Destiny 2: Lightfall

Lightfall expands on the base Destiny 2 gameplay by adding a new free roam world for the city Neomuna on the planet Neptune. Over the course of the year of content for Lightfall included one new raid, "Root of Nightmares", released on March 10, 2023, two new dungeons, "Ghosts of the Deep" and "Warlord's Ruin" during Seasons 21 and 23, respectively, and one returning raid, "Crota's End", from the original Destinys (2014) The Dark Below expansion, which was added on September 1, 2023, during Season 22 and is free for all players to access. It features the same story as the original, but accounts for differences in Destiny 2, such as gameplay mechanics and Champion enemies, as well as a new starting instance on the Hellmouth on Earth's Moon (players begin the raid in the Hellmouth area like the original, but cannot explore the rest of the Moon beyond this area). Emperor Calus's Shadow Legion, Cabal warriors that carry the power of the Darkness, and Tormentors, the personal soldiers of the Witness, are new major enemies within Lightfall. Cabal Shadow Legion enemies use Pyramid technology to shield themselves in battle. Described by Bungie as the "most scary unit [players] have ever fought", Tormentors use giant scythes in battle and can suppress Guardian ability and super usage and even instantly kill Guardians by grabbing them at close range. Beyond Light (2020) introduced the game's first Darkness subclass, Stasis, which used items called Aspects and Fragments to give the player more customization of how Stasis could be used; during The Witch Queen, the original Light subclasses of Void, Solar, and Arc were revamped to be given the same Aspect and Fragment system as Stasis. Lightfall added a brand new, second Darkness subclass called Strand, which also features this modularity. Strand's powers are based on unraveling, suspending, and severing opponents via manipulation of reality through an extra-dimensional matrix called the Weave. One such power is a grappling hook-like ability that allows Guardians to grapple onto environmental features or other characters, enabling new forms of movement. Each of the main character classes gain a new subclass based on Strand: Berserkers for Titans, who can use twin Strand blades to quickly slice through enemies through their "Bladefury" super; Broodweavers for Warlocks, who can unleash Strand missiles which explode into creatures called Threadlings upon impact through their "Needlestorm" super; and Threadrunners for Hunters, who can summon a Strand rope dart to lash enemies with through their "Silkstrike" super. Across the board, Lightfall introduced adjustments to game difficulty levels for endgame content (e.g., Nightfalls and raids) and based on Bungie's monitoring of activities to date. Rather than setting and capping these activities at a given level, higher-difficulty activities became only available to players above certain Power levels. Further, Guardians' Power level was given a penalty based on the difficulty level, making them more vulnerable and less damaging to enemies. Accompanying these changes included an improved system of rewards to make the challenging content more worthwhile to complete. Elemental burns, which were originally fixed based on the activity, were split into season-long and weekly rotating surges (increases for Guardians' damage) and threats (increases for enemy damage). Special overcharged weapons granted additional damage during periods where its element was surging. Among gameplay improvements, Lightfall added an in-game loadout feature, which previously were performed through third-party applications that interfaced with Destiny 2. This allows players to set pre-determined armor and weapon sets, including all mods and appearance modifiers, making it easy to switch between various loadouts for various activities. During Season 23, Lightfall introduced an improved in-game "looking for group" (LFG) feature which allows players to easily find other players to engage with content that is designed for matchmaking; the beta for the in-game fireteam finder feature began on November 30, 2023, with its full release in January 2024. A commendation system was also introduced to allow players to provide positive recognition and accolades to other players after an activity has been completed. These new features were layered atop a new Guardian level system which was designed to reflect how much expertise a player had with Destiny 2, and also serves as a new player onboarding system, with some features locked out until the player has reached a specific Guardian level. Other significant gameplay changes included: • The seasonal artifact, which provides bonus power levels across all characters on a player's account for a season as introduced in Shadowkeep, continued to be used in Lightfall. However, mods on the seasonal artifact were replaced with unique, unlockable perks which only 12 could be active per character, and these perks were applied passively when active; moreover, resetting the artifact to change perks was free. Starting in Season 21, perks on the seasonal artifact could be activated and deactivated individually instead of having to reset the entire artifact to change perks. • In addition to the in-game loadout feature, a mod customization feature was added, which allows players to view and modify all weapon and armor mods and character stats on a single screen. Furthermore, armor and its armor mods no longer have elemental affinities, with some armor mods now