Highlights

  • The Pale Heart in Destiny 2's Final Shape expansion offers a unique and diverse experience for players, setting a new standard for future locations.
  • The large multi-biome structure of the Pale Heart provides players with a variety of environments, from lush lands to dark wastelands.
  • The Pale Heart's manifestation of players' experiences since Destiny's inception makes it a standout and sets it apart from other locations in the game.

There is a multitude of new content in Destiny 2's Final Shape expansion, including the epic conclusion to the franchise's decade-long Light and Darkness Saga. While there are plenty of things to write home about in The Final Shape, like the Prismatic subclass, the new Exotic class items, and the new Supers, the new Pale Heart location is quite possibly the breakout star of this particular Destiny 2 expansion.

The Pale Heart of the Traveler is the latest location to be added to Destiny 2, and it comes as a significant part of the Final Shape expansion. As players progress through the campaign for The Final Shape, they will see more and more of the Pale Heart beginning to take shape, especially the closer they get to the Witness' Monolith. Destiny has never seen a location like the Pale Heart, as it provides players with a diverse experience that fully sets it apart from every other location that has ever been featured in Destiny 2 or its predecessor. There is little reason why the franchise shouldn't consider using the Pale Heart as a blueprint for any locations it adds to the game in the future or any that might be featured in a potential sequel to Destiny 2.

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Destiny 2 Prismatic Guardian with episodes roadmap
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Destiny's Future Locations Should Look to the Pale Heart for Inspiration

Destiny 2's Pale Heart Is a Reimagining of Everything Guardians Have Seen for the Last Ten Years

To understand why the Pale Heart is such a unique location, it's important to first understand what the Pale Heart is from a lore standpoint. According to Cayde-6 in The Final Shape, "the inside [of the Traveler] is a composite of the outside. You're gonna see some things you recognize, and some things you don't." To be more specific, the Traveler responds to whoever is inside its Pale Heart by transforming according to what that individual has seen and experienced.

Everything seen in the Pale Heart is a manifestation, albeit a strange and often exaggerated manifestation, of what players have seen since Destiny in 2014. This is precisely why players enter the Pale Heart seeing an abstract reconstruction of their first moments in the world of Destiny, and why the environments grow darker the closer they are to the Witness' Monolith. While this all fits in with The Final Shape's story, it also makes the Pale Heart one of Destiny 2's most distinct locations and sets a standard for the future.

Destiny 2's Pale Heart Is a Massive Open Area With Multiple Biomes

Destiny 2's Pale Heart zone is one of the largest the game has ever seen, giving players plenty of ground to cover. Apart from its scale, its role in Destiny 2's narrative allows it to offer something most of the game's other locations have never been able to offer: multiple biomes. When players first enter the Pale Heart, they will find themselves in a lush, green land full of life and saturated with bright colors. However, as they move closer to the Witness' Monolith, these environments begin to decay and grow darker, meaning players can be standing in an oasis one moment and in a barren wasteland the next.

The Pale Heart's multi-biome structure not only makes it a one-of-a-kind experience in Destiny 2, but it also ensures players always have something fresh to look at. If they grow tired of staring at the dark, twisted deserts found closer to the Witness' Monolith, players simply need to backtrack toward The Final Shape's version of the Tower from Destiny for a brighter, more lively environment. While Destiny has always given players multiple locations to visit, each with its own biome, the Pale Heart's diverse layout makes it hard to want to go anywhere else. It would be a shame for the Destiny franchise to forego this approach to future locations, so perhaps they should draw inspiration from the Pale Heart.