Awesome / Destiny 2

Unmarked spoilers ahead!

You won't have to. Uldren Sov... is mine.

When Dominus Ghaul took the Traveler's Light, he made one mistake. He didn't kill the Guardians who ripped out the Heart of the Black Garden, raided the Vault of Glass, killed the God-King of the Hive, and went to town on the techno-virus that killed the Iron Lords. He made the mistake of taking the Magic Knights and making them Brought Down to Badass instead.

Red War/Base game (Sept. 6, 2017—Dec 5th, 2017)

• Evil Awesome Moment: Up until Destiny 2, the Cabal have been kind of a joke. They wound up on Mars with barely any idea of what they were getting into, got repeatedly creamed by the Vex, blundered into a war with the Guardians (who can't die), and then finally Oryx singhandedly destroyed nearly all of them in one fell swoop. And then the distress signal reaches Ghaul and his Red Legion. The first trailer has the Cabal trouncing the Guardians without the barest smidgen of difficulty, and resetting everything back to square one for humanity.
• One of the Destiny 2 cinematic trailers shows Zavala's background when he was reborn as a Guardian. Spending years roaming the wilds, fighting and dying against the Fallen, scavenging weapons and armor, slowly coming into his own until he finds the Traveler and the survivors huddling underneath. When the Fallen attack the survivors, he's shown blasting the Fallen alongside Ikora and Cayde-6, including his first onscreen use of the Fist of Havoc, and when the smoke clears, there's this incredible slow-motion Back-to-Back Badasses shot of Zavala standing alongside Lord Shaxx and Saladin Forge among the flames. The audience watching the live reveal immediately started cheering when they saw the Titan Power Trio together.
• In the gameplay reveal trailer, Zavala, upon seeing the Cabal fleet breaking through the clouds, yells for everyone in the control room to run to him, and he throws up a Ward of Dawn about twice the size of anything a player Guardian can create, and he holds it while the Cabal drop enough missles to shatter the Wall and tear down part of the Tower. There's a reason he's the leader of the Vanguard.
  • The same trailer shows the other Vanguard leaders making good use of the iconic Guardian supers from the first game. During the Cabal invasion, Cayde instantly incinerates three Cabal legionaries with his Golden Gun while Ikora takes down a Cabal ship with a Nova Bomb. She then rides the ship down as it crashes into the City. Whatever's down there when she lands is fucked.
  Ikora: Red Legion, you will take no more from us, and you will find no mercy in me!!
  • This event is so awesome it gets mentioned in the lore for the Warlock's Voidwalker class, as one of said Voidwalkers witnesses the event, saying that they considered themselves a Voidwalker, until they saw Ikora Rey.
• While the first live action trailer with Cayde addressing a fireteam of Guardians and trying to fire them up is funny, the metric ton of ass kicking they deal out throughout the rest of the trailer is incredible, all with "Sabotage" playing throughout is most definitely awesome.
  • The Stinger has an awesome example of Mickey Mousing—while walking away from a battle, all three of them fire their guns at once, to the beat of the outro of the aforementioned "Sabotage".
• Ghaul's speech once he has the depowered Young Wolf at his mercy. It utterly vibrates with menace, disgust, and anger at what he considers to be an insult standing before him.
  "You are weak! Undisciplined! Cowering behind walls. I command legions, conquered worlds, waged war across the galaxy to prove my worth. I alone am worthy of the Traveler's Light. You're not brave, you've merely forgotten the fear of death. Allow me to re-acquaint you."
  • He ends this speech by booting you off the top of his command ship with utter contempt. He doesn't kick you; he considers even that to be beneath him. He just shoves you off contemptuously with his boot.
• Once again, the Supers introduced for this game are flashy, devastating and straight-up badass.
  • Titan Sentinels get the Sentinel Shield. The Titan conjures a shield made of Void light and can pull off moves with it that would make Captain America proud. They can block with it, chuck it like a discus, or just straight up clonk opponents with it.
  • Hunter Arcstriders get the Arc Staff. The user gets a staff made of Arc Energy that makes them even more nimble than before, allowing them to speedily bash their enemies into submission and chuck waves of energy at them.
  • Warlock Dawnblades get Daybreak. This Super involves the player making a sword out of sunlight and growing fiery wings. This lets the player float through the air and sling waves of flame at any unfortunate victims.
• In the Inverted Spire strike, there's something pretty ballsy about running into an active mining drill the size of a skyscraper and having the Guardians, the Cabal and the Vex engage in a Mêlée à Trois around it while it's spinning.
  • Doubly so as people now seem to be frequently racing through it on their Sparrows.
• Some of the new exotics are definitely a step up in badass from Destiny 1:
  • Ladies and gentlemen, the Skyburners Oath exotic Scout Rifle. Nothing says personal Laser-Guided Karma more than wielding a Cabal slug rifle, specially kitted to deal extra damage to Cabal and entirely ignoring those pesky Phalanx shields.
  • The Rat King sidearm encourages a full fireteam to charge in guns blazing with nothing but said sidearm, for it grows in power for every person on the fireteam that has one.
  • MIDA Multi-Tool is back and Took a Level in Badass to boot—while it hasn't changed much at all, it receives additional benefits once another weapon produced under the same name, the MIDA Mini-Tool, is equipped. Enjoy the sweet sound of not one, but two quick-firing, accurate, and powerful rifles firing in sync.
    • Scout rifles and SMGs not your thing? Sturm and Drang have the same gimmick, only it's a Hand Cannon/sidearm duo that focuses on a tag-team system using reloading perks.
  • The Graviton Lance pulse rifle fires a micro black hole at the end of each burst which has unlimited range and enhanced damage, on top of its inherent precision build.
  • The Tractor Cannon, previously seen for a brief second in the reveal trailer, lets you shove away anything that comes close for as long as you have power ammo.
  • After two whole years of languishing in Destiny 1's files, what is now the Wardcliff Coil returns to give players the Macross Missile Massacre it promised of.
  • The ‘Journal of the Reef Cryptark’ event quest sees the return of one of the most iconic exotic weapons from Destiny 1: the Thunderlord. Its also been given an upgrade, as kills with the Thunderlord now causes lightning to rain down upon nearby enemies, whereas previously headhsots with the Thunderlord would occasionally cause enemies to explode.
• Regaining your Light from the Shard of the Traveler. Your Ghost draws closer to the shard before briefly vanishing, engulfing you in pure Light. He then reappears, almost joyfully orbiting around you before stopping at your side, both of you facing the camera to test out your new powers, and saying three words that started it all...
  Ghost: Eyes up, Guardian.
  • What follows is the game giving you a pool of Light and essentially an unlimited super meter to kick ass and take Fallen names with after being stuck on the mortal coil for an in-game period of a week. In any other game, this week would be a time of Brought Down to Badass, but for you and your Ghost, so used to defying death and overcoming impossible odds, it truly is a Despair Event Horizon until you find the shard.
• The Speaker may be taken captive by Dominus Ghaul, but on top of refusing to bow down to Ghaul's Cold-Blooded Torture, he repeatedly back-talks his captor delivering only cryptic words or even outright insults.
  Ghaul: What makes your Guardians worth of the Light? What is the price of such power and immortality?
  Speaker: Devotion... Self-sacrifice... Death...
  Ghaul: Death. Explain.
  Speaker: Devotion inspires bravery. Bravery inspires sacrifice. Sacrifice... leads to death... So... feel free to kill yourself.
  • What makes this quote even better and all the more savage is that this line is an alteration of a quote by none other than Morihei Ueshiba, founder of the Japanese Martial Art of Aikido. The Speaker not only demonstrates his grit, but proves that despite Ghaul's crushing victory over humanity, he completely failed to extinguish human history and spirit.
    "Loyalty and devotion lead to bravery. Bravery leads to the spirit of self-sacrifice. The spirit of self-sacrifice creates trust in the power of love."
    -Original quote by Morihei Ueshiba
  • On top of that, he took advantage of Ghaul's need to know more about the Traveler by feeding him false information, delaying him from stealing the Light for weeks, if not longer. Throughout the entire campaign, he had the Cabal emperor running around on a wild goose chase!
    Speaker: I speak for the Traveler. I never said it spoke to me.
• A large part of the Red War storyline revolves around the power of hope; with the moments involving the Vanguard being of special note.
  • Zavala lands on Titan, and immediately loses most of his refugees to the Hive. Once the Young Wolf arrives and tears open a foothold, Zavala realizes that there are still those who are willing to fight.
  If we wait we die. But if we attack together, we can take back our home, our Light… our hope.
  • Cayde-6 crashlands on Nessus, and steals a teleporter from the Vex for what is almost stated to be a suicide mission. The moment your Ghost reveals that Zavala asked for his help, Cayde visibly perks up. While it’s Played for Laughs (this being Cayde, after all), Forsaken reveals that Cayde never truly felt like the other Vanguard members had accepted him; hearing Zavala had asked for him by name obviously meant a lot.
  Wait… Zavala said he needs me?
  • Ikora Rey underwent a major Crisis of Faith after the City’s fall. Having been a Guardian so long, she had forgotten the fears that came with being mortal. The Young Wolf reconnecting with the Light, which proves the Traveler didn’t just leave them to die, ends up inspiring her once more.
  I have one life left to give, and I will give it gladly to stop Ghaul.
• During your trek to prepare a counterattack against Ghaul and prevent the Almighty from draining the Sun, you are tasked with boarding a Cabal carrier to hijack a ship and slip under the Red Legion's radar. But since there's an awful lot of Cabal guarding the tunnels, Amanda provides you with a Drake tank to blow your way through. Not even those dreaded Goliath tanks last long against it!
• One section during your trip on the Almighty involves a shootout between you and Red Legion on the exterior of the ship, which is exposed to the goddamned Sun!
  • And instead of being instantly incinerated by it, when running from cover to cover, Guardians just take minor burn damage that doesn't even singes the armor!
• The final battle with Ghaul: after Ghaul forcibly takes the Light and gives himself the power of the new Supers, you finally kill Ghaul, only for him to resurrect as a being of Light. Then, as he's ranting over how he has become a god, the Traveler itself wakes up! It then proceeds to free itself of the cage that the Cabal has played over it and kill Ghaul by dispersing his essence. In the end, it wasn't the Young Wolf that saved the day. It was the Traveler!
  • Ghaul's Badass Boast prior to the fight:
  Ghaul: "Look upon me. Dominus of the Red Legion. Annihilator of suns. Razer of a thousand worlds. Slayer of gods and conqueror of the Light! I. AM. GHAUL!...And I have become legend."
  • The final battle also gives you those light pools that instantly fill your super meter to use. That means it's entirely possible for many subclasses that the battle between you and Ghaul is you and him just unleashing your supers on one another the entire time.
    • During the final battle, Ghaul is using all the supers that Guardians can, and one of the triumphs associated with the battle requires one to swap between, mimicking that and defeating him.
• The missions to reclaim your other subclasses are particularly intriguing and awesome for how they happen in the context of the world; you come across the remnants of your main subclass weapons or artifacts, such as a Melted Gun for the Gunslinger or a Fractured Arrow for the Nightstalker. You then charge them up by killing enemies and aiding others in Public Events, and what follows is a mission to find another Shard of the Traveler in the EDZ to charge the weapon with. And these missions have cutscenes and lore, as the Traveler's influence shows you lessons on what it means to be the subclass you are trying to reclaim, as narrated by your class' Vanguard leader and other characters related to the subclass. Then you charge it up and, much like with regaining your Light, get to lay waste to hordes of enemies with pools of Light to immediately charge your super.
• As sad as it is, it's bittersweet to know that the Titans lived up to their oaths and promises. The Stoneborn Order, who built and defended the walls and swore to never break, stood and fought to the last man and woman. The Firebreak Order, although ashamed to not have died the same way, carried the flame they use to honor the fallen out of the City so it can be returned later. And the Sunbreakers fought to the last to defend the Forge on Mercury.
  “The fire burned within us. Not by choice, not because we sought the flame. But because there was no other way.
  “When you stood before the Forge, there was no doubt. No fear. Not even anger.
  “My order stood for generations. We held against the shadow, bearing a weapon that seared flesh and melted bone.
  “And now we stand at the end. May history remember the Forge. Remember the Hammer. Remember the Sunbreakers.”

