Today marks the release of Destiny 2: The Final Shape, the next major expansion for the long-running online first-person shooter. Its release marks the beginning of the end of Destiny's "Light & Darkness Saga," which first began 10 years ago.
In the latest expansion, Guardians confront oblivion "as they face down their ultimate adversary in the Witness and end the War of Light and Darkness." The conclusion of the decade-long saga will likely unfold over the next couple of months as new Episodes for The Final Shape -- "Echoes", "Revenant", and "Heresy" -- are released.
In The Final Shape, Guardians will engage in an epic battle to spoil the Witness’s twisted designs for the fate of the universe. Along the way, they will enter the fabled Traveler and explore a brand-new destination, The Pale Heart. While pursuing the Witness through The Pale Heart, Guardians will rally their Vanguard allies to their side and confront enemies both new and familiar.
While The Final Shape will wrap up this long-running storyline, it does not mark the end of Destiny 2 or even the series. Bungie, who is now owned by Sony, may be working on the new multiplayer game Marathon, but there's plenty of story left to tell in the Destiny universe.
And in case you had any doubt regarding the franchise's future, Bungie executive creative director, Luke Smith, has offered a bit of "Hope." Smith took to social media on the eve of The Final Shape's release to thank fans who have been along for the journey these past ten years as well as any developers who have worked on the game at some point. But it was his final tweet that set off some speculation. It reads:
Our Hope is always the same with Destiny games, expansions, seasons, DLCs, exotic missions, secret missions, in-game events, merchandise, et cetera - we genuinely Hope you enjoy the time you spend with it. Anything we've made or will make, that's the Hope.
Fans immediately took note of Smith's capitalizing the word "Hope" in three separate instances in the tweet.
What does it mean? Is "Hope" the theme of the next chapter in Destiny's story? Well, we don't quite know at this point. But as the next couple of Episodes in The Final Shape unfold, we should get a clearer picture as to what will come next.
In the first Episode, "Echoes," which is scheduled to release on June 11, Guardians "will embark on a new adventure in the aftermath of the confrontation with the Witness," the description teases. "Full of new stories, new activities, and new rewards, Echoes will unfold over three Acts from June 11 until early October."