providing benefits to weapons based on their damage type, and the general energy cost of mods was reduced to encourage more experimentation in buildcrafting. As well, the Charged With Light combat style mods was replaced with an Armor Charge system, while Elemental Wells were replaced with those of damage-type-specific spawned objects, such as Stasis shards and Arc ionic traces. • Weapon crafting, which was introduced in The Witch Queen, was further simplified with Lightfall. Deepsight Resonance on weapons that cannot be crafted and Resonant Element crafting materials (which are obtained from either completing attunement progress on Deepsight Resonance weapons or dismantling them) was completely removed from the game at the launch of Lightfall and Season 20, with standard currencies such as Glimmer and Enhancement Cores instead used to craft weapons, with fewer weapons that can be crafted. Resonant, Harmonic, and Ascendant Alloys continued to be used for weapon crafting but Bungie eventually removed Resonant and Harmonic Alloys during Year 6. Furthermore, midway through season 20, perks on Adept raid weapons could be upgraded into enhanced perks similar to those on crafted weapons; non-crafted weapons had the ability to have enhanced perks later in the year. • An exotic mission rotator was added in Season 22, which at first featured the "Presage", "Vox Obscura", and "Operation: Seraph's Shield" exotic missions from Seasons 13, 16, and 19, respectively. Due to this, the exotic weapons Dead Messenger and Revision Zero from the latter two were not added to the exotic archive. Furthermore, with the exception of Revision Zero as it was already a craftable weapon, the other exotic weapons from these exotic missions were made craftable weapons upon their entry into the exotic mission rotator. In time, Bungie plans to reintroduce past exotic missions as part of the rotator, such as "The Whisper" from Warmind (Season 3) and "Zero Hour" from Season of the Drifter (Season 6), both of which were reprised and launched with the Into the Light update in April and May 2024, respectively, with their respective exotic weapons, Whisper of the Worm and Outbreak Perfected, becoming craftable. • Midway through Season 23, in addition to a six-week story quest called "Riven's Wishes" and the return of Moments of Triumph, Bungie raised the Glimmer cap to 500,000 (from the original cap of 250,000 which remained unchanged since Shadowkeep), and also introduced a character customization feature at the launch of the Into the Light free update on April 9, 2024, which allows players to modify their Guardians' appearances at any time when they are in the character login screen of the game. • The 2024 Guardian Games event, which occurred in March during Season 23, added a new vehicle, the Skimmer, which was previously only seen used by the Cloud Striders on Neomuna during Lightfall. The Skimmer is Destiny 2s version of a hoverboard which can be used in place of Sparrows to traverse across destinations. Only two were added at the time (but more have been added since), one that came from a Guardian Games event quest and another which can be purchased from the Eververse store. A trial version was available to all players during the event, which went away at the conclusion of the event unless they had completed the quest to upgrade it to the exotic version. • The New Light campaign can now be skipped with the launch of the Into the Light free update on April 9, 2024, allowing new players to Destiny 2 to instantly play the game without going through the "A Guardian Rises" tutorial questline in the Cosmodrome. New Light Kits, which contain campaign-ready starter weapons, gear, some unlocked abilities and an exotic armor quest for a chosen Light subclass, are available via Ikora Rey in the Tower after skipping the New Light campaign. Seasonal changes In addition to the major story and content added with Lightfall, Bungie divided the year into four seasons. Each season offered a free-tier and paid-tier season pass to acquire new gear, game currency, and cosmetics, as well as new activities and triumphs associated with those activities, some of which required purchase of the season pass to access. Like the previous two years (Years 4 and 5), seasonal activities and story missions could still be accessed in subsequent seasons for the duration of Year 6 (some triumphs, however, could only be completed during the active season). With the exception of some content from the Into the Light update, all of the seasonal content was removed from the game upon the release of The Final Shape in June 2024. Season of Defiance (Season 20) began with the launch of Lightfall on February 28, 2023. New and existing players' Power levels were increased to the new minimum Power level of 1600, a soft cap of 1750, with the hard Power level cap set to 1800, and the Pinnacle reward cap at 1810. The season's story ran concurrent with the Lightfall story, where the Guardian teamed up with Mara Sov, Devrim Kay, Mithrax, Amanda Holliday, and Crow to help rescue civilians who had been taken hostage and imprisoned by the Cabal Shadow Legion introduced in the Lightfall campaign. The season added the "Defiant Battlegrounds" activity, in which the player infiltrated Pyramid strongholds within Earth's European Dead Zone (EDZ) and Cosmodrome and the Ascendant Realm to rescue civilians from the Shadow Legion and Taken. Completing the activity rewarded seasonal weapons and gear with the help of a revamped War Table in the