  —Ouros, Third and Final Empyreal Magistrate of the Sunbreaker
• Taeko-3 in the Savathun's Song Strike. The gameplay itself is debatable among playerbase, but this took some guts:
  Taeko-3: "Embrace the Praxic Fire!"

Curse of Osiris (Dec 7th, 2018—May 8th, 2018)

• The Cinematic Trailer for Curse of Osiris gives us an awesome Call-Back by opening with a six-man fireteam of Guardians (complete with Year 1 equipment) fighting an army of Vex. Attentive viewers will realize by the architecture that this isn't just any Vex structure, it's the Vault of Glass!
  • The ensuing firefight immediately shows just how powerful Osiris is by having him open a portal mid-fight after completely freezing time, power that no Guardian has yet obtained!
  • Once the Vex realize what's going on and start attacking Osiris, he and his Ghost Sagira show how efficient of a team they are with Sagira calling out priority targets as Osiris fights back.
• The battle against Panoptes, Infinite Mind. After fighting through a horde of simulated attackers (not just Vex either, all the enemy factions), Panoptes is just about to erase you from reality... and then Osiris shows up and uses his Reflections to paralyze Panoptes, giving you an opening to slam an Arc Charge into it and hit its core with everything you've got. And you do this three times!

Warmind (May 8th, 2018—Sept. 4th, 2018)

• The fight against Xol, Will Of The Thousands and one of the Hive's Worm Gods. The battle itself consists of you lobbing the brand new Valkyrie into its mouth-eye thing while dodging its fire breath, void explosion attack, and it outright charging you, which is a one hit kill. All while set to the Warmind theme.
• The Cabal get yet another evil awesome moment in the Insight Terminus strike. A psion named Kargen one ups Skolas in taking control of the Vex technology by interfacing himself into the Vex network, and is able to take control of the Vex Artitecture to slow down the fireteam sent after him, as well as the Vex teleporter gates to call in reinforcements. By the time the Guardians have reached him, he almost succeeds in taking control of the entire Vex network in the solar system. Thankfully, he’s stopped before that can happen.
• The secret Whisper quest on Io, which is both one big Call-Back and a heaping serving of Continuity Porn. It starts off with you coming hot off a Taken Blight event and taking out a new boss that shows up in a nearby cavern. Said boss is a resurrected Destiny 1 character, and can manifest as either Urzok, Ta'aurc, or Drevis. After defeating them a portal opens up, in which you are tasked to quickly rush through a jumping puzzle in the Grove of Ulan-Tan and eliminate several chambers of enemies and some bosses at the end. And your reward? The Whisper of the Worm, an upgraded, unnerfed^note well, before it got re-nerfed part way through Year 2 Black Hammer forged from the Sword Logic by Xol himself. After three years, the original White Nail returns to pop some heads once more.
  • The Heroic version. Most prominently, there's the Blighted Hunger modifier. The Whisper of the Worm's catalyst requires you to gather up some materials from repeated runs of the quest. Looks like a simple Hour of Power to charge it up, right? Except Blighted Hunger makes the Whisper stronger the closer you are to fully charging the catalyst. That's right, Xol's talk about having you fall in line with the Sword Logic isn't a horrifying fate or even just lipservice, it's every ounce of power-stealing everything from the lore makes it out to be.
  • In the Heroic version itself, there's another secret referencing and even containing imagery from none other than the Vault of Glass. Following the secret simultaneously benefits both the Sleeper Simulant (by collecting the IO-JYS module required for the catalyst) and the Whisper of the Worm (triggering it in the first place lets you acquire more Blighted Essence for use in finishing its catalyst, and powering it up for regular use during the quest.)
• The Spire of Stars Raid Lair's final boss, Val Ca'uor, is something to behold. The Leviathan is under attack by the Red Legion, and Calus calls upon you to put him down. What is unique is that EMPEROR CALUS IS HELPING YOU KILL CA'UOR. Amazing.
  • His quote before he and the Guardians face Ca'uor is beautiful on its own.
  Calus: You no longer amuse me, Ca'uor. My more accommodating guests have arrived to usher you out.
  • Ca'uor gets an awesome moment as well, for when the doors open, we're looking to see him one-shot one of Calus's robot duplicates. It's an introduction for the new Dominus of the Red Legion that will prove a challenge for the Guardians.

