At Gamescom 2019, Destiny 2 has revealed a new cinematic trailer for this fall's Shadowkeep expansion and its accompanying Season of the Undying. The trailer is narrated by character Ikora Rey and speaks about the Vex and the Black Garden, an enemy race, who along with the Hive, will play a major role in the upcoming expansion and Season 8. In fact, the next raid, Garden of Salvation, takes place in the Black Garden.
Shadowkeep releases October 1st, delayed earlier this month by developer Bungie from its previous launch date of September 17th. Shadowkeep will bring back the Moon as an explorable destination from Destiny 1, which will also see the return of fan-favorite character Eris Morn. Obviously, much of Shadowkeep and Season 8's content is focused on the Hive who have established a new fortress on the Moon.
But the Hive won't be the only enemy race of focus in the upcoming season that will also kick off Destiny 2's Year 3. Bungie has mentioned that the Fallen are also active on the Moon. And, as mentioned, the Vex are also playing a major role in Season of the Undying.
The release of this cinematic trailer is just one more step on a road of reveals for Shadowkeep leading up to its release, which started in earnest last week when Bungie hosted a live stream where the developer took a deep dive into the new Armor 2.0 system that is completely revamping how armor works in Year 3.
It's possible that some more information about Shadowkeep will be revealed this week over the course of Gamescom, but the next major reveal on the roadmap will be about how seasons are changing in Destiny 2 and, after that, a reveal about PvP. There is also likely to be a reveal of an unannounced mode coming in Shadowkeep, which remains a mystery at this point.
Besides new content, Shadowkeep will make gameplay, systems, and sandbox changes, some of which were detailed as part of a three-part written commentary from franchise director Luke Smith released last week; such as changes to Prime Engrams, how new Seasonal Artifacts will impact gameplay and level progression, new pinnacle power sources, an increase to power scaling, and reworks coming to PvP and matchmaking.
Shadowkeep is Bungie's first Destiny 2 expansion since splitting from Activision as its publishing partner and having the additional development help of a handful of Activision's studios. Bungie is taking full control of the franchise as it self-publishes all expansions and future games itself into the future, so Shadowkeep is Bungie's first chance to show fans how things will change now that Destiny is fully controlled by Bungie.
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep releases on October 1, 2019 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with a Stadia version also in development.
