Utterly lost as to the purpose of Lightfall’s magic MacGuffins? Good news, Guardian: Destiny 2 will explain one of them, the Veil, in the Season of the Deep, which is only… 74 days away. Huh.
Bungie’s latest blog post (opens in new tab) tacitly acknowledges that, as many have argued and as I said in my Destiny 2 Lightfall review in progress, the campaign doesn’t answer a lot of the questions it asks. This left many players wondering what’s going on, with the Veil proving particularly confusing. The post also reiterates the stance that Lightfall has merely kicked off “a new year of storytelling” to be fleshed out in the seasons ahead, and I’m tempted to argue that explaining the first act of your story after the fact, let alone months after the fact, won’t retroactively turn a meandering, siloed-off primer into a page-turner – but I wouldn’t do that.
“While we’re just a week into Season of Defiance and we don’t always share future narrative details this far in advance, we feel it’s important to give everyone a preview of a particular quest we’re bringing to Neomuna in Season of the Deep, as well as the rewards it will provide,” Bungie says. “Throughout this quest, players will explore the city to learn about the nature of the Veil through Osiris’s research and newly uncovered Ishtar Collective data. This brief pursuit will be available to all Lightfall owners and will take place separately from the events of Season of the Deep.”
Why isn’t an explanation of the Veil included in the campaign about the Veil, or indeed the season accompanying the release of the campaign about the Veil? Especially given that this explainer apparently isn’t even part of the Season of the Deep? Not a clue. Maybe time wouldn’t allow it. Whatever the case, I hope this “brief pursuit” is an absolute banger, because it would be really nice to know what we’re doing.
This Veil crash course will bring more than lore, too. Completing it will unlock a new Strand Aspect for all three classes, which should bring some welcome variety to buildcrafting. Warlocks get The Wanderer, Hunters get Threaded Specter, and Titans get Flechette Storm – these might even shake up our Destiny 2 Strand Subclass builds. Everyone will also get a new legendary hand cannon – seemingly the same one featured in a bunch of Lightfall’s advertisements. And for all my grumbling, I will admit that this sounds cool.
Here’s the Destiny 2 Lightfall raid release date and when Root of Nightmares goes live.