Forsaken/Season of the Outlaw (Sept 4, 2018—Dec 4, 2018)

• Despite it shows how Cayde met his end, Last Stand of the Gunslinger shows him cleaning house with the Scorn, showing that Cayde is awesome on his own.
• The death of Daimos-22 bears particular mention. As the Last City fell, he chose to use his final death to hold a collapsing tunnel to allow refugees to escape until the end. He represents everything a Titan should aspire to.
  He held and held. And when he let go, he knew he was the last one left.
• In the launch trailer for Forsaken, just before Uldren shoots him, he asks if Cayde has any last words. Cayde's answer?:
  Cayde: How’s your sister?
• Forsaken introduces new subclasses paths for each of the 9 existing subclasses, making a whopping total of 9 new Supers; triple the amount that came with The Taken King!
  • Titan:
    • Code of the Missile lets your Striker become a literal ICBM, launching yourself across great distances to crash into any group of enemies you absolutely want dead in one hit. It's described by many fans as the most Titan-y thing to exist in the game (given the Titan's stereotypical image of running around and punching to death everything they come across, this is warranted).
    • Code of the Commander allows you to wield a mobile version of the Ward of Dawn, blocking incoming enemy fire and allowing allies to shoot through it, augmented by the returning Weapons of Light buff. Comparisons between it and Reinhardt from Overwatch have been made for this reason.
    • If the Sentinel turned a Titan into Captain America, then Code of the Devastator truly allows the Sunbreaker to know what it feels like to be The Mighty Thor. Without the Burning Maul super active, they can use Throwing Hammer to throw a lower-powered version of the Hammer of Sol at enemies; and that upon picking up their hammer, their melee cooldown is instantly recharged. When they use the Burning Maul, they become a veritable whirlwind of destruction, smashing enemies apart with a Spin Attack, and using a sort of hammer beam that they may have picked up while using Saladin's Iron Axe. All that's needed is an audio file of "Bring me Savathûn!" and you can turn the Tangled Shore and the Dreaming City into your own version of the Battle of Wakanda
  • Hunter:
    • Way of the Thousand Cuts trades the tried and true Golden Gun for the knife-spamming Blade Barrage, but is no less badass for it. Indeed, you can now carpet-bomb large groups of enemies while elegantly leaping into the air; a highly-damaging AoE Super that was sorely needed for Hunters.
    • Way of the Current gives the Arcstrider the ability Whirlwind Guard, which allows them to spin their arc staffs around to deflect projectiles back at the target. What makes this truly special is that it can stop other Supers as well, and even the famously powerful Sleeper Simulant's lasers. There's something special about watching the Whirlwind Guard reflect a Golden Gun projectile back at its shooter.
    • Way of the Wraith makes the Nightstalker into a true rogue class; when their super isn't active, they gain such abilities as a smokebomb, which enables them to poison enemies. When they have their super active, they Dual Wield a pair of tanto which allows them to do a good amount of DPS on targets, and their heavy melee allows them to do a backflip on the first press, and turn invisible on the second.
  • Warlock:
    • Attunement of Control replaces your usual Stormtrance Super with Chaos Reach, which lets you fire a massive Kamehamehadoken that easily mops the floor with anything that's not called a boss, and even those take a lot of damage from a full beam. The sickening crunch following its activation is one of the best sound effects ever, and is reminiscent of the Seismic Charges launched by the Slave I from Star Wars. The lightning animation while firing the beam also goes on for being one of the best visual effects, making the Super a delightful spectacle everytime you see it pop up.
    • Attunement of Grace gives you the Well of Radiance, which a souped-up combination of the standard Healing and Empowering Rifts that lasts longer than either of them. Sounds lame for a Super? Well, for starters, the Well's area is much larger than your standard Rift, allowing more space for your fireteam, and the health regeneration is so insane, you might as well ignore most of the small mobs firing at you and focus on any given boss.
    • Attunement of Fission gives you Nova Warp, a Super that allows you to move like Stormtrance, except the attack is an omnidirectional explosion you can use multiple times. Paired with a short-range teleport, you can dance around enemies and bosses while hitting them with hand-held Void explosions and can one-shot Guardians in the Crucible.
• Bungie may have truly hit it out of the park with the Last Wish Raid. King's Fall took between seven and eight hours to get the World's First clear, and saw about six-thousand. two hundred and sixty-five (6,265) teams and thirty-seven thousand, five hundred and ninety-one (37,591) guardians clear the Raid within twenty-four hours. Compare that to Last Wish, which saw just TWO teams, TWELVE guardians, managing to clear it within twenty-four hours, with the World's First clear taking about nineteen hours. Many of those who played it said that it may very well be the most challenging and well put-together Raid Bungie has ever designed.

Season of the Drifter (Mar. 5, 2019—June 4, 2019)

• Thought "The Whisper" was the pinnacle of secret missions in Destiny? Meet "Zero Hour", a 20-minute raid on the ruins of the old tower that sees you fighting through groups of far tougher than average Fallen, compounded with jumping puzzles, mazes, and dead ends that make The Whisper look like a children's platformer (whilst also including the ability for skilled players to make things easy for their struggling teammates). Just about every enemy has a shield, and it's considered an achievement to finish with more than 5 minutes left. Your reward? The Outbreak Perfected, an even stronger Outbreak Prime that rips through the rank-and-file and can shred raid bosses when wielded by an entire fireteam.
  • Taken up to 11 in its Heroic version, which aside from the usual "things hit harder", features an entirely different route from the normal version, another secret mission for an exotic ship (like the Thousand Wings) that requires an entirely randomized puzzle decryption each time, and of course, a catalyst to make the Outbreak Perfected even stronger.

Season of Dawn (Dec. 10, 2019—Mar. 9, 2020)

• The Season of Dawn gives players an introduction to a character who has been hailed as the strongest Titan to ever exist. It's Saint-14 himself. You know, the same guy who the Vex gave a proper burial to because he was a Worthy Opponent.
  • What's more, Osiris is the one who has created a plan to return Saint-14 back to life! He had considered the Titan's passing to be his biggest failing, since Saint-14 was one of his few true friends he ever had. The Red Legion is plotting to take over the Sundail, a device that Osiris himself created, to change the outcome of the Red War. Not only will he task the Guardians to stop the Red Legion's plot by guarding the Sundail, they will also be able to have the chance to save Saint-14 from his final fate. The hype brought from the trailer was real, and even more so when players hear Saint-14 speak for the first time with The Reveal.
    Saint-14: They call me... "The greatest Titan who ever lived."
  • The Guardian's encounter with Saint-14 in the "Corridors of Time" missions are no less badass.
    • In "Part 1," the Guardian gives a young, despairing Saint-14 hope, rescuing him from an all-out attack by the Fallen House of Rain, gifting him the Perfect Paradox shotgun, and then a vision of the future City.'
    • Also, when you first meet Saint-14, he is holding a barrier against a small army of Fallen. You end up using it as cover to destroy the Fallen, and then another army starts dropping in, with a Walker shielded by a massive Servitor, both of which have enough heath that they could be Nightfall bosses. You engage in a long, grueling, brutal endurance match to bring down both bosses and the horde of Fallen supporting them. But what makes it amazing is that during the entire extended, drawn-out battle, Saint-14 never. Drops. His Barrier. He holds it for the entire fight. No other Titan has been shown to be able to pull that feat off.
    • In "Part 2," the Guardian goes into the Infinite Forest to rescue him from the Martyr Mind. Saint exults in the Guardian's fight against the Martyr Mind and the Vex, and once freed, opts to take the long way around to get to the gateway out.
      Saint-14: "What's a few more years fighting Vex?"
    • When the Guardian opens the gateway for him, Saint punches his way out, dragging a Vex Goblin behind him, shoots it without looking, then starts repeatedly headbutting a Vex Minotaur, pausing only to pick up the Goblin's corpse, wrap it around the Minotaur's spine to brace it, then shatter it completely with a final blow. There is a reason why he's called the "Greatest Titan Who Ever Lived."
  • The sheer rugged determination of the Red Legion; even with their entire officer corps destroyed, they try to undo their defeat, by taking on the Vex and hijacking Osiris's Sundial and use it to alter history to undo their defeat. Osiris quickly realizes that they're actually making progress.

