Forsaken

Bungie unveiled the Forsaken today in a live stream accompanied with a ViDoc delving into what we can expect to come in year two and it's way more than I expected. Let's dive right into it, no fluff, no bull, let's talk.

New Tone

The new campaign is going to kick off with a brand new story. It's darker, edgier, grittier, and has a tumbleweeds in space vibe, which is all centered around bringing depth back to the game. There's a plethora of new challenges to be had which will be discussed below, and more than once it's been stated up front there will be new secrets and lore to find.

The base of the story is that Cayde has been filling up the Prison of Elders this whole time, I mean did we really expect him to stay put in the Tower? But now the prisoners have broken free, the Reef has become a realm of lawlessness, and there's eight Fallen Barons who have dramatically changed to what they are now. Ruthless killers and silent assassins run amok, each Baron having it's own threat and challenge to defeat.

As usual it's up to us to beat back the hordes. Again.

This time it's different though, there's a noticeable change of atmosphere to which it seems the Vanguard is letting us off the leash to deal with the problem as we please. No more whining Zavala rattling our ears, no overly cautious Ikora using too many double sided hints, just us and Cayde, taking on the new frontier.

Did I mention we're getting nine new additional Supers?

Notice Zavala and Petra on the left with a power level of 516 on the right. I'm calling it right now, this is how the dialogue is going to go:

Petra: I need your help.
Zavala: I can't do that.
Petra: (Turns with sass)
       Cayde and your favorite Guardian are already involved.
       So, between your blue Awoken butt and them, you have to help.
Zavala: ...Indeed...

Welcome Home

Welcome home, Guardian, this is where all the endgame activities are going to be for the duration of Forsaken and probably the three seasonal events afterwards.

Dreaming City itself is meant to serve as the destination of such along with more difficult challenges and secrets to be discovered. It also somehow ties into the new raid although it wasn't said as to how, and I don't think it'll just be the opening area like VoG and WotM had. This place is most likely where our new vendor will be much like any other, off to the side out of combat but easily accessible and in the heart of the themed architecture.

Tangled Shore looks like someone dropped mom's prized vase and tried to to stick it back together with chewed out gum, which is awesome. It'll serve in conjunction with Dreaming City, providing more playable areas yet there was nothing that eluded to what exactly we can do here. Well, other than misstep and suddenly fall into oblivion.

I'm intentionally not stating every single little thing for those that want to discover the bits and pieces for themselves, because if you're like me you're going to be in every little corner trying to find all the interesting pieces. Additionally, it's stated that the Dreaming City can be affected in multiples ways such as:

• There will be puzzles to be solved.
• Secrets in corners, passageways that weren't there before, ect.
• Constantly evolving and changing.
• Can be changed by Raiders in progress for everyone in-world.
• New secrets that are revealed over time.

I highly recommend taking your time in this place, because what you might see one day might not be there the next. Make sure your capture gallery or screenshot folder is thoroughly cleaned out because I'm pretty sure there will be plenty to take pictures of.

Players vs Environment vs Players

This is exactly as crazy as it sounds and it's going to be spectacular. Gambit is an all new mode in which two teams of four go into separate arenas, kill enemies to gather Motes, and have to deposit them into Banks. Here's the kicker, you can lock the other team's Bank so they have to defeat a mini-boss to open it back up. It's smash and grab inside of a horde mode while trying to survive.

It gets better.

You can also use Motes to open up a portal that will transport you to the opposing team's arena so you can kill them where they stand. It's a high stakes game of keeping an eye on the radar at all times, remembering the objective, and controlling the enemies' numbers. The goal is to fill your bank enough to summon the Primeval, the final boss, first so you can kill them off, whoever kills them first wins.

It will be a separate menu choice along side Strikes and Crucible, so you can bet it will have matchmaking. My only hope is that this comes with Guided Games for those of us who like to sherpa, and also has a private match option so it can be it's own tournament option.

It's like Escalation Protocol and Prison of Elders fused together, yet somehow a little bit of Shaxx snuck in the back end as a surprise and made it a real party.

Collections & Triumphs

I swear if someone says there's nothing to do two weeks after Forsaken drops I'm going to turn this whole fireteam around and no one gets ice cream! In all seriousness though Collections and Triumphs are back and they won't be easy to obtain.

Accomplishments are obviously things that are done in game but can potentially have a title over your name which shows off what you've done and legitimizes your bragging rights. Or, this was mentioned as a possibility but it wasn't seen. While it wasn't revealed on stream what we will have to do to complete the challenges the Vanguard, Crucible and Gambit are all involved.

For Collections we have the usual armor, weapons, exotics, sparrows, ships, and Ghosts but there's more. There's also a separate Lore tab, to which we will be collecting different sections of lore that don't come in linear fashion but are permanently readable inside the character menu. Rejoice my fellow Lore nerds, we have new things to talk about! Think of it as in-game Grimoire.

Another thing I want to point out with this new expanded menu is that within the Exotic and Emblem collections you can actually purchase them there if you dismantled or store them. So, if you dismantled that Twin Rabbit tracking missile exotic you can buy it from the menu for a small price without having to go back to the Tower. How handy is that?

Don't worry, you don't have to rely purely on that Cryptarch we've all come to hate, there will be some items that will point towards what activity that particular item will drop in. And if you think you're going to be able to just go in and slam all the nodes out because you already did them, you're dead wrong.

Other New Stuff

Here's what else you have to look forward to: - Weapon Slot Changes - Weapon Randomization - Mod system update - Bulk shader deletion - New Crucible mode - 4 New Crucible Maps - 200 Vault slots, 500 total - New Bounties - Power Matters in Iron Banner & Trials - Brand New Raid - All-New Weapon Archetype, Legendary Bow - New Story Missions, Adventures, Destination Activities, and more

Annual Pass Events with unique thematic shifts: - Winter 2018: Black Armory - Spring 2019: Joker's Wild - Summer 2019: Penumbra

July 17th

Can't wait until September? Here's what you have to look forward to in July: - Solstice of Heroes Seasonal Event - 6v6 Quickplay - Permanent Rumble Playlist - Bounties - Prestige Raid Lairs - Year 1 Triumphs - More exotic armor changes

My Opinions

From a professional opinion this is what we've been wanting as a community, it's been a long time coming, and if it truly was full transparency on the reveal stream then I have no doubt we're going to be more than happy with Forsaken. There's plenty to do, much to explore, and there's something for everyone.

From a personal opinion... [Insert fangirling screams that only dogs can hear.]