H.E.L.M. The season also introduced an exotic quest called "//node.ovrd.AVALON//" (or Avalon for short) which rewarded a new craftable exotic glaive, the Vexcalibur. The seasonal artifact featured during this season was the Ascendant Scepter (with perks focusing on mid- to long-range weapons and Void, Solar, and Strand abilities). During this season, Lance Reddick, the voice actor for Commander Zavala, died on March 17, 2023. In addition to a tribute message to Reddick's friends and family, Bungie stated that Reddick had voiced many of Zavala's lines in advance and that there would still be more to come from the character, with Keith David taking over the role in The Final Shape. Season of the Deep (Season 21) began on May 23, 2023; unlike previous seasons, there was not an increase to the hard Power level cap or to the Pinnacle reward cap (they remained at 1800 and 1810, respectively), and the upgrade system for the seasonal vendors in the H.E.L.M. was removed. The season featured the return of Deputy Commander Sloane and Saturn's moon Titan (which had been removed from the game upon the release of Beyond Light), as the Guardian teamed up with her and the Drifter to eradicate the Taken and Hive festering at the bottom of Titan's methane ocean and to uncover secrets about the Witness's origins through a massive undersea creature named Ahsa. Titan could only be accessed via the seasonal activities and was not a free roam patrol destination. The season added the "Salvage" activity, in which a six-player fireteam salvaged Golden Age tech from Titan's seafloor while fighting against Taken, Hive, and Wrathborn forces; the "Deep Dives" activity, where a fireteam of up to three players explored deep in the ocean to salvage Egregore needed to obtain intel about the Witness from Ahsa; as well as fishing, where players could catch fish in dedicated areas in the EDZ, Nessus, and Savathûn's Throne World that could be released for display in an aquarium in the H.E.L.M. After catching three unique exotic fish (one at each destination), a secret exotic quest called "The Whetstone", hidden in the Deep Dives activity, could be unlocked, which rewarded players with a new exotic scout rifle, Wicked Implement. The season also featured a continuation of the Lightfall campaign, which rewarded a brand new hand cannon and a new Strand Aspect for each of the character classes upon completion. A new dungeon, "Ghosts of the Deep", was released on May 26, 2023, taking place deep underwater beneath the New Pacific Arcology ruins on Titan. In addition to brand new weapons, including those reprised from Gambit Prime from Season of the Drifter (Season 5), the weapons from the "Last Wish" raid from Forsaken were updated with new perks and cab be crafted at the Mars Relic. The seasonal artifact featured during this season was the NPA Repulsor Regulator (with perks focusing on close- to mid-range weapons and Arc, Void, and Strand abilities). Season of the Witch (Season 22) began on August 22, 2023. Like Season 21, there was no increase to the hard Power level cap or to the Pinnacle reward cap. The season featured the Guardian teaming up with Eris Morn, Ikora Rey, and Savathûn's Ghost, Immaru, to resurrect the Witch Queen herself in order to find a way through the portal on the Traveler's surface, as well as wielding Hive magic to tithe deaths to Eris herself, who had transformed into a Hive god, in order to push back Xivu Arath. The season added the "Savathûn's Spire" activity, in which a three-player fireteam ascended the titular spire in Savathûn's Throne World and defeated enemies inside to power Eris's ritual; and the "Altars of Summoning" activity also in the Throne World, in which a three-player fireteam faced random waves of differing enemies and tithing their deaths to Eris. Midway through the season, a solo activity called "The Imbaru Engine" was added and took place within the Altars of Summoning area where the player completed puzzles created by Savathûn to learn more about her powers of subterfuge and trickery. Completing these activities rewarded seasonal weapons, gear, and enhancements through the Deck of Whispers and the Ritual Table in the H.E.L.M. The 12 major arcana cards in the Deck of Whispers provided unique buffs that could be used in both the Savathûn's Spire and Altars of Summoning activities; a minimum of five major arcana cards had to be unlocked and activated for the Deck of Whispers to be used in those activities, and only one major arcana card was drawn at random at the start of each of the activities' encounters. The season also saw the return of the "Crota's End" raid from the original Destinys first expansion, The Dark Below, which was released on September 1, 2023. A new Crucible map, Multiplex, was added, taking place in the Vex Network, as well as a new mode called Relic, which is a 6v6 mode where players use relics from past raids and seasonal activities to defeat opponents, including the Aegis Shield from the Vault of Glass raid, the Synaptic Spear from Season of the Risen, and the Nightmare Slayer Scythe from Season of the Haunted. The seasonal artifact featured during this season was the Acolyte Staff (with perks focusing on mid to long-range weapons and Arc, Solar, Void, and Strand abilities). Season of the Wish (Season 23) began on November 28, 2023, and as with the prior two seasons, there was no increase to the Power level cap or Pinnacle reward cap. The season featured the return of the Ahamkara wish dragon Riven of a Thousand Voices (who