Season of the Worthy (Mar. 10, 2020—June 9, 2020)

• Season of the Worthy begins with Zavala and Ana Bray going storming the Almighty and learn why its suddenly moving. They split up and Zavala heads towards the bridge, only to find a ton of Cabal in the way. We then cut to inside the bridge, where a lone Psion is destroying the Almighty's navigational controls to keep the Guardians from using them, while shooting is heard outside. Then the shooting just stops. The Psion looks up and trains its gun on the bridge door, visibly shaking in terror. After a few agonizing seconds, the door flies open, the Psion opens fire... and its bullets bounce off Zavala's armor, followed shortly by Zavala killing the Psion with one bullet from Origin Story. Behind him are the piled corpses of every single Cabal guard that was in his way. This man became the Vanguard Commander for a damn good reason.
  • The end of Season of the Worthy is just as good. Over the course of an hour and a half, Ana's trust in Rasputin finally pays off when he launches a Macross Missile Massacre directly at the Almighty in low Earth orbit as it closes in on the City, eventually blowing the ship to pieces, with the Tower getting a front-row seat as debris rains around it (one piece actually glancing the Tower and nearly taking out Eververse, and gives an emblem if you inspect the crash site) and a wing falls into the mountains in a massive explosion that causes an enormous shockwave.
    • The shockwave isn't just a graphic effect either - when it reaches the City, it actually pushes players back, and causes momentary deafness! It's a great attention to detail. And afterward, during all times, you can look up and see debris streaking across the sky.
• The Remembrance lore story is chock full of Dark Age badassery:
  • Warlord Shaxx casually decapitating Felwinter, with a backhand, multiple times.
  • Ikora is mentioned as being the only Lightbearer to defeat Shaxx in battle and claim territory in the process.

Season of Arrivals (June 9th 2020—Nov. 10,2020)

• The Prophecy dungeon. The Drifter talks the Guardian into helping him ask the Nine a simple question: "What is the Darkness?" After Eris proclaims that she's not letting them do it alone, the Guardian heads into the Haul. The Nine set up a series of challenges to give their answer, all concerning using Light and Dark Motes as tools and weaponry. The Guardian faces three Echoes: a Phalanx, a Centurion and a Kell. After defeating the Kell Echo, the Drifter tells the Guardian and Eris what the Nine are trying to say: that the difference between Light and Darkness doesn't matter. Not only is this excellent foreshadowing for Beyond Light, but the visual and music for the dungeon, not to mention the challenges themselves, are all a testament of how creative the Destiny 2 dev team can be.
• The true final encounter of the Interference mission, "Sabotage," is a high-octane encounter against Nokris, who has finally decided to show up in person to the Guardian's exploits in the High Coven - and boy, are both sides pissed at each other for ruining their plans. Despite the encounter itself being almost entirely made of past Destiny assets^SpecificallyThe arena is the Court of Oryx from the first game with some Ionian cliff faces off to the sides, the extra minibosses summoned are from the previous encounters, and the encounter's mechanics are a slightly harder version of the ones used in Strange Terrain's fight, where Nokris first appeared, it manages to blend those reused assets and Destiny 1 nostalgia with the ongoing situation into a compelling fight greater than the sum of its parts while the intense theme of the High Coven plays in the background with an added set of dramatic orchestration. Not to mention, the mission itself concludes with the Darkness itself inviting the Guardian to join them on Europa in the creepy but visually impressive "Stone Crypt" aboard the Pyramid, making the whole ordeal double as an action-packed prologue to Beyond Light.

Beyond Light/Season of the Hunt (Nov. 10, 2020—Feb. 9, 2021)

• In the Beyond Light expansion, Guardians are finally able to use Darkness-based abilities and subclasses. Not only is this something that fans have asked for and theorized about for years, but it gives us a chance to prove to the likes of the Drifter and Shin Malphur that we can use the Darkness as a weapon against itself.
  Exo Stranger: "The line between Light and Dark is so very thin... let's cross it, together."
• A bit of a villainous version, but credit is due when it comes to Eramis. Up until now, the Fallen were obsessed with reclaiming the Traveler. The Servitors were even built in its likeness. After so many years of fruitless attempts and constantly being met with hostile opposition by the Guardians, Eramis decided that the Fallen don't need the Traveler anymore and would rather turn to the Darkness for their salvation. In her sale's pitch to the other Fallen on Europa, she emphasises this fact by freezing a Servitor solid and shattering it in a single punch. For the Fallen present, that moment spoke volumes about what Eramis was trying to do.
• The Deep Stone Crypt raid continues the trend of thrilling fights set to incredible scenery. Atraks, who has gone from a mere kid to a complete master of the Exo project, has broken into the Crypt to transcend her meatself, but not before reviving none other than Taniks the Scarred himself and setting up the Crypt's orbital base, the Morning Star, to activate its nuclear protocol and hurl itself into Europa, destroying it completely. The extremely chaotic conflict against the two Fallen bioengineers is, as with all of the other raids, set to a visually stunning battlefield in the Crypt's pristine halls, followed by an added spoonful of Scenery Gorn in Rapture once the disarmed Morning Star finishes crashing into Europa. And that's nothing to say of the spacewalk jumping puzzle, which treats the team to stunning views of Europa and Jupiter as the haunting "Deep Stone Lullaby" plays in the background, muting the sounds of the fighting while the Crypt AI (actually a copy of Clovis Bray I) dares the team to continue further (mistaking them for the actual raiding party) and stop his creation:
  Clovis Bray I: You now face godlike judgement. May it extend eternally.
  • The finale is no less impressive. After having just barely survived the crash landing of the Morning Star, the raid team stumbles out of the wreckage and finds themselves back at the entrance of the Deep Stone Crypt. But they're not the only ones who made it out alive, because Taniks soon bursts out of the rubble, having fused with a Heavy Shank chassis to replace his now missing lower half and rechristened as Taniks, the Abomination. On his last legs and fueled by nothing but his undying hatred for the Guardians, what follows is one of the fiercest encounters in the game as Taniks throws everything he has at the fireteam. From calling down orbital strikes, swarming them with the remaining House Salvation troops at his disposal, and pulling a page from Insurrection Prime's book by threatening to obliterate everyone via Turbulent Detonation, the Shadow Thief refuses to go down until he has his vengeance.
    Objective: Defeat Taniks, the Abomination

    Defeat Taniks for good
• "Born in Darkness Part 4" has a moment where Elsie (the Exo Stranger) and Ana, alongside the Young Wolf, go to meet Clovis Bray... or at least his AI in the Giant Exo head. When told about how Stasis will be used to save humanity, Clovis sputters and states that no, it should only be used to secure the Bray legacy. Ana and Elsie eventually agree to instead spite their grandfather by using Stasis to help humanity at large. As a bonus, Ana even straight up says "Screw him" to his face, and Elsie outright calls him a bastard! This makes it clear that both women will do their absolute best to avoid repeating Clovis' mistakes, and if he complains? Well, too bad, he's just an AI with no way to actually stop them.
  • Bonus points for the fact that, for all his bluster about how Elsie "has an ego" and her being "naive"... he's already proven wrong without even knowing it, due to the fact that the Young Wolf (and other Guardians) are in fact using Stasis to fight humanity's enemies courtesy of Elsie guiding them. All in all, it proves that even with his admittedly impressive technical achievements and prowess, Clovis Bray I is little more than a sad old man desperately clinging to something, anything, to prove his warped worldview right, but it's already slipped out of his fingers and there's nothing he can do about it. Humanity has already abandoned people like him to the annals of history.
• The aftermath of killing the High Celebrant of Xivu Arath. With the High Celebrant dead, no more Wrathborn can be created, and the survivors can be hunted down. With his rule of the Tangled Shore secured, the Spider prepares to offer the Young Wolf anything in Spider's lair. The Young Wolf already has something in mind...Crow, who is standing in the Lair. When the Spider realizes the Young Wolf is serious, he realizes he has to uphold his end of the deal, or the rest of the Solar system will write him off as unreliable. In other words, you just freed Crow and Glint, stopped the Spider's ambitions of taking over the Reef right in their tracks, and made the Spider dependent on the Guardians again to stop any further minions of the Darkness. And there is nothing the Spider can do about.

