Destiny 2: Bungie Pulls Back The Curtain On The Final Shape Expansion And Season Of The Witch

We’ve known for a while now that Destiny 2 developer Bungie has been bringing players closer and closer to the end of the War of Light and Darkness. The Final Shape will be the last expansion in this decade long story line. The game launches February 27th, 2024. 

Bungie says in The Final Shape, Guardians will confront their ultimate adversary, The Witness, alongside companions from their years of adventures in Destiny 2, like Ikora Rey, Commander Zavala, and Cayde-6, who has somehow returned after dying in the game’s Forsaken expansion. The Final Form will bring players into the heart of Traveler in order to finish the War of Light and Darkness. 

The reveal trailer of The Final Shape is below. 

Bungie has announced that a brand new raid is set to launch in 2024. This will be shortly after The Final Shape’s release. The launch of this new raid will include a World First Race. 

“During the campaign of The Final Shape, Guardians will explore a mysterious new destination – The Pale Heart, located inside the Traveler,” a press release read. The Pale Heart, shaped not only by The Witness’s influence but also by the Guardians’ journey and their history, will include nostalgic callsbacks from the entire history of The Light and Darkness Saga. This includes an original version of Destiny Tower.

Bungie says with The Pale Heart being the first “linear destination” in Destiny history, it will also gradually evolve. 

This expansion includes three new Super abilities and Aspects forms – Void for Titans, Solar for Warlocks, and Arc for Hunter – each developed with teamplay in mind, Bungie says. Bungie has also added a Rocket Pistol Sidearm weapon and Support Frame Auto Rifle, which can heal allies while dealing damage. With The Final Shape, classic weapons from Destiny’s original game and an exotic Fusion Rifle are available. 

In this expansion, a new enemy will be introduced called Subjugators. These enemies can be controlled by Stasis or Strand, which makes them an enemy to every Guardian. 

Bungie also detailed some things coming to Destiny 2 over the next year, including Episodes, which is the studio’s new approach to seasonal content. Echoes is the first episode, which will start in March 2024. The third episode is titled Heresy and will cover the effects of The Final Shape. The next two episodes are called Revenant and Heresy. Bungie claims that the new Destiny 2 Seasons will have more content, rewards and features than any previous season. 

There are three editions of The Final Shape up for preorder: a standard edition, a more premium version that includes the annual pass, and a third Collector’s Edition that includes everything in the first two as well as a replica model of the original Tower and more. 

Season of the Witch

Alongside today’s reveal of The Final Shape, Bungie also detailed what Guardians can expect in Destiny 2: Lightfall’s Season of the Witch, which launches today. 

“In Season of the Witch, Guardians will continue their ongoing pursuit of The Witness and will confront old allies and enemies along the way,” a press release reads. “Savathûn’s ghost Immaru proposes a deal: aid in the resurrection of The Witch Queen and help defeat her sister, Xivu Arath. In exchange, Savathûn will reveal the key to the portal through the Traveler, where The Witness is preparing to enact The Final Shape.”

The Guardians can use arcane Hive Magic to transform Eris Morn into a Hive God to battle the Hive War God. 

One key feature of the Season of the Witch is the Deck of Whispers, which Bungie describes as a new method of player progression that allows Guardians to customize their loadouts and powers in new ways. “By completing Seasonal activities, players earn cards that can be used to build a customized deck full of buffs and perks for certain activities,” Bungie says. Players in fireteams can carefully plan which cards to bring to each run to maximize battle effectiveness.

Season of the Witch comes with several new features to improve the user experience, like Timeline Reflections. Bungie claims that these playable short missions can be accessed through the Timeline function in Director. They offer concise narrative summaries and introductions to key narrative events of Destiny 2. The goal of Timeline Reflections is to catch new players up with the ongoing story and allow experienced players to relive moments from the game’s past. 

Three Timeline Reflections are available with the launch of this season: Cayde-6’s final showdown with the Scorn from the Forsaken expansion, the debut of Stasis from Destiny 2’s Beyond Light expansion, and the introduction of the Lucent Hive from The Witch Queen expansion. The missions are free for all players. 

Beginning September 1, Crota’s End will go live as part of the Season of the Witch with a new World’s First Raid for it as well. 

This weekend from August 24 through August 27, you can get the Witch Queen extension for free. The expansion will be available for sale from August 22 through September 5. PlayStation Plus Extra, Premium and members can download The Witch Queen now. 

Destiny 2: Lightfall – Season of the Witch is now live. The game’s next expansion, The Final Shape, launches on February 27, 2024, everywhere Destiny 2 is available. 

Read on in the interim Game Informer’sThe Witch Queen Review 

Do you have any thoughts about The Final Shape? Comment below to let us know!