was the final boss from the "Last Wish" raid from Forsaken) as the Guardian teamed up with Mara Sov, Petra Venj, and Crow to fulfill a previously speculated 15th and final wish (from the Wish Wall in the Last Wish raid) through Riven's spirit in order to follow the Witness through the portal on the Traveler, serving as a prelude to The Final Shape. The season added the "Riven's Lair" and "The Coil" activities, in which a three-player fireteam explored a labyrinth deep beneath the Dreaming City to defeat Scorn, Vex, and Taken enemies within to search for Riven's missing Ahamkara eggs. A new dungeon, "Warlord's Ruin", was released on December 1, 2023, taking place in an abandoned Dark Age castle nestled in the mountains of the EDZ. An exotic quest, "Starcrossed", which took place in the Black Garden and rewarded players with a new craftable Strand exotic bow, the Wish-Keeper, was added on December 19, 2023. The seasonal artifact featured during this season was the Queensfoil Censer (with perks focusing on close to mid-range weapons and Solar, Stasis, and Strand abilities). Due to the delay in the release of The Final Shape until June 4, 2024, this season was extended until its release, lasting nearly seven months (27 weeks), making it the longest season in Destiny 2s history. A six-week story quest called "Riven's Wishes" was released on January 30, 2024, and allowed players to obtain a weekly quest from Mara Sov in which the player completed a high-level activity in the Dreaming City, such as a Lost Sector or the Blind Well public activity, and this rewarded wish tokens that could be redeemed for items such as weapons from the Last Wish raid to obtain weapon patterns for crafting, exotic armor pieces released over the prior year (which previously only came from the featured daily Lost Sector or the Vex Strike Force public event on Neomuna), as well as other miscellanea such as Ascendant Shards and Alloys and Exotic Ciphers. Beginning with the second half of the season on March 5, 2024, there was also major overhaul to PvP, including adjustments to player spawn points, heavy ammo crates and tiebreaker zone locations on certain maps, a rework of the special ammo economy, new rewards such as artifice armor (armor with an extra mod slot originally rewarded in Master-level dungeons) for competitive Crucible game modes for players ranked Gold III or higher, a new 3v3 competitive king-of-the-hill game mode called Collision (players capture and control a single large zone that rotates between five points around the map on a timer), and a new Passage of Persistence card for Trials of Osiris, which allows players to obtain the weekly Trials Adept weapon without having to go flawless. The free Into the Light update was released on April 9, 2024, and featured Guardians teaming up with Lord Shaxx and his Redjacks as the Black Fleet and the forces of the Witness attacked the Last City to prevent the Guardian and the Vanguard from entering the portal on the Traveler's surface, serving as an official prologue to The Final Shape. Into the Light featured a new tower defense horde mode called "Onslaught", where a three-player fireteam defended sectors of the Last City from the Witness's forces. In Onslaught, players defended a device called the Active Defense Unit (ADU) against up to 50 waves of enemies of increasing difficulty, with every 10th wave featuring a boss inside a Pyramid ship. In between waves, players could use a currency called scrap (obtained by defeating enemies during each wave) to build up defenses such as tripwires, turrets, and decoys, as well as finding batteries to repair the ADU. The matchmade playlist version of Onslaught only featured ten waves of enemies, while the higher non-matchmade difficulties featured the full 50 waves. The update also featured 12 reissued weapons—branded as BRAVE weapons—from earlier seasons and expansions and from the original Destiny which had a chance to drop with extra perks and an exclusive ornament, as well as a brand new social space in the Tower called the Hall of Champions, where players could increase the drop rates for any of the 12 reissued weapons, as well as earn new rewards. Three new Crucible maps—Eventide Labs on Europa, Cirrus Plaza on Neomuna, and Dissonance in the Witness's Pyramid mothership—were released on May 7 as part of the update. A limited-time boss rush PvE endgame mode called "Pantheon" was released on April 30, 2024, which featured battles with raid bosses with increasing difficulty and rewards. Much of this content was removed upon the release of The Final Shape. The Into the Light content that remained in the game after The Final Shapes release included the Onslaught activity, which received its own dedicated playlist under Vanguard Operations, the BRAVE weapons, The Whisper and Zero Hour exotic missions, the PvP maps, as well as the Parade armor set and shaders. ==Plot==