Season of the Chosen (Feb.9, 2021—May 11th, 2021)

• The cutscene after defeating Caiatl's champion in Season of the Chosen has a lot of awesome packed into it. First, it has Caiatl honoring her word by agreeing to the armistice, and cementing it by intentionally drawing her blood with a ceremonial knife. Then it's Zavala's turn to do so, but before he can do it... a Psion lurking in the shadows fires a Light disruptor at his Ghost, momentarily leaving him vulnerable. The Psion bringing him the knife attempts to attack him, but Crow jumps in, taking the blow and shattering his mask. Caiatl doesn't waste time herself, rushing to grab the knife-wielding Psion and slam him down (and considering her size and strength, and him not moving as he was brought down, she likely outright killed the guy, or at least shattered his body). And then, Crow turns to reveal to Zavala that he looks like Uldren. There's a Beat as Zavala processes that his bodyguard has the face of the man that killed his friend... before extending his hand to help Crow up. Signifying that he doesn't care who Crow is, because to him, he is a Guardian through and through.

Season of the Splicer (May 11th, 2021—Aug 24th, 2021)

• The first mission of the Season of the Splicer has Misraaks (or Mithrax) blasting a hole into the Vex Network itself (before then, nobody had even seen the Vex Network, let alone been inside it). The Guardian then jumps in with Misraaks guiding them, hacking the Network from outside. After defeating the Subjugated Curator, the Guardian makes for the portal, only for something to fight back against Misraaks. The portal is destroyed before the Guardian can make it through, and the Network attempts to delete the Guardian, only for Misraaks to pull them out.
  • After a bad racist riot against the Eliksni in the Fallen Quarter, Saint-14 halfheartedly tries to defend their actions to Mithrax, pointing out it's difficult for people to "live besides their monsters." Mithrax, fed up with Saint's cold attitude, retaliates with a speech that points out that the Eliksni don't have a choice in not living beside their own monster: Saint-14. This shuts up Saint, and it's shown in the next week that it actually got through to him, vowing to break the Cycle of Revenge. Not bad, Mithrax.
• For weeks, Lakshmi spread fear and doubt over the Eliksni presence in the City. After a group of citizens assaulted the refugee camp (an action all but outright ordered by Lakshmi), Ikora promised to take her to heel. Cut to week 6, where Lakshmi is attempting to rally her followers to take action. Ikora hijacks Lakshmi’s weekly broadcast and reminds us why she’s the Warlock Vanguard.
  Ikora Rey: Lakshmi would have you live in fear. Fear of the Eliksni. Fear of the future. But I propose something much stronger: faith. … Faith that the Vanguard and our Eliksni allies will break the Vex hold on our city. And we will do it united, as one, for the good of all.
• The epilogue quest features what little remains of the Consensus - so Ikora and Zavala - swooping in to save Mithrax and Saint's hides from Lakshmi's engineered Vex invasion in a huge Big Damn Heroes moment. For the cherry on top, Amanda joins in as well, using the Chaperone to dispose of some of the surrounding Goblins.
  • Ikora also uses Nova Warp in doing so; a super which is the epitome of Scrappy Mechanic. Looks like Bungie really is working on bringing it back.
• Doubling as a heartwarming moment, looking around during the Last City Override reveals a friendly Harpy "sitting" in a chair, surrounded by research equipment. Approaching it causes it to say "ASSISTANT" in Morse code, revealing that not only does Asher Mir's consciousness live despite his transformation being completed, he's also managed to claw his way out of the Pyramid's influence and back to Earth in his new state, all by himself.

Season of the Lost/Bungie 30th Anniversary (Aug. 24, 2021—Feb. 22, 2022)

• Mara Sov, Queen of the Reef, returning in Season of the Lost. Savathun has struck a deal with Mara: if Mara can exorcise Savathun's Worm, Savathun will return Osiris to the Guardians. When Savathun reveals herself to the Guardian, Crow and Saint-14, Mara encases her in a massive crystal prison to stop her transforming further. Despite all those years in the Ascendant Plane, Mara is just as strong as she was in The Taken King, and it shows.
• While the Guardians are stabilizing Ley Lines and rescuing the Techeuns, Caitl is waging her own war. Directly against Xivu Arath's forces. The Empress of an entire race of warriors against the Hive God/dess of War.
• Ikora continues her streak. In a radio conversation, Mara Sov ends up screaming at Ikora over Uldren’s death, rhetorically demanding that Ikora tell her who “sent him into Savathun’s clutches” and “bludgeoned Uldren into a scared animal and drove him from his home”. Ikora’s response?
  Ikora Rey: You did, Mara.
• Zavala saying no to Caiatl’s plan to nuke the Dreaming City.
• The Forerunner sidearm is a traditional Hand Cannon in disguise, with a surprisingly badass creation story: It's not just the Magnum from Halo that somehow arrived in the universe of Destiny, but an upgraded model merged with its counterpart in the Destiny universe: Breachlight^note Breachlight was designed as a deliberate Shout-Out to the Magnum.. It is both literally and figuratively the perfect fusion of tech from two of Bungie's most iconic universes, ready for both of its templates to kick ass once more.
• After all these years... Gjallarhorn is back. And it Took a Level in Badass for sure. For one thing, it still has the perk of firing homing cluster rockets on impact, but ALSO gives this perk to allies nearby who use non-Exotic rocket Launchers. A Macross Missile Massacre has never looked so glorious before. And the new catalyst for it takes things up a notch! Not only does it get another rocket in the mag, getting a kill with the weapon spawns a second, stronger rocket at the target's location. As a beloved fan favorite from the first game, it gets a glorious rebirth in the 30th anniversary!
• The Exorcism mission gives the bad guys two awesome moments to themselves and thus the last laugh of the year:
  • Savathûn escapes the very second her worm is excised, leaving Osiris behind for Mara to discover in the ruins of the crystal. And, of course, this gives her all the time to steal the Light in The Witch Queen just as Mars reappears.
  • Kelgorath, Kruutiks, and Kholks demonstrate how completely done the Winnower is with both Savathûn and the Guardians by assaulting the ritual in one massive Villain Team-Up that plays off of each other's strengths. The room is positively crawling in Xivu Arath's Hive, while Kholks staggers the resistance force and Kruutiks uses the worst traits of the Trickster and the Rifleman to trap any aggression in a pincer attack of clones. Which only makes putting them down for good even more satisfying, especially since Kelgorath is also repeatedly trying to rig the whole place to blow throughout the whole ordeal.

The Witch Queen/Season of the Risen (Feb. 22, 2022—May 24, 2022)

