Destiny post-release content

*Destiny* is a 2014 multiplayer-only action role-playing first person shooter video game developed and currently published by Bungie. Following its initial release in September 2014, *Destiny* was extensively supported by Bungie with several expansion packs and updates as part of its **post-release content**.

The game's post-launch lifecycle began with the ***Year One Expansion Pass***, which contained the first two expansion packs for *Destiny*: ***The Dark Below*** (2014) and ***House of Wolves*** (2015). They were followed by the first of the big expansions for the game, ***The Taken King*** (2015), which overhauled and expanded upon many of the base game's features and mechanics. The forth expansion for *Destiny*, ***Rise of Iron*** (2016) was also its final, and was only released on eighth generation consoles as opposed to cross-generational release like its predecessors.

Following the release of all major expansion packs for *Destiny*, the game was repackaged as ***Destiny: The Collection*** for retail and digital stores.

## Year One Expansion Pass (2014 - 2015)

For *Destiny*'s first year of support, an Expansion Pack containing the first two minor expansions of the game was released. Both expansions could also be bought separately.

### Publisher

Activision (2014-2019)
Bungie (since 2019)

### Platforms

PlayStation 3
PlayStation 4
Xbox 360
Xbox One

### Genre(s)

First-person shooter, action role-playing

### Mode(s)

Multiplayer

***Destiny: The Dark Below*** is the first expansion pack released for *Destiny*. It launched in December 2014 to the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Set after the events of the base game's campaign, *The Dark Below* concerns the conflict of the Guardians with a Hive deity called Crota, the son of the Hive king Oryx; the Guardians are tasked with travelling to the Moon to stop the Hive from resurrecting Crota. The expansion pack adds new story missions, a raid, a strike, maps, weapons and bounties to undertake.

Bungie announced *The Dark Below* in October 2014. It received generally mixed reviews upon its release, with criticism directed at its lack of significant content, repetitive tasks, recycled ideas from the base game and narrative, though it received some praise for the newly-introduced strike and new multiplayer maps.

#### Gameplay

*The Dark Below* adds several new objectives and types of content to the base game of *Destiny*. *The Dark Below* campaign includes four story missions centering on stopping the resurrection of the Hive Prince, Crota. It adds a strike called "The Will Corta", and a raid called "Crota's End". In addition, three Crucible maps are added to the game: "Pantheon", "Skyshock" and "The Cauldron", as well as two Crucible modes: "Inferno", a modifier on multiple modes where points are solely scored on kills and the player's radar is disabled, and "Doubles", a two-versus-two version of Skirmish.

*The Dark Below* increases the Light level cap to 32, and the maximum wepaon damage to 331.

As with later expansions, *The Dark Below* included PlayStation timed exclusive content, including an exotic weapon ("The Fourth Horseman" shotgun) and a second strike ("The Undying Mind"), until September 2015.

With the release of *The Taken King*, a base game mission called "Sword of Crota" was retroactively modified to be the first mission in *The Dark Below* campaign.

#### Reception

* Metacritic: 63/100 (PS4); 59/100 (X1)
* Destructoid: 6.5/10
* Edge: 5/10
* Eurogamer: 6/10
* GameSpot: 6/10
* IGN: 6/10
* PlayStation LifeStyle: 7.5/10
* Polygon: 5/10
* Push Square: 5/10

*The Dark Below* received generally mixed reviews. On review aggregator site Metacritic, the PlayStation 4 version holds a score of 63/100 based on 41 reviews, while the Xbox version holds a score of 59/100 based on 4 reviews. It is the lowest-rated expansion pack released for *Destiny*.

### *House of Wolves* (2015)

***Destiny: House of Wolves*** is the second expansion pack released for *Destiny*. It launched in May 2015 to the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

The story of *House of Wolves* follows the Guardians' fight with Skolas, Kell of Kells, who attempts to reunite the Fallen race under his and the eponymous Fallen house's rule. The expansion adds several new story missions, a social space, a strike and new weapons, bounties and equipment, as well as a revamped upgrading system.

*House of Wolves* received mixed reviews from gaming publications, who nonetheless considered it an improvement over *The Dark Below*. Critics praised the player-versus-environment content, Prison of Elders co-op mode, improved upgrading system and Trials of Osiris events, though criticism remained focused on the lackluster narrative and unsubstantial amount of content.

#### Gameplay

*House of Wolves* introduces "Vestian Outpost", a new social space that serves as the main hub for the expansion's content and quests. The expansion's campaign includes six story quests focusing on attempts to stop main antagonist Skolas from forming his army. It also adds a new strike called "The Shadow Thief", as well as new bounties, weapons and gear. Three Crucible maps are included: "Black Shield", "Thieves' Den" and "Widows' Court"; an additional map, "The Timekeeper" was released as a PlayStation exclusive map until September 2015.