Lightfall is based on the discovery of the cyberpunk-like city Neomuna on Neptune. Neomuna has survived the Collapse and the arrival of the Black Fleet in the Solar System. The city is populated by humans that had been previously cut off from the rest of the system; these humans, known as the Neomuni, lack the Light granted by the Traveler but instead have trained Cloud Striders—voluntary human soldiers who have undergone cybernetic augmentation at the cost of significantly reducing their lifespan to only ten years—that help defend the city. During the events of The Witch Queen a year ago, the Guardian had defeated the Hive god Savathûn, the Witch Queen, who threatened them with the return of the Witness, the being that wields the Darkness and is leading the Black Fleet's attack on the Solar System. During Season of the Haunted, the exiled emperor of the Cabal, Calus, became a Disciple of the Witness and the herald of the second Collapse after communing with the Lunar Pyramid. During Season of the Seraph, the Warmind Rasputin sacrificed himself to prevent Eramis, Kell of Darkness, from using the Warsats to destroy the Traveler as it began to leave the Last City, with the Traveler remaining in Earth's orbit. A posthumous message from Rasputin revealed the existence of Neomuna, home to an extremely powerful paracausal artifact connected to the Traveler called the Veil. Lightfall begins shortly after the events of Season of the Seraph. The Vanguard faces heavy resistance against the Black Fleet as they arrive in Earth's orbit to attack the Traveler as Commander Zavala, Ikora Rey, Osiris, Mara Sov, and Elsie Bray (the Exo Stranger) watch on from the H.E.L.M. The Witness emerges from its Pyramid and effortlessly destroys most of the Vanguard forces as the Traveler attacks the Black Fleet with a beam of Light, only for it to be suppressed by Pyramids that begin to surround it. The Witness then attempts to commune with the Traveler, who grants it a vision of the Veil on Neptune, and orders Emperor Calus and his loyal Cabal forces, called the Shadow Legion, and the Witness's personal soldiers, the Tormentors, to travel to Neptune to retrieve it. Osiris then decides to go after Calus and the Shadow Legion, fearing that the Witness has located the Veil on Neptune. The Guardian is sent by Ikora to watch after him, as the loss of his Ghost Sagira (who sacrificed herself before the events of Season of the Hunt) makes him vulnerable to a final death. After receiving this message, Xivu Arath sends an army of Hive and Taken forces to attack Ahsa in an attempt to Take her, but Zavala, Saladin, Saint, Sloane, and the Guardian fight off Xivu Arath's forces and disrupt the ritual to protect Ahsa. The Guardian and Zavala then regroup with Sloane to receive one more message from Ahsa before she enters hibernation, which is that the Vanguard must resurrect Savathûn in order to find a way to enter the portal on the Traveler's surface to follow and defeat the Witness. Zavala then orders the Vanguard to locate and capture Savathûn's Ghost, Immaru (who disappeared at the end of The Witch Queen), to interrogate him and determine how to proceed forward, a decision that Saint and Saladin strongly disagree with. The Guardian at some point later recovers three broken Hive blades while fishing, which leads them into a drowned Pyramid ship in the depths of Titan's ocean that is under the control of Xivu Arath. Inside, the Guardian defeats Khull, Executioner Knight and Omen, Blade of the Black Terrace and tithes their deaths to Xivu Arath by communing with a Darkness statue, being given the exotic scout rifle Wicked Implement upon communion. During these events, clan liaison Suraya Hawthorne advises a fireteam of Guardians to urgently head to Titan as Sloane had detected a Hive warship crash land into Titan's methane ocean. The Guardians travel to the New Pacific Arcology ruins where Sloane contacts them, advising that Savathûn's Lucent Brood had forced their way into the Arcology from the Ascendant Realm and are performing a mass ritual from deep below the ocean ("Ghosts of the Deep" dungeon). The Guardians enter the Arcology after disrupting a smaller Lucent Hive ritual, where they fight their way through and dive deep underwater to the ocean floor, where they find the crashed Lucent Hive warship. Inside, the Guardians defeat Ecthar, the Shield of Savathûn, a former lieutenant of Oryx, the Taken King, who is guarding the path to the ritual site. After defeating Ecthar, the Guardians head deeper into the warship and eventually find the ritual site. There, they discover the remains of Oryx (which somewhat ended up in Titan's ocean floor after he was defeated in The Taken King) and defeat Šimmumah ur-Nokru, Lucent Necromancer, a former servant of Oryx's estranged son Nokris, who is attempting to resurrect the Taken King using the power of the Light. After defeating Šimmumah and preventing Oryx from being resurrected, Sloane contacts the Guardians, alarmed that the Lucent Hive were attempting to resurrect Oryx, and advises she would contact Ikora to have her Hidden recover Oryx's remains for further study and quarantine. Season of the Witch Following Ahsa's final message to the Guardian in which they and the Vanguard must resurrect Savathûn to follow the Witness through the portal on the Traveler's surface, Savathûn's Ghost, Immaru, contacts the Guardian and advises them that he would aid them in resurrecting the Witch Queen under the condition that Xivu Arath must be defeated, a deal that was crafted before Savathûn herself was killed by the Guardian at the end of The Witch Queen; the Guardian is then given the Acolyte Staff, an artifact of both Immaru and Eris Morn's creation imbued with Hive magic, to aid them in the battles to come. The Guardian is then contacted by Eris, where she advises them to locate Savathûn's spire in the heart of her Throne World, where the Witch Queen once experimented with the Light. Despite Ikora Rey's objections to resurrecting the Witch Queen under the condition that Xivu Arath must be killed, the Guardian arrives in Savathûn's Throne World where they make their