Destiny 2: Beyond the Light, some considerations on the expansion one month after launch
Rising from the ashes
We are back in 2010, Bungie had finished its work with Halo and was preparing to perform what English speakers call "fresh start", or a brand new restart . A one-of-a-kind project came to life: a very particular and ambitious shared universe MMOFPS with the code name "Project Tiger". The peculiarity of this project should have been the game world, which should have had a life of its own, a layered world full of mysteries in which players would have to lose themselves year after year, mission after mission.The ten-year agreement with Activision Blizzard gave Bungie full control over intellectual property and the reasons that led to delay the launch from 2013 to 2014 are to be found in some differences between the co-founder of Bungie, Jason Jones, and the lead writer, Joseph Staten, on the linearity of the mission structure, too simplistic and very reduced for the visionary ideas of the first. What threatened the birth of Destiny, turned into a moment of union, of intense creative development that led the famous "Iron Bar" of Bungie to the publication of Destiny a year after the start of the rewrite. Several years have passed since then and the one that characterized the production path of Oltre la Luce shares some nuances with what happened seven years ago. We understand why.
The new expansion is not the usual breath of fresh air in a video game service, it is not the classic graft of contents that will die in a few months, fueling the momentary fire in the hearts of the fans. What we will see in November is the first step of the plan illustrated to us months ago with which Bungie intends to give life to the initial idea, not of Destiny 2, but of the original Destiny. The creation of the second chapter, as we know, caused a great fracture in the community, going to undermine the foundations of the entire project. What was supposed to be the true vision of Bellevue's house project, the gleaming Destiny 2, crumbled under the weight of his own, limping footsteps. Absence of content, almost total cancellation of what was created with the original chapter and a decidedly shaky post-launch support.
The beginning of the second chapter was thunderous in its tumble. The events arising from this stumbling block are now history: the loss of a part of the user, the differences with Activision and the increasingly oppressive inability to ring up content, one after the other. The Forsaken and all the choices that came with it were the beginning of the recovery, but the shadow of a possible Destiny 3 to reset everything, again, has always been so overwhelming over every decision of Bungie that we had to wait for 2019 to understand. if the project could take a decisive turn. Ombre dal Profondo, in 2019, was therefore what we could consider a prelude to the real revival plan. Thus we come to 2020, when Bungie finally announced future projects: no Destiny 3, complete restart in autumn 2020 and two annual expansions for 2021 and 2022 to complete the initial vision of a ten-year product. Together with all this, the inclusion of an online archive that allows developers to turn content on and off according to their needs to constantly offer a universe that "has a life of its own", exactly as per the will dated 2010.
Solid foundations for a certain future
But how many times have we talked about the decisive moment, the last chance? We said it: many, too many. But what is different now are the facts. Bungie placed its universe at the center of the project, took the lore, the narrative context, the fascination of its sci-fi world and placed it at the center of the wheel. Plots will close, points will join and everything will make sense. The project is also long and unique, no more disconnected branches and unanswered questions. The tiller is straight and you navigate to a predetermined point, no longer in sight. The goal is to arrive at the expansion of 2022 with a possible and probable "The End" peremptory and total to be placed on the screens of the players. To do this, however, in addition to effectively communicating its desire to position the plot at the center, through dedicated trailers, peculiar missions and in-game choices in this prologue consisting of the Season of Arrivals, Bungie has also opted for well-rounded gameplay choices. defined.The key to reading is the Bungie Vault, that is the archive mentioned above and the arrival of the game on Game Pass. After the Free to Play breakthrough of New Light and with the choice of returning to create a single universe for all with the original objectives of "Project Tiger", Bungie had to find a way to recover the rift created by the creation of Destiny 2. I two cornerstones of this secondary mission, but not too much, have therefore been the turnaround on the content issue, which guarantees veterans burned by the "second chapter" affair to return to play most of the contents of the first Destiny (see the Vault of Glass during the first months of Oltre la Luce) and secondly the diffusion of the new Destiny project to as many users as possible.
The landing on Game Pass was chosen precisely for the diffusion. A tool suitable for the mission, in our view, which guarantees access to many contents at a monthly cost that is not prohibitive and which increases the attractiveness of the project for all those who want to approach now, intrigued by Beyond the Light.
Finally, a purely playful detail. The new beginning, the restart or more simply the resurrection of a project born many years ago, it is no coincidence that it coincides with the advent of one of the most powerful and desired moments by passionate users: the use of darkness. This moment, which will take place from November 10, will be a symbolic moment not only for the beginning of the tangible deepening of one of the most fascinating and mysterious aspects of the entire universe created by Bungie, but above all because the advent of a new subclass and / or new powers has always coincided in Destiny history with key moments (The Taken King and Forsaken) that have marked in one way or another the gamer experience in a positive way. A kind of good omen if we will.
Our hope is well placed, in our opinion, because since the announcement of this project, Bungie has shown in the choices and in the facts that it wants to pursue a unified and well-defined vision. Do not stumble with Beyond the Light would mean getting out of the stalemate created with Destiny 2, it would mean relaunching definitively in the final sprint towards a decent and glorious conclusion of a project that for better or for worse has marked the history of video games and has become the protagonist of a double generational leap.