• The entire premise of the Witch Queen expansion is a villainous version, not unlike Eramis' in the Beyond Light campaign. If the promotional materials are of any indication, Savathun is going to be just as dangerous as Oryx, if not more so for one single fact. She found a way to gift the Light to her new brood of Hive, and every single one of them has a Ghost. Eyes up, Guardian, because you're in for the fight of your life.
• Season of the Risen sees the Guardians working with Empress Caiatl to capture and study the Lucent Brood so as to figure out how they stole the light and how they can suppress them. What really makes this season stand out though is the fact that your cooperation with the Cabal isn't just from a story standpoint and you do most of the leg work. Much like your first story mission back in Forsaken, you get backup. To reiterate, both Lightbearers and Cabal are working together to beat the shit out of Savathûn's Lucent Brood.
• The first mission of The Witch Queen takes a page out of Doom Eternal by having the player Guardian launch themselves towards Savathûn massive ship through a Cabal BFG.
• One for Savathûn: over the course of the Witch Queen campaign, the Guardian uses Savathun's "Altar of Reflection" to view her memories to get a better strategy of how to beat her. Nearing the end of Witch Queen's campaign, it turns out that Savathûn actually forgot all her memories when she was brought back as a Lightbearer. But you, in your quest to find out what she was up to, allowed her to remember all those memories, including the goal she'd be working towards.
  Savathûn: Thanks for the memories, Guardian.
• During the Witch Queen campaign, it is discovered that Savathûn didn't steal the Light at all. The Traveler chose her, like every other Lightbearer. This revelation shakes Zavala to the core, and he's unable to understand why the Traveler would willingly choose to give Savathûn, a Hive God, the Light. Ikora snaps him out of it by telling him that she's there to protect humanity, and that Savathûn being chosen by the Traveler is irrelevant to their situation. From there, he's able to focus on the situation at hand.
• At the end of the Witch Queen campaign, Savathûn has drawn the Traveler into her throne world and is intending to seal it there. How does the Player Character break her hold on it? By turning her own strategy of knowing more than everyone else against her; showing her that she was tricked by her worm familiar into exploring her origin world's Deep, which lead to her and her sisters becoming the Hive in the first place. Being on the receiving end of such a revelation sends Savathûn into a Villainous Breakdown, allowing the Guardian to fight and beat her.
• During the "Of Queens and Worms" post-campaign quest, Savathûn's Worm tells the Guardian and Queen Mara that Savathûn deceived the Witness during the Collapse, which is a reason why the Traveler survived. While we don't know the details of the deception, this means that Savathûn pulled a Did You Just Scam Cthulhu? on the entity controlling the whole Black Fleet.
  • The Warlock raid armor expands on this. Savathun as a Lightbearer was the one thing the Witness never expected to happen. While Rhulk was placed in her throne world as a backup plan for her inevitable betrayal, nobody was expecting Savathun to betray the Darkness’ philosophies outright. When Rhulk attempted to use the Upended (an apocalyptic superweapon that, while its exact function is unknown, is apparently devastating to Light), Savathun then proceeded to kick his ass so thoroughly that he was left imprisoned in his now-broken Pyramid. And she then essentially emailed the Witness (from Rhulk’s phone, analogically speaking) telling them to stay the fuck out of her throne world.
• In Week 4 of Season of the Risen, after Crow destroys the Psisorium and accidentally kills the Psion sent to the Tower, an understandably livid Caiatl proclaims that Crow must die to protect the Guardian/Cabal alliance, which Crow accepts... and then Saladin, the very same person who Crow ignored the advice of, steps in, volunteering his life. This not only works, as it genuinely impresses Caiatl, but the Empress decides to invoke Exact Words and "takes his life" by making him an official Bracus on her War Council, and singlehandedly calming the diplomatic incident.
  • In the aftermath, Saladin proceeds to demonstrate how badass he is by effectively reworking and improving the Cabal's battle strategies, training several Legionaries so well to the point he opens a version of the Iron Banner at Caiatl's request, and taking on six Rites of Proving and succeeding, culminating in him defeating a member of Caiatl's war council with one blow. This ends up earning him a promotion to Valus, the third highest rank in the entire Cabal military, within three days.
    • Even more badass? One lore book implies he won all those Rites of Proving Lightless.

Season of the Haunted (May 24, 2022—Aug. 23, 2022)

• Despite the heartbreak he goes through in Week 1 of Season of the Haunted, in Week 2 Crow, with the Young Wolf and Eris' help, manages to find the resolve to make peace with his past and resolve to do what he can to undo Uldren's mistakes. Even more, turning Nightmares, terrifying creatures presumed to be of pure malice, into a peaceful Memory proves one thing absolutely: Darkness is not evil, and both Calus and the Witness' cold nihilism can be subverted by strength of will and acceptance.
• Sever - Resolve has Caiatl deliver a simple "The Reason You Suck" Speech to the Nightmare of Ghaul almost every time he tries to break her by talking. Considering how easily he was able to get to her the previous Sever mission, it's a mark of how much she's grown:
  Ghaul: "We lifted the Cabal from Calus' stagnation. Now your mythkeepers list the worlds lost, not added! They speak of what once was, and no longer of what could be! Is this the new Cabal you've envisioned?"
  Caiatl: "We've both humoured scribes conjuring purpose for us - futures that never came to pass. Theirs is the buzzing of insects caught in turbulent winds. When the wind shifts, so will they."
  
  Ghaul: "You stand with the Traveler's puppet? Against me? You have grown fat from weakness - drunk on their patronage!"
  Caiatl: "You demanded I rule in your shadow. With the Vanguard, I stand equal. The Cabal stand equal."
  Ghaul: "The Cabal will die alongside them: a desperate ember fading against the dark."
  Caiatl: "Just because you can't imagine a future beyond yourself, Dominus, doesn't mean there isn't one."
  
  Ghaul: "You were never able to best me, Caiatl. That's why I left you to hold my throne."
  Caiatl: "I was fighting with weapons YOU gave me. Now, I wield my own."
• The finale of the Bound in Sorrow quest has you, Zavala, Eris, Crow and Caiatl attack the Leviathan before Calus fully gains control of the Lunar Pyramid, but due to unexpected interference, you join up with only Caiatl to confront Calus. The Cabal Empress proves to be more than enough for an allied NPC, as she destroys enemy Scorn with the same moveset as the Nightmare that you fought in the Duality dungeon, allowing you to fight the Nightmares of the Fanatic, Kethiks and Ghaul uninmpeded. As you down each Nightmare, the Memories of Uldren, Safiyah and Ghaul cheer you on, and Calus is ultimately banished from the Leviathan to parts unknown, though it's clear it won't be the last we see of him since he's become a disciple of the Witness.

Season of Plunder (Aug. 23, 2022—Dec. 6, 2022)

• Season of Plunder starts out with the Guardian heading into Riis Reborn to retrieve a package of Drifter's intercepted by House Salvation. When you get to the package, you find it's none other than Spider. Drifter smuggled him off of the Tangled Shore, and now he's been kidnapped by House Salvation. Before you get him out, Drifter wants to discuss "hazard pay". Spider isn't having any of it, until Drifter reminds him that Queen Mara has a bounty on his head. At that point, Spider offers his Ketch, as long as the Guiardian can get it secured first. After beating the boss of the level, you find that Eramis has been freed by the Witness.
  • The Pirate Lords, who are the antagonists of the Season, deserve some credit. They've been staying alive in the Sol system, pillaging and looting other ships, since arriving here after the Eliksni's Long Drift. This was while humanity's own Dark Age began, so they've been surviving out there for centuries on end at least.
• The Season of the Plunder activity Ketchcrash has 6 Guardians facing an enemy Ketch in a space pirate battle, culminating with launching themselves onto the enemy Ketch and killing the Captain. It's as awesome as it sounds.
• In week two of the Season of Plunder, the Spider summons Mithrax to suggest they use these relics of the Darkness that Eramis is searching out for themselves. Mithrax threatens Spider, even calling him by his true name Rakis, to leave that behavior in the past, and that if he ever utters such things beneath the Traveler again, he will end the Spider right then and there. Spider, who has treated the Young Wolf as his personal lapdog since Forsaken, is immediately submissive, saying there is no need for such talk. Mithrax leaves after that, and the Spider is clearly rattled by the threat, telling the Young Wolf to get out. The Spider does not fear the Guardians, the Awoken, or the minions of the Darkness, but he does fear Misraakskel.
• In the final Pirate Hideout mission, the Guardian storms a hideout overflowing with Lucent Hive. Unfortunately, Eido went ahead of them to retrieve the relic without violence. After you kill the boss of the area, Eido realizes that the door to get to you is locked tight, and she screams for her father. After blasting the door down, the Guardian steps into the room... and sees Eramis killing a Lightbearer Knight mid-Super. Before they can do anything, Mithrax teleports in, sword in hand. Mithrax and Eramis then have a sword fight, and Eido cries out to her father "Stop! She protected me!" Mithrax then uses his Splicer gauntlet to blind Eramis, parry her next attack and disarm her while kicking her to the floor. He gets ready to deliver the killing blow, and Eido begs him to stop. Eramis just tells him "Do it. Show your daughter who you really are." After looking towards Eido, Mithrax gets off of Eramis, who stands up and makes a quick escape via using Stasis and jumping onto a Ketch passing by.