way to its inner sanctum; after defeating the Lucent Hive there, they perform a Hive ritual using the Acolyte Staff to reveal Savathûn's massive spire, to which the Guardian enters. The Guardian ascends the spire and defeats the Lucent Hive as well as Scorn within while also reconfiguring the Light coursing through it in between floors, which eventually unlocks access to the spire's underground oubliette; Immaru meanwhile gives recordings of Savathûn to the Guardian, revealing messages that the Witch Queen had left behind in the event the Guardian needed her aid after killing her. Eris then advises the Guardian to meet with her to perform a Hive ritual that would allow her to become empowered by the Guardian's kills in combat in order to confront Xivu Arath. Meeting at the ritual site in the Throne World and despite Ikora's objections, the Guardian uses the Acolyte Staff to perform the ritual, in which Eris herself transforms into the Hive God of Vengeance, allowing them to empower Eris through the Sword Logic and the Deck of Whispers, a tarot card deck imbued with extremely powerful Hive magic tied to Eris. The Guardian then heads to the spire's underground oubliette, where Immaru reveals that Savathûn had used this place to test her Light on experimental test subjects after she was resurrected. With a transformed Eris by the Guardian's side and the Deck of Whispers, the Guardian performs multiple summoning rituals at the oubliette's numerous altars and defeats waves upon waves of Lucent Hive, Scorn, and Vex to tithe their deaths to Eris, further empowering her. As the Guardian continues to tithe Eris through combat and the Deck of Whispers, Eris informs the Guardian that Xivu Arath and her Wrathborn have invaded Savathûn's spire and, by extension, the Throne World itself. Xivu Arath then adamantly demands that Eris challenge her, to which Eris refuses but declares that the God of War will be defeated. Immaru and Eris task the Guardian to drive out the Wrathborn from the spire and the oubliette and to tithe more deaths to Eris before Xivu Arath can claim them, to which the Guardian does. Xivu Arath then summons one of her mightiest soldiers, Leviathan-Eater, Bane of the Ammonites, to challenge the Guardian briefly before escaping. Ikora then speaks to the Guardian afterwards, concerned about the bargain made with Savathûn and getting caught between the battle between Eris and Xivu Arath; she cautions the Guardian to be careful. The Guardian then later meets with Ikora and Sloane on Titan, where Sloane reveals that Eris and Ahsa were bound together via the Hive ritual that Eris herself performed to transform herself into the Hive God of Vengeance. Ahsa then briefly awakens from hibernation to communicate with Ikora via Sloane, who reveals that she was helping Eris contain the energy from the Guardian's tithes but at the cost of eventual corruption and Eris permanently remaining in her Hive form. Eris then speaks to the Guardian, who expresses regret over using Ahsa to fuel her transformation. Eris, brimming in power from the Guardian's tithes, curses both Xivu Arath and Savathûn and advises the Guardian to tithe one last time to her. Ikora also advises the Guardian that she has readied Savathûn's corpse for transmat as requested by Eris. The Guardian returns to the oubliette and opens up a final altar, where Xivu Arath summons forth the Leviathan-Eater to challenge the Guardian and Eris once more; the Guardian kills the Leviathan-Eater and offers up its death to Eris, empowering her even more. Ikora soon meets up with both the Guardian and Eris and transmats Savathûn's corpse, and, fulfilling the end of the bargain, Immaru resurrects Savathûn, only for Eris to kill her once more and absorb her power, briefly making Eris herself the most powerful Hive ever. Eris uses all of her power to banish Xivu Arath from her own Throne World, the Black Terrace, making the God of War mortal and vulnerable, but also relinquishes Eris' Hive godhood by doing so. Lore pages reveal that Immaru had resurrected Savathûn again so that Ikora could get the information needed on how to pass through the portal on the Traveler's surface; Savathûn gives up Immaru to the Vanguard as collateral in exchange for Ikora and Eris letting her go. At the conclusion of the season, a final card from the Deck of Whispers is discovered by the Guardian in the oubliette, unlocking a secret room at the apex of the Imbaru Engine, a twisted labyrinth of Savathûn's design located above the oubliette, used to generate tribute in the form of lies and trickery for the Witch Queen. Within it, the Guardian finds an Ahamkara egg that was laid by Riven of a Thousand Voices, the last known Ahamkara that was killed by a Guardian raid fireteam which triggered the three-week Taken curse cycle on the Dreaming City in the process at the end of Forsaken. Ikora orders the Guardian to secure Riven's egg despite Eris's warnings. Later, the Guardian reveals to Eris that they discovered a pattern on Savathûn's wings while she was being resurrected by Immaru, representing a 15th wish that could be granted through Riven in the Dreaming City's Keep of Voices. Season of the Wish Following the Guardian's discovery of Riven's egg in the Imbaru Engine and the 15th wish from Savathûn's wings, Mara Sov contacts the Guardian and advises them that her Techeuns are preparing a spell to conjure the spirit of the last known Ahamkara to grant the wish and allow the Guardian to pass through the portal the Witness created on the