Destiny 2 players know that the game's Halloween-themed event known as Festival of the Lost is coming later this month because of the roadmap for Season 8. But outside of the fact that Festival of the Lost is happening, Bungie has yet to reveal any official details about the event and what it will bring this year in comparison to past years' events.
Festival of the Lost is an event that has happened three other times across Destiny 2 and the original game, so this year will be its fourth iteration. It has always involved earning and wearing masks albeit in differing ways each event. Ahead of an official announcement from Bungie, some digging and observations from some keen-eyed fans give a pretty clear hint as to what players will be doing during Festival of the Lost this time around.
When does Festival of the Lost 2019 start?
Festival of the Lost begins on October 29th and runs until the weekly reset on November 19th. That means the three-week duration of this Festival of the Lost event matched the length of the event last year in Destiny 2, although it is a week longer than the two-week iteration of Festival of the Lost that players experienced in Destiny 1.
Will the Haunted Forest be back in Festival of the Lost 2019?
Last year, Destiny 2 introduced the Haunted Forest, a spooky event-specific version of the Infinite Forest from the Curse of Osiris DLC. Players were tasked with defeating as many enemies and bosses as possible within 15 minutes. They earned Fragmented Souls from completing Haunted Forest runs and bounties, which could then be spent at event host Amanda Holiday for masks, shaders, emblems, and the Horror Story auto rifle.
It appears that the Haunted Forest will be back this year. That is based on the Festival of the Lost emblems, "Terror's End" and "Deep in the Woods" that track enemies defeated and the deepest branch reached within the Haunted Forest. Both of which have both been updated to include a counter for
"Terrors defeated 2019" and "Deepest Branch 2019." So, then, it looks very likely that the Haunted Forest will be returning in 2019.
As a side note, the bosses within the Haunted Forest last year were called Nightmares, but with Nightmares becoming a key part in the latest Shadowkeep expansion with story and Nightmare Hunt missions, it appears that Bungie has changed the name of the Festival of the Lost bosses to Terrors instead of Nightmares.
Will Festival of the Lost have an exclusive weapon like Horror Story?
From the looks of it, Festival of the Lost 2019 will include another auto rifle that will be earned exclusively through the event. The name and full information of the auto rifle is classified within the game's database, but fans were able to find this weapon UI picture.
Horror Story was earned by turning in enough Fragmented Souls, but players will have to wait and see how exactly this new auto rifle will be unlocked. Last year, Horror Story was offered at the level cap, which helped give players a high-level item, so it will interesting to see if the same thing happens with this weapon.
Will there be an exotic quest in Festival of the Lost 2019?
Last year, Festival of the Lost introduced an exotic quest that eventually led to the exotic machinegun Thunderlord. While it is unknown if this year's Festival of the Lost will also have an exotic quest, there is an exotic quest for the exotic machinegun Xenophage that is scheduled to begin the same day the event starts on October 29. According to the database, players will get Xenophage from Eris Morn on the Moon, so it leads to some interesting speculation whether Eris will also be the primary quest giver for Festival of the Lost, considering that she has returned to the game in Shadowkeep. And she's definitely the spookiest character to have host Festival of the Lost.
However, a dungeon is also scheduled to release on that same day, so the quest could potentially be tied to that activity as well. Others have speculated that the quest is tied to banishing the Nightmares that haunt Eris through that ongoing weekly quest. No matter what, this is the least known detail about the event, so players will have to wait until October 29th to see for themselves how this pans out.
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with a Stadia version also in development.
