Bungie officially revealed season 13 of Destiny 2 today and it adds new strikes, armor sets, and a matchmade activity called Battlegrounds. Season of the Chosen also revisits where Destiny 2 began by bringing in the Cabal’s empress Caiatl as its main villain.
This is the first time players have actually gotten to see Caiatl, daughter of Calus, previous Cabal emperor and Destiny 2’s original raid boss, rather than just read about her in off-screen lore dumps. Season of the Chosen kicks off with the new empress suggesting an alliance with the Vanguard to fight back against the growing threat of the mysterious black pyramids and the Hive god Xivu Arath. Negotiations apparently breakdown, however, forcing Zavala and co. into another showdown with Destiny’s race of overgrown Goombas.
Here’s the trailer:
Content-wise, season 13 adds the following:
- The Devil’s Lair and Fallen S.A.B.E.R. Strikes from Destiny 1
- A new strike called Proving Grounds that takes place in the Last City and unlocks later in the season.
- A seasonal armor set called Praefectus
- An exotic bow called Ticuu’s Divination
- A three-player matchmade activity called Battlegrounds
- The return of the Guardian Games event
- A new hub-seeming staging area for activities called the H.E.L.M
That’s in addition to some things Bungie previously revealed like refreshed loot on the Moon and in the Dreaming City, new ritual weapons from each of the Tower’s three main vendors, and the return of umbral engrams and the prismatic recaster. Trials of Osiris loot is also getting overhauled. Whether this means the “over 25 Exotic, Legendary, and ritual weapons” promised by Bungie in season 13 will feel like enough remains to be seen.
Destiny 2 is feeling a bit squeezed at the moment as its sunsetting mechanic makes older gear obsolete faster than new loot can be added. It doesn’t help that a lot of season 13, at least initially, seems to be built on old content from the previous game and previous seasons. Combine questions around that with the news that some of players’ favorite weapons will be getting nerfed and I have a lot of skepticism about the direction of the game going into next season.
Hopefully it proves me wrong. Season of the Chosen goes live next week on February 9 and runs through May 11.
Update - 11:05 a.m. ET, 2/2/21: Bungie’s now released the full calendar for next season as well. Battlegrounds looks like it will be a rotating event with different objectives and bosses, while the new Proving Grounds strike doesn’t get added until late March. And of course the whole thing wraps up with a new iteration of last year’s Guardian Games in late April. Hopefully it’s less tedious this time around and the rewards are better.