Traveler. The Guardian arrives at the Keep of Voices in the Dreaming City where Sol Divisive Vex from the Black Garden have laid siege in the area; they destroy the Vex forces there and obtain a tooth from Riven's remains which they bring to the Techeuns with the help of Petra Venj and Crow. The Guardian is then sent to the Wall of Wishes, where they input the code for the 15th wish, and Mara calls forth Riven's spirit to grant the wish. Riven explains to Mara and the Guardian that she would only grant the wish if they secure all of her eggs from her lair deep beneath the Dreaming City, in which Mara and the Guardian reluctantly agree to. Mara then speaks to the Guardian in the H.E.L.M., frustrated over the cost of bargaining with Riven knowing it could cause a resurgence of the Ahamkara in the Solar System, and that the Taken curse cycle on the Dreaming City cannot be undone. Despite the consequences and with no other choice, Mara asks the Guardian to fulfill Riven's bargain by retrieving her eggs from deep beneath the Dreaming City so as to force Riven into granting the wish while she devises a contingency plan; Mara gives the Guardian the Queensfoil Censer to aid them in the battles to come. The Guardian then speaks to Riven, who gleefully delights at the fact the she would be working with the Guardian again, and that the Techeuns' spell in conjuring her spirit will not last long. Riven tasks the Guardian to go to her lair to retrieve her eggs and she would fulfill her end of the bargain. Petra then contacts the Guardian and reveals that Riven's eggs were scattered across the ley line network of the Ascendant Realm, and asks them to utilize the Blind Well to reroute the ley lines through Riven's lair in hopes of locating the eggs. After calibrating the Blind Well, the Guardian enters Riven's lair deep beneath the Dreaming City, where they fight through hordes of Scorn, Taken, and Vex as well as evading deadly traps in its passages, and secures one of the eggs. Over the next several weeks, the Guardian works with Mara, Crow, Petra, and Osiris in redirecting Riven's eggs through the ley lines and back into Riven's lair for the Guardian to retrieve, while Osiris continues his research on the Veil on Neomuna to determine how to pass through the portal on the Traveler without Riven's intervention. Riven later speaks to the Guardian, wondering who sent her clutch adrift in the ley lines; she later deduces that Mara was not responsible and becomes furious that another Ahamkara may have wished for her eggs to disperse within the ley lines. Crow contacts the Guardian and warns them that Riven's lair is under attack by the Sol Divisive Vex, who are simulating the Techeuns' powers and utilizing Darkness via Oracles to steal the eggs in order to harness their paracausal powers. Riven angrily demands the Guardian to eradicate the Vex in her lair before they steal her clutch; the Vex unfortunately manage to steal one of Riven's eggs and hide it somewhere in the Black Garden. With Crow and Riven's guidance, the Guardian infiltrates a previously undiscovered area of the Black Garden ("Starcrossed" Exotic mission) filled with Ahamkara wish magic in search for the missing egg. The Guardian fights through Vex and Taken forces and defeats Akardon, Pitiless Mind using wish magic and retrieve the stolen egg next to the remains of a deceased Ahamkara named Taranis, who Riven reveals was her mate, as well as the exotic bow Wish-Keeper that was left behind by Taranis. Taranis's spirit speaks through Crow, who tells Riven he was the one who wished for her eggs to be dispersed within the ley line network, which cost him his own life and existence in the process. A heartbroken Riven then explains to the Guardian about her and Taranis's relationship—Riven and Taranis met in the Dreaming City during its early years and fell in love with each other; unlike Riven and other Ahamkara, Taranis protected and cared for those who bargained with him. Riven and Taranis soon mated in the Black Garden and bore eggs together. However, during the Great Ahamkara Hunt centuries before the events of the first game, Riven was forcibly separated from Taranis by Mara Sov, but was still able to communicate with Taranis via "the space between". Riven was eventually Taken by Oryx during the Taken War, which Taranis soon found out about. As a result, Taranis sacrificed himself by making and granting his own wish to protect Riven's eggs from harm, hoping that one day someone may locate and protect the clutch. During these events, Ikora Rey advises a fireteam of Guardians to head to an abandoned Dark Age castle nestled deep in the mountains of the European Dead Zone, where Crow and Petra are investigating a large Scorn presence there. The Guardians head to the EDZ where Crow and Petra contact them, advising that the remains of an Ahamkara named Hefnd resided in the area according to Riven which attracted the attention of the Scorn ("Warlord's Ruin" dungeon). The Guardians make their way up the mountain and into a small fortress outside of the castle, where they defeat Rathil, First Broken Knight of Fikrul using Ahamkara wish magic granted by Hefnd. A Taken Servitor, Hefnd's Vengeance, Blighted Chimaera, soon appears and teleports the Guardians into a prison deep below the castle itself. The Guardians break out of the prison and make their way outside to the castle itself, where they defeat the Locus of Wailing Grief in the castle's main courtyard. The Guardians continue to fight their way through