Highlights
- Destiny 2 will transition from its seasonal model to a new episodic approach after the release of the Final Shape expansion, offering players a fresh content experience.
- The new content model, called Episodes, will run for four months instead of three, and feature story acts instead of seasonal quest lines, allowing players to choose when to play each episode.
- The showcase revealed artwork for the upcoming episodes, hinting at involvement of enemy factions like the Vex and the Hive, bringing exciting new storylines and possibilities for players to explore.
Bungie has revealed that Destiny 2 will be moving away from its seasonal model to adopt a more episodic route after the launch of the Final Shape expansion. The annual Destiny 2 showcase revealed many details about the looter shooter's future, including the narrative direction of The Final Shape and the fallout, the new dynamic destination, returning characters, new gear, and much more.
Destiny 2 refreshes the available content on a three-month cycle as a part of its live-service offerings. Titled Seasons, these offerings include new and returning multiplayer PvE activities, refreshed raids with improved mechanics and rewards, new dungeons, new gear, new destinations, and more. Seasons also continue the ongoing storyline of Destiny 2, bridging the gap between expansions and providing an engaging medium to develop the game's universe and the various characters. Yet the model isn't without its faults as previous seasons, such as Season of the Hunt and Season of Plunder, are still considered to be failures by many in the community and fuel the conversations regarding a change in the system.
In the official annual Destiny 2 showcase, Bungie finally pulled the curtain on the game's future, beginning with The Final Shape. The showcase also revealed that following the conclusion of The Final Shape, Destiny 2 will embrace a new content model for its live service offerings called Episodes. Episodes will run for four months instead of the current three-month seasonal runtime. Episodes will also feature story acts instead of a seasonal quest line, and players can opt in to play any episode at any time. The showcase further revealed that the first iteration of this model will feature three episodes, called Echoes, Revenant, and Heresy.
Throughout the showcase, Bungie clarified that the names and the demonstrated artworks are subject to change and should be taken as such. Nonetheless, it is interesting to see Echoes featuring a Vex unit in the art, as Bungie mentioned involving the temporal enemy faction in future Destiny 2 content. Furthermore, the artwork for the Revenant episode showcased The Fanatic, who has been missing since the Forsaken expansion and has the power of resurrection, matching the name. The art for the Heresy episode featured several Hive swords, indicating further storylines involving the Witch Queen and possibly even Xivu Arath and Oryx.
The evolution is likely to bring hope to many in the community who have wished for a change in the ongoing seasonal model of Destiny 2. The shift from Seasons to Episodes is still far off, as The Final Shape is scheduled to release in the final week of February 2024.
Destiny 2 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