Season of the Seraph (Dec. 6, 2022—February 28, 2023)

• The seasonal dungeon, Spire of the Watcher, has the Guardian head to a Seraph complex flagged as a "Pillory" site. The Vex are also there, seeking a way to imprison Rasputin's subminds. What's of note is that the Vex are of the Sol Divisive-a sect of programming who outright worship the Darkness, and are seldom seen outside the Black Garden. After making it all the way to the top, the Guardian does battle with Akelous, The Siren's Current. Powering on the four fuel rods atop the Spire and breaking Akelous' weak spots, the Guardian kill the Harpy and breaks their connection to the site. Osiris then starts panicking-the Vex are driving the reactor core to a meltdown. Fighting downwards through hordes of Goblins, Fanatics and Minotaurs, the Guardian eventually comes face to face with Persys, Primodial Ruin. By causing a reactor purge to strip away the Vex's shields, the Guardian successfully kills Persys. Afterwards, Osiris points out that the Witness's plan here was clever; gain knowledge, then eliminate all traces that it had any advantage.
  • A special mention goes to Eramis, as she left 6 recordings for the Guardian to find in the Spire. And without leaving any trace that she was ever there aside from the recordings.
  • The lore of the dungeon gear drops a major reveal about the true nature of Neomuna just before Lightfall: it's NEFELE STRONGHOLD, fully operational and a smashing success thanks to one of his creations going rogue to save a colony under her watch. Rasputin's deletion of the protocol's details amounts to a Memory Gambit with a payoff that rivals the Witch Queen's own, and it ultimately proves that he did save civilization once and is prepared to do it again.
• Throughout Season of the Seraph, numerous Hive Bosses have appeared with the epithets of "Scourge", among them including Scourges of the Dakaua, the Ammonites, and the Helium Drinkers, the rival nation of Krill that overthrew the Osmium Court. These Hive rival the ages of and/or are older than members of the Court of Oryx, and they have committed horrific atrocities for billions of years without ever being brought to justice... until now.
  • On the other side of the coin, if they are all Ascendant Hive like Kelgorath, then the only way to permanently kill them would be to do so within the Ascendant Plane or Xivu Arath's Throne World. Moreover, Xivu Arath marshaling the oldest of the Hive to her side is a testament to her military power, and her setting them against the Guardians shows she doesn't underestimate the Last City.
• Week 6's story reveals the truth of Xivu Arath's plans, and they're a testament to the Hive God of War's cunning and strategic acumen. It doesn't matter whether it's the Wrathborn or Vanguard that gains control of the Warsat network. Whichever side uses them, the resulting death and destruction would empower Xivu and her worm, and it would complete the ritual she's using to summon her forces to the Sol system, just as she did over Torobatl. The dilemma leaves Rasputin, who has thus far only fought the Hive's escalating force with force of his own, genuinely stymied, and he tells the Young Wolf that he needs time to figure out how to proceed.
• As bittersweet as it is throughout, there's something to be said about the quality of this season's end cinematic. Instead of the standard cutscenes using in-game models, this one is fully animated like the expansion reveal trailers, allowing for the full conveyance of emotion and tension that the entire scene- from the Traveler's departure and everyone's reaction to it, to Eramis aligning the Warsats to enact ABHORRENT IMPERATIVE, to Ana initiating AURORA SACRIFICE and unplugging and deleting Rasputin before the Traveler can be destroyed, to the subsequent reveal that the Traveler is standing its ground at Earth- deserves and more.
  • Just as awesome as it is heartwarming is the implication the Traveler left to Earth's orbit in order to spare the Last City a grisly end, as alluded to by Rasputin in the dialogue before the final mission itself. The Warsats firing down upon the Traveler as it hovered over the Last City would have resulted in incalculable devastation and thousands of lives lost. Considering the confusion throughout Year 5 regarding the Traveler's intentions, what with it giving Savathûn and her Hive the Light, it's pretty awesome seeing it stand and lay its life on the line for humanity, showing that it might truly consider mankind special enough to protect in spite of it all.

Lightfall/Season of Defiance (Feb. 28, 2023—May 23, 2023)

• Let's start with the reveal trailer:
  • Neomuna. A cyberpunk metropolis untouched by ruin or overgrowth like so many things on Earth.
  • A huge shadow hovers over the city, with the new Shadow Legion coming out of it, weapon laser sights hovering everywhere. Three Guardians approach the huge horde of Cabal, glowing a strange green we've never seen Guardians wield before. Then they load their weapons before engaging the Cabal in a massive firefight, including the Guardians sliding over rooftops while shooting at Pyramid ships.
  • A huge missile puts a dent in one of these ships, and we see the launcher that fired it collapsing into the hand of it's wielder, standing on a rooftop.
  • We're then treated to a shot of Calus undergoing some kind of transformation, with the Witness overseeing it.
  • The next shot of the Guardians is of them in a corridor reloading their weapons before a pair of ominous yellow eyes in the darkness and another horde of Shadow Legion send them turning tail and running away, crashing through a window.
  • While falling, the Hunter summons a rope that hits one of the Legionnaires, disintegrating them utterly. Then the arguable highlight of the trailer: the Titan, Warlock and Hunter summon green thread-like grapples and swing out of the area, Spider-Man style.
  • The Guardians land in front of yet another massive horde of Cabal, but this time, they summon more of the green threads as weapons: the Titan creates a pair of claws. The Hunter, a rope-spear. The Warlock, a mass of energy that floats between their hands.
  • The Shadow Legion charges forwards, while the three Guardians each take a single step forwards.
  • And let's not forget Calus and the Witness talking over all of this happening:
  Calus: "When they see this glorius end... They will come for us,to savour the fruitless struggle, to it's last drop. It's who they are."
  Witness: "Let them come and see, our shape revealed. What they do then, unshackled from hope, that is who they are. Because only, in the end, are we free."
• The "As Light Falls" Vi Doc includes a glimpse of Season of Defiance, which starts with a Legionary toppling to the ground, to reveal Amanda Holliday standing in front of it, Chaperone in hand. Once again, the Shipwright proves that you don't need the Light to be a Guardian.
• The launch trailer has a few moments, but the biggest one is the final shot of the trailer, which shows the Black Fleet converging on the Traveler... only for the Traveler to surround itself in white energy and attack one of the pyramids with a Wave-Motion Gun. The Traveler is not backing down anymore.
  • A villainous moment of awesome too in response to that, as the Witness NoSells the point-blank hit from The Traveler's Wave-Motion Gun and, judging from shots in the trailer, immediately goes on a Curb-Stomp Battle of the entire Guardian attack force by itself with about as much effort as swatting a fly as it slices-and-dices them, Ghosts and all, while tanking the Traveler's shot at it when they try to approach it.
• Nearly everything stated in the launch trailer happens in the opening cutscene to Lightfall. And it makes for one hell of an intro, as the Guardian transmats aboard a Cabal ship, then grabs onto the extrerior hull as it goes into lightspeed. After that, they pull open the hatch next to them and jump in, ready to kick ass.
• Villainous moment of awesome in Calus' reveal. The transition from bloated Cabal Emperor to Disciple has been very kind to him, apparently turning several of his limbs into solid gold. There's even a starting bit where he grabs one of the curios floating next to his throne, and morphs it into an intricate and opulent chalice. It's just as cool as it sounds.
• "Guardian. Your recklessness will be the end of you one day. But not today." Cue a race against the clock to escape Calus' ship while Caiatl's fleet rains barrages of missiles on all the Pyramid Goliath tanks standing between you and your way out.
• Rohan's Heroic Sacrifice to destroy the Radial Mast. Every Cloud Strider willingly gives up years of their lives to protect the people of Neomuna (the advanced nanotechnology they use shortens their lifespans to just a decade). But Rohan directly gave his life to save the city from annihilation at the hands of the Witness.
• The final mission, Desperate Measures, is full of these:
  • A massive Hold the Line sequence with Caiatl and her troops tearing through Calus's Shadow Legion. The only thing they're missing is an effective countermeasure against the Goliath tanks... but Nimbus already gave you a means to call in a Kill Sat beam that obliterates said tanks.
  • A villainous moment of awesome for Calus as the campaign's final boss. He manifests a Heavy Slug Launcher out of Pyramid material that shoots the same things that the Caretaker fires from it's back. More than that, he can summon three more of the things via a Badass Fingersnap. And when you finally whittle Calus' health bar down to nothing, you may think that's that. Nope: Calus splits his gun into a pair of Gladiator blades and starts rushing you like a madman while the arena closes in on the two of you, trapping you in the arena with him.
• The //node.ovrd.AVALON// quest reveals the reason Asher Mir survived his transformation and escaped Io: he simply told the Vex network to do it for him by turning his Unwilling Roboticization on them and then cancelling its further progression entirely.
• The raid, Root Of Nightmares, has the Guardians entering the Witness' own Pyramid ship (that the Traveler blasted with it's Wave-Motion Gun in the Lightfall opening cutscene) and killing Nezarec, Final God of Pain.
  • One also goes to Nezarec, who is clearly Not Quite Dead even after we kill him in the raid.
• Some of the dialogue we get during the raid makes Savathun's actions against the Witness even more awesome in hindsight: she killed Nezarec and hid the Veil on Neptune, knowing it was a vital part of the Witness's plans. And this happened either before or during the Collapse, meaning that Savathun killed a Disciple of the Witness without the Light, and presumably without help from either of her siblings. This actually makes her 2-0 aginst Disciples.