Scorn and Taken forces until they reach the castle's apex, where they discover Hefnd's bones corrupted by Taken energy, and they defeat Hefnd's Vengeance once and for all. After defeating the Taken Servitor, Crow and Petra contact the Guardians, advising them that they will secure Hefnd's bones, noting that the Scorn would have done something terrible through their wish magic. The Guardian later overhears a conversation between Mara, Osiris, and Riven about traversing through the portal on the Traveler. Riven reveals that the 15th wish would only grant a single person passage through the portal by integrating the ley lines with the Veil on Neomuna. With this knowledge, Osiris then shares with the Guardian that, through the 15th wish, the Vanguard can send one single person to go through the portal and then unlock the way for the Vanguard and the Guardians from the other side. Crow volunteers to go through the portal and open the way for the Guardian and the Vanguard using his connection with Mara. Shortly after the Guardian reactivates the Oracle Engine in the Dreaming City to locate the last egg, Crow meets with Mara and Osiris about going through the portal; though initially hesitant at first, Osiris and especially Mara allow Crow to use the 15th wish and pass through the portal to unlock the way. After locating the final egg within the Confluence of the Dreaming City, Riven agrees to finally grant the 15th wish; the Guardian returns to the Wall of Wishes and inputs the code, allowing Crow to enter the portal on the Traveler as Riven fades away from existence. Into the Light As the Vanguard and the Guardian await contact from Crow, the Black Fleet and the forces of the Witness—mainly consisting of the Fallen House Salvation, Xivu Arath's Hive, as well as Tormentors—launch an attack on the Last City in response to the Guardian and the Vanguard's attempt to enter the portal. In a desperate attempt to protect the Last City from the Witness's forces and to buy time for Crow to respond and the Guardian to eventually enter the portal, Lord Shaxx was granted authorization by the Vanguard to unlock his personal cache of extremely powerful and dangerous weapons and gear once wielded by Guardians but have been banned by the Vanguard from further use—these weapons, known as the BRAVE Arsenal, were recreated by Lord Shaxx with the assistance of the Last City foundries (namely Omolon, Veist, and the Black Armory) and Elsie Bray, and were put back into circulation as the Witness's forces encroach on the Last City's borders. With weapons from the BRAVE Arsenal in hand, the Guardian assists Shaxx in defending multiple fronts in the Last City, the Iron Temple, as well as the Cosmodrome from the invading forces as well as the Black Fleet. At the conclusion of the season, Osiris contacts the Guardian who advises them to investigate an anomaly in the Black Garden, where the Sol Divisive Vex and the Taken are disrupting and weakening the Veil's connection with the Traveler in a final attempt to prevent the Guardian from entering the portal and reaching Crow. The Guardian infiltrates the Black Garden, where they discover that, with guidance from the Witness, the Vex have managed to recreate the Black Heart, which was causing the anomaly. Just like what they had done 10 years ago, the Guardian destroys the three Vex minds protecting the Black Heart, and ultimately destroys the Black Heart once again. Meanwhile, Crow successfully passes through the portal on the Traveler, arriving in an otherworldly dimension, where a dark monolith housing the Witness lies in the distance. Crow is suddenly attacked by the spirit of Cayde-6, and they engage in a gunfight, ending with Crow's Ghost Glint appearing to stop the fight. Realizing that Crow is no longer his murderer Uldren Sov, Cayde puts down his gun, the Ace of Spades, and reaches out to Crow as the Traveler unleashes pulses of Light in front of the Witness's monolith. The Guardian returns to Osiris in the H.E.L.M., who questions the nature of the Final Shape that the Witness is seeking. With newfound resolve, Osiris declares to the Guardian that Crow had successfully passed through the portal and that Mara had sensed Crow's presence. He tells the Guardian that, with Riven's part now already having played, he had woven the Veil into Mara and Crow's connection, allowing for safe passage through the portal; he advises the Guardian to prepare themself to enter the portal on the Traveler to confront the Witness and prevent the Final Shape from being brought forth. The events of Destiny 2: The Final Shape follow. ==Release==

Lightfall was originally announced alongside Beyond Light and The Witch Queen in June 2020 and it was announced to be the third in this trilogy of expansions to cap off Destiny 2s first saga, with Lightfall originally planned for a late 2022 release—"Lightfall" was also a working title at this time. However, in February 2021, it was announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the crowded release window of the fall, The Witch Queen had been delayed to February 2022, thus pushing Lightfall back to early 2023, with another expansion, The Final Shape, announced for early 2024—the latter was added as Bungie felt that they needed one further expansion to wrap up the story of the first saga called the "Light and Darkness" saga. Lightfall released on February 28, 2023, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S platforms. ==Reception==

Critical reception to Lightfall was mixed. ==References==