important Seasons in Destiny history, but many players won't see the whole picture thanks to it being locked behind Grimoire entries and secret cutscenes. By working with Savathun's Ghost, Immaru, Eris Morn is able to transform into a Hive God and nullify the threat of Xivu Arath. All of this is done off-screen and ultimately renders Rasputin's death entirely pointless. It's the prime example of Bungie delivering some amazing lore in the worst way possible.
Season of the Wish
Announced on November 7, 2023, Season of the Wish is sparse on details at the moment. It will be available on November 28, 2023, and the promotional art (above) features Guardians potentially fighting alongside an Ahamkara. This could tie up the Dreaming City saga and give players a resolution on the fabled 15th Wish.
Year Seven: The Final Shape
Originally intended to be released in February 2024, The Final Shape has been pushed back with no date given yet by Bungie. This expansion marks the culmination of Destiny's 10-year saga. Given all the news related to the layoffs in October 2023, many are worried about skeptical about Bungie delivering a satisfying resolution.
Echoes, Revenant, and Heresy
Bungie intends to get away from the Seasonal content model and instead will deliver content in larger episodes. All of the available information, of which there is very little, is in the roadmap above. All signs point to these episodes being the last of the Destiny 2 content unless something drastic happens.
For more Destiny 2 goodies, check out What is the current Destiny 2 season? on Pro Game Guides.
Published: Nov 8, 2023 04:22 pm