Season of the Deep (May 24, 2023—August 22, 2023)

• Xivu Arath's first line, as hammy as it is, firmly cemented her characteristics as the Hive God of War:
  "I AM THE MOUNTAIN AGAINST WHICH ALL SWORDS SHATTER! HONE YOUR EDGE AGAINST ME!"
• Props have to be given to Sloane this season. By her own admission, she's been employing run-and-gun tactics against the Taken since Titan was stolen away by the Witness and, at one point, had to absorb Taken corruption to try and listen in on enemy communications even knowing that she would catch Xivu Arath's attention in the process. The fact that she spent years fighting off the Taken by herself and battling literal voices in her head at the same time is nothing short of impressive.
• Chalk up another awesome moment for the Witch Queen. After strengthening Sloane and Asha's psychic connection to it's fullest, Ahsa informs us that only Savathun knows how to get through the portal that the Witness cut into the Traveler. We have no choice but to resurrect her, and live with whatever consequences we suffer as a result.

Season of the Witch (August 22, 2023—November 28, 2023)

• Immaru strikes a deal with the Guardians - if they want Savathun revived to help them catch up to the Witness, they need to deal with Xivu Arath first. And as seen thus far, Xivu grows powerful from conflict, so a straight fight is out of the question. Eris manages to Take a Third Option - become a pesudo Hive God herself and arrange it so that any violence and death committed by the Guardians gets tithed to her. This way, she manages to weaken Xivu and hopefully starve her in the process. In short: Eris is throwing a middle finger at the Hive philosophy of the Sword Logic by becoming a Hive God herself and then stealing tithes from their own god! Truly impressive.
• Crossing over with Nightmare Fuel, Eris' transformation into a Hive is something to behold. She draws a set of Hive runes in a circle, then floats into the air and begins a metamorphosis that has her growing chitin over almost her entire body. As she descends to the floor and stands up, her voice is distorted as she speaks:
  "I am the many-mouthed hunger. I am the knife-edged truth. Bring me your tithes."
  • Bonus points to our Guardian for pulling a psuedo-Talk to the Fist on Immaru during the cutscene by grabbing hold of him by the eye, threatening to crush him like all the other Hive Ghosts before he desperately cries out that we need him. Eris' only response is to tell him to shut up.
• In the second week of the story, Immaru plays a radio message for us, concerning a conversation between Savathun and Xivu Arath that happened shortly after Oryx was killed. In it, Savathun outright calls both her siblings hypocrites, and states that not everybody wants to be Hive. Xivu, however, is unshakeable in her faith to the sword logic. Crossing over with Nightmare Fuel, she states that Eris will be the one to take the mantle of Taken King, that her forces will challenge Eris' brood, and whoever wins will prove the sword logic correct. Immaru himself is shaken by what Eris is doing, because she's playing right into Xivu's prediction by becoming the fourth Hive God.
  • Immaru also plays us a message left for him by Savathun, telling him to bide his time and wait for someone in the City to become open to bargain for the information she has concerning the portal. Savathun, as always, is three steps ahead of the Guardians. And Immaru tells us as much directly, because he knows there's nothing we can do but rely on both him and the Witch Queen.
• The third week has Xivu Ararth directly assaulting Savathun's Spire, meaning that the Guardians have to boot her out. After that, the Player Character heads to the oubliette to stop her from stealing Eris' tithes, and Xivu answers back by sending in her most favoured Harbinger: the Leviathan Eater, Bane of the Ammonites. When we send him packing, Ikora realizes that he wasn't fighting us-he was testing our capabilities, and he'll be back with reinforcements. The stakes have been raised through the roof.
• The finale brings a double serving of badassery to cap everything off here. To wit:
  • We manage to kill the Leviathan Eater, Xivu Arath's strongest lackey, for good, avenging all who died at his hands.
  • Savathun is revived by Immaru after the Leviathan Eater's death, and the first thing she does is compliment Eris' Hive God form. Eris, not putting up with any of Savathun's bullshit, decides to kill her on the spot and take her power, using it to sever Xivu Arath's connection to her Throne World. The fact that she gets to drop an awesome "Reason You Suck" Speech towards the Hive God of War along with the Hive as a whole while she invokes her spell is just the icing on the cake.
  Eris Morn: Hear me, dead things. I let this moment pass unnamed, without song. This is the rejection of your sad legacy. Xivu Arath, agitator, fomenter. What a world-cyst you have built from your conquests. No more. Now and forever, you are banished. Aiat.
  • Even better, Eris Morn proves why she's a stalwart ally of the Light by rejecting the temptation of becoming a true Hive God after taking Savathun's power, demonstrating that she has enough fortitude to hold onto her true self.
• In the lore tab after the final mission, "A deal is a deal", Savathun tries to pull some word language trickery either to renege on the deal or mess with the team. Ikora instantly preps a Nova bomb and tells her in no uncertain terms that she will answer. Savathun laughs at her and says she's still just as strong as she ever was and Ikora can't keep her here. You know who can? US.
  Savathun: You're in no position to stop me.
  The Guardian rose from Eris's side
  Young Wolf: I am.
• Crossing over with Nightmare Fuel, in the Lore tab Proportionality, Saint-14 ambushes and kills Savathun. He then does it over, and over, and over again, making Immaru resurrect her repeatedly. If each paragraph break is one such instance, he did it at least 10 times. Even if she’s successfully bargained for her freedom, Saint makes it clear that Savathun can’t simply have her way anymore.
• A little understated, but the fact that it was the Young Wolf, not Eris or Ikora, who figured out the pattern in Savathun's wings as the 15th wish. The Young Wolf has oftentimes been a grunt-a frontline soldier who kicks down doors and shoots enemies. But by successfully working out the wish, the Player Character has proven themself to be a Badass Bookworm as well.

Season of the Wish (November 28, 2023-June 4, 2024)

• "Starcrossed" as much as its a Tear Jerker, gives a moment of this with the reveal of Taranis, Riven’s mate. Taranis, unlike most Ahamkara, was a wish-dragon with a sense of morality, and fulfilled wishes exactly as they were requested of him. His morals intrigued Riven, drawing her to him, and the two fell in love, eventually bearing children. Sadly, due to the Great Ahamkara Hunt. his mate would be imprisoned by the Awoken, leading to her Taken corruption. The moment he realized what happened to Riven, Taranis immediately sacrificed himself to save their unborn brood - by making a wish for himself to scatter Riven’s eggs across the Ley Lines. Taranis was an Ahamkara, a being recognized as intrinsically selfish and treacherous. His final action was to protect his children, at the cost of his own life. Even more impressive, he left behind the Wish-Keeper Exotic Bow to aid the one who would emerge to save his family.

The Final Shape

• The announcement trailer has Ikora recapping the entirety of the game, interspaced with shots of Guardians battling Savathun and Nezarec, while also fighting side-by-side with Mithrax and Caiatl. At the end of this, she wishes her audiencd could have been with her for it. Who is said audience? Cayde-6!
• The reveal trailer has more moments to awe you.
  • For the first time ever, we see a rendition of the moment you were resurrected by your Ghost in CGI.
  • The fireteam finally crosses the portal and arrives at the Pale Heart, an Eldritch Location inside the Traveler.
  • Interspaced throughout the beginning are shots of the fireteam assaulting the Vault of Glass, with the Warlock dying and being resurrected by Ghost.
  • The Vanguard is finally reunited.
  • The Witness pulls out a new set of minions wielding the power of the Darkness.
  • As the guardians pull out new supers to confront the Witness with, Ghost encourages us to rise one. Last. Time.
• The Gameplay trailer managed to throw a curveball that had the community gasping in awe: custom subclasses that can wield the Light and Darkness at the same time. The ability to shift between elements has always been a part of the lore, but this goes above and beyond even that!

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