What’s New in Destiny 2: Forsaken

Today’s gaming landscape is littered with titles with long lifespans that are sustained by post-release content, some of which can completely redefine a game or imbue it with another meaningful dimension of new gameplay. Destiny 2 is one such title: Nearly a year after the original game’s release, its latest expansion, Forsaken, promises to be one of its most expansive and ambitious yet. What’s most remarkable about the game is that it pays special attention to the endgame experience, ensuring that players will have the incentive to explore and compete in the world of Destiny 2 long after they’ve finished the new campaign content.

Warning: spoilers to Destiny 2 ahead

There’s a revenge story at the heart of Destiny 2: Forsaken. At this year’s E3, we watched as fan favorite Exo Hunter Cayde-6 died at the hands of Prince Uldren, a sinister character who originally appeared in the first Destiny game. Behind Uldren stood the Baron’s of Scorn, monstrous enemies that had previously been held captive at the Prison of Elders and who serve as Uldren’s dangerous new allies.

Though Uldren’s motivations for killing Cayde-6 are as of yet unknown, the cinematic was shocking. Players will be entering Forsaken with the knowledge that one of the series’ most beloved characters will die but they won’t know exactly when or why. Grounding the expansion in emotional tension, however, is a smart way of keeping players engaged and compelled to see Forsaken’s story through to its end.

In addition, players will have two massive new playable areas to explore: The Tangled Shore and The Dreaming City. The Tangled Shore is where players will hunt for Uldren and the Barons, navigating a picturesque landscape populated with rock formations and Fallen architecture. The Dreaming City, on the other hand, is Forsaken’s endgame destination, home to ancient puzzles, powerful treasures, and a brand-new Raid.

Forsaken also includes a new game mode: Gambit. It’s a complex new 4v4 mode that marries both competitive PvP and cooperative PvE elements. In Gambit, opposing teams are stationed in their own separate arenas, both of which are infested with AI enemies that can be defeated to harvest “motes.” Players can carry up to fifteen motes at once and must deposit them into their team’s bank before dying (or else risk losing all of them!).

Depositing motes in amounts of five, ten, or fifteen allows teams to send blockers — AI combatants who prevent players from banking more motes — to their competitors’ arena. Teams can send a player into their enemies’ base once they reach the respective amounts of 25 and 50 motes, while at 75 motes they are able to summon a Primeval, a massive opponent that must be defeated in order to win the game.

The mode is a graceful way of bridging the gap between the two distinct combat experiences that Destiny 2 offers, granting players who like team-based raids but tend to shy away from the Crucible as a way of engaging with other human players in a competitive context.

With a gripping storyline, vast new playable areas, and a PvPvE game mode that’s unprecedented in the world of Destiny, Forsaken will breathe new life into the game and ensure that players will want to stick around after they get to the bottom of Cayde-6’s tragic demise.

Destiny 2: Forsaken is out Sept. 4 for PC, and you can get the game here.