In addition to its campaign mode and related content, *House of Wolves* introduces two new multiplayer mode:

* *Prison of Elders* is an arena cooperative mode in which a team of three players fight against multiple waves of enemies while armed with a variety of weapon and gear modifications; matches culminate with boss fights.
* *Trials of Osiris* is a weekly, time-limited event of PvP matches. Teams of three players are tasked to win as many matches as they can, using the Crucible mode "Elimination". The release of *The Taken King* introduces bounties and additional objectives to partake in.

A major change in *House of Wolves* is a revamped upgrading system that allows players to reforge existing new legendary weapons in an attempt to generate better perks. The game's Light level has also been increased to 34.

## Major expansions

### *The Taken King*

***Destiny: The Taken King*** is the third expansion pack and first major expansion released for *Destiny*. It launched in September 2015 to the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. It forms Year 2 of *Destiny*.

Taking place after the previous expansion packs, *The Taken King* focuses on the Guardians' war with the titular Taken King, Oryx. Oryx, who was previously mentioned in the base game, seeks revenge on the Guardians after they slew his son Crota in *The Dark Below*, and leads a new faction called the Taken as his army. *The Taken King* adds a variety of new content to the game, including new missions, a new raid, new weapons and equipment, player versus player maps and a player versus environment stage. The expansion pack launched with significant patch for *Destiny* which revamped its quest and levelling systems.

*Destiny: The Taken King* was acclaimed upon release, and was unanimously considered superior to its predecessors and the base game. Reviews praised the overhauled and improved game systems, significant addition of content and stronger writing. Multiple publications agreed that *The Taken King* transformed *Destiny* into the game it originally aspired to. It was a commercial success, with Sony Interactive Entertainment noting the expansion broke the record for the most downloaded day-one game in PlayStation history, in terms of both total players and peak online concurrency.

#### Gameplay

*The Taken King* introduces a new campaign mode for *Destiny*, comprised of eight quests that depict the Guardians' war with Oryx. It also adds three new "strike" missions, and seven new "Crucible" maps. Crucible receives three new modes: "Rift", a capture the flag-like mode; "Mayhem", a mode with lowered cooldown times; and "Zone Control", an altered version of Control where points are awarded only for capturing and maintaining control of zones. On September 18, 2015, a raid called "King's Fall" was opened. It was initially available only in lowered difficulty mode before Bungie unlocked the harder difficulty on October 23, 2015.

For *The Taken King*, all three character classes received a new, third sub-class:

* Hunters have access to the "Nightstalker" sub-class, with Void-based abilities and a super called "Shadowshot", which allows Hunters to tether several enemies together and lock their abilities for the duration of the super.
* Titans have access to the "Sunbreaker" sub-class, with solar-based abilities and a super called "Hammer of Sol", which allows usage of a flaming hammer for close-quarters and long-ranged combat.
* Warlocks have access to the "Stormcaller" sub-class, with arc-based abilities and a super called "Stormtrance", which produces lightning bolts that can chain between enemies.

*The Taken King* introduces a new faction to the game, the "Taken" - the personal army of Oryx comprised from various different species and corrupted by the Darkness. In-game, Taken enemies are based on existing enemies, with a darker appearance and new abilities and combat options.

### *Rise of Iron*

***Destiny: Rise of Iron*** is the forth expansion pack and final one released for *Destiny*. It launched in September 2016 to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It forms Year 3 of *Destiny*.

Similar to *House of Wolves*, *Rise of Iron* focuses on conflict with the Fallen race. The Fallen have breached into the Last City and are armed with the SIVA virus, lost nanotechnology from the Golden Age. Players are aided by Lord Saladin, head of the Iron Banner PvP event, and the last Iron Lord to stand against SIVA. As with its predecessor, *Rise of Iron* adds a new campaign, new missions, new player versus environment and player versus player arenas, a new raid, a new social space and a variety of new weapons and equipment.

Bungie confirmed *Rise of Iron* in February 2016, as the last expansion prior to the release of *Destiny 2*. The expansion pack was met with mixed reviews. *Rise of Iron* received praise for its worldbuilding, combat scenarios and general additions, though critics lamented its safer design approach and deemed it inferior to *The Taken King* and an attempt by Bungie to stall until the launch of *Destiny 2*.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/destiny-the-dark-below
2. ↑ https://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-one/destiny-the-dark-below