Destiny 2’s Beyond Light prologue kicked off with the quiet return of the Darkness

It’s finally happened.

The event that humanity has been dreading since its first Golden Age came to a close in a cataclysmic event known only as the Collapse is ready for an encore, as the Darkness has arrived in our solar system. Heralded by a fleet of pyramid ships, Destiny 2’s new Beyond Light era officially kicks off this week, but for a teaser of things to come? Last night was a fascinatingly low-key event that set the stage for the next chapter in the age-old conflict between the Light and the Dark.

Beyond Light’s primary draw may be a return to Europa and the Cosmodrome, but last night’s brief event before the servers went dark gave Guardians a chance to explore the Last City as the Traveller began mending its shattered frame. Still in terrible shape due to the beating that it took during the Red Legion invasion which Destiny 2 kicked off with, the small event ended with the Traveler fully healed after several years of self-isolation.

It was perhaps a little too late though. As the servers went down, the Darkness began consuming several locations (which are now being added to the Destiny Vault) in our solar system. Mercury, Io, Titan, and Mars all went dark, taking with it numerous Raids, Strikes, and beloved characters. “This will not be the end, it will be an escalation,” Eris Morn said right as the screen faded to black and maintenance began on the game for its new expansion. The Darkness is here, and the Light is barely keeping it at bay.

Here’s the video recap:

This isn’t Bungie’s first attempt at adding an event to its sandbox, as last year saw the Red Legion’s star killer super-weapon placed on a collision course with the Last City, an activity that saw Guardians race to The Almighty and divert its trajectory the only way that players knew how: With guns. Lots and lots of guns.

When Destiny 2 does return during the weekly reset, it’ll be with a whole bunch of new content to replace that which has been taken away. There’s also a number of plot threads new and old that’ll be popping up: Prince Uldren, now resurrected as the Guardian Crow will be helping players out in the Cosmodrome as god of war Xivu Arath, sister to slain Hive god Oryx the Taken King and the scheming Savathun the Witch Queen begins amassing an army of corrupted nightmares to do her bidding.

Then there’s the new Fallen House of Darkness, led by their Kell Eramis who seeks to get up to some sort of cosmic mischief, an invitation from the Darkness to experience its power through the new Stasis subclasses, and the return of the Exo-Stranger from the first Destiny game who finally has time to explain where she’s been for the last six years. Probably.

All that and so much more. I took a sabbatical from Destiny 2 just before Shadowkeep arrived last year, but the game recently retooled itself with a feature that made me want to jump back in: Namely that it was up for grabs through my Xbox Game Pass subscription and that saved me some big bucks in the process.

I’m once again on this hype-train, I’ve even bought the Season Pass for the extra goodies because Bungie deserves that little bit of extra cash and I’ve been having an absolute blast playing Strikes and Raids with friends. I’m going to be having more of that from this week, so as the old saying goes:

Eyes up, Guardians.

Last Updated: November 10, 2020