Destiny 2’s Season of the Deep brings plenty of new content to Destiny 2 beyond the standard seasonal activities, like fishing, a new dungeon, and even a planet that was previously vaulted in the Destiny Content Vault. Along with all the new activities, Season of the Deep also introduced underwater encounters into Destiny 2. While many fantasy shooters tend to avoid letting players explore underwater locations, one franchise in particular should follow in Destiny 2’s footsteps, and potentially take this feature to the next level.
Borderlands and Destiny arguably have a lot that they could teach each other, and after the latest Season of Destiny 2, underwater exploration deserves to be added to this list. While Destiny 2’s underwater encounters don’t allow players to engage in combat, this could be a great opportunity for Borderlands to build upon the feature. Given how Borderlands games have already experimented with unique environmental dynamics and features, underwater exploration could be right at home in any future Borderlands game regardless of allowing combat.
Destiny 2’s Underwater Exploration Has Plenty of Room to Grow
The new Ghosts of the Deep Dungeon and the current seasonal activities in Destiny 2 feature encounters where the player can explore underwater, although it’s actually methane instead of water. Air bubbles exist in fixed locations throughout Destiny 2’s underwater encounters and players must use them to manage their air pressure levels or risk the possibility of suffocating. In general, the underwater sections take the game to beautiful new environments, although these encounters often serve as a transition between the true encounters in a given activity. The Ghosts of the Deep Dungeon has entire encounters dedicated to underwater exploration, but there’s arguably still room to grow the underwater exploration mechanics.
Destiny 2’s underwater encounters are a nice change of scenery, but the case can be made that Destiny 2 should build upon the current mechanics. A major contributor to the power fantasy in Destiny is the class skills, including movement abilities, and the underwater sections prevent players from using anything beyond a single jump. While it could also be worth exploring how Destiny 2’s variety of guns could perform underwater, not allowing any type of skills or abilities is somewhat of a missed opportunity. It’s unlikely that Destiny 2 will overhaul the underwater mechanics to allow combat and abilities, but Borderlands could very well step up to this challenge, given its history of unique environments.
The Borderlands Franchise Already Has the Makings for Great Underwater Environments
Borderlands games, particularly Borderlands The Pre-Sequel, have a good foundation of environmental dynamics that affected player mobility. Certain planets and locations with decreased gravity allow an extra layer of mobility options, essentially giving players a double jump. Environmental mechanics didn’t end up carrying into any of the succeeding Borderlands games after Borderlands The Pre-Sequel, though they still pave the way for underwater exploration to make an appearance at some point in the Borderlands franchise.
Underwater exploration could also reintroduce Oz Kits back into the Borderlands franchise, which allow players to manage their oxygen levels in environments where oxygen is not present. Oz Kits were designed for use on desolate planets, although they could fit perfectly in any underwater setting. There’s also the extra layer of combat allowed by Oz Kits, where players could remove an enemy’s Oz Kit and cause them to take suffocation damage over time by landing enough critical hits. Gunplay and skills from Borderlands’ Vault Hunters could also make or break an underwater exploration, assuming it allows combat, and after the environmental mechanics of Borderlands The Pre-Sequel, combat is a must for underwater exploration in a Borderlands game. While Destiny 2’s underwater exploration is a good starting point, games like Borderlands have a lot of room to expand upon this feature.
Destiny 2 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
