Believe it or not, Oryx, the Taken King, is returning to Destiny 2. Bungie confirmed as much in a , but there’s obviously a lot of information the studio has yet to give us. We know we’ll be venturing back into the Dreadnaught, and the Taken and Hive will be involved, but we lack the finer details. The stream did, however, provide players with an idea of what the bones of Heresy will look like.
Oryx, the Taken King, is a major villain from Destiny‘s past. Once a Hive god and a significant force to be reckoned with, Guardians would eventually topple the monarch in the original Destiny‘s The Taken King expansion. To do so, we boarded Oryx’s Throne World spacecraft hybrid, the Dreadnaught. While the King’s Fall Raid is currently available in Destiny 2, Episode: Heresy ꦐwill be the first time Guardia𓃲ns can explore the Dreadnaught in the sequel.
The return of the King
Following a trend established in the Episodes of The Final Shape, it seems Episode: Heresy also plans to bring back a major villain. While Echoes brought Maya Sundaresh back into conversations, and Revenant offered a finale for Fikrul, Oryx definitely has the most star power as an Episode’s headlining villain. That said, the revival of Oryx doesn’t appear as simple as what was attempted in the Ghosts of the Deep Dungeon.
In some key art shared during the livestream, a ghostly visage of Oryx is shown peering over the Dreadnaught. The blue-spectered foe doesn’t appear to be haunting us in the flesh, perhaps much in the same way that the Ahamkara Riven came back for Season of the Wish. That said, Bungie did hint at a flesh-and-blood enemy at the root of Heresy‘s conflict: an as-of-now unnamed Dread character.
Of course, with the prospect of Oryx’s return on the horizon, Guardians will need to call in the specialists to deal with the combined Dread, Hive, and Taken threat. Naturally, that means Eris Morn, the Ghost-less Moon Guardian who briefly became a Hive god during the Season of the Witch. Joining the Hive expert is her more-than-just-friends ally, The Drifter, and Commander Sloan from Titan, who’d become afflicted by Taken corruption during Season of the Deep.
Are we getting the power to Take?
During the stream, there were some coy hints and references that Episode: Heresy may finally let players do something they’ve been asking for since the Taken were encountered: Gain the power to Take. The power of the Taken is intrinsically tied to Oryx, as he originated the ability. While control of the mindless faction has drifted since Oryx’s fall, who knows what’s bound to happen when the King himself returns?
If persistent rumors suggesting that we’re going to use the Dreadnaught to leave the solar system pan out, then it stands to reason we might need to master the same powers as its former steward. Bungie’s Narrative Architect, Nikko Stevens, said, “[Sloan] has been afflicted with this Taken corruption that we saw back in Season of the Deep, and she’s learned how to sort of hold it back but also utilize it to make her stronger. So she is going to be teaching us some of that.” Adding some fuel to the fire, Senior Social Media Manager Andy Salisbury noted, “We’re going ‘Beyond,’ once again.”
Stevens added another piece of context later on when asked about the Path of Resolve in Heresy. “There is ‘an event’ that happens at the beginning of the Episode,” Stevens noted. “This ‘REDACTED’ event sort of kicks off Sloan’s motivation for teaching us about the Taken power that she has been holding back. So, that is the Path of Resolve, she’s going to be teaching us how to fight fire with fire.”
The Narrative Architect continued, explaining how the Path of Resolve would factor into gameplay on the Dreadnaught. “We’re going to be going into the Dreadnaught, taking some control of that Taken energy, taking some control of those old Hive Magiks, and wielding them using our Light and using our Paracausaility,” Stevens said.
Into The Nether
Launching with the first Act of Episode: Heresy is a new activity called The Nether. The studio explained that The Nether would take players back through the old patrol zones of the Dreadnaught as Guardians rot out recent incursions by Dr✱ead, Taken, and Hive foes. As Senior Designer Ryan Harris notes, the activity was designed to be highly replayable💯.
“Baseline, the Patrol Zones are randomized and varied. The encounters inside are varied and randomized as well. So, time over time, when you launch into the activity, it’s going to be a different starting bubble, different encounters, and different events and objectives for you to engage with,” Harris explained.
The Nether may have some familiar trappings, but the activity will take on a wholly different vibe. Guardians will not regenerate health on their own, so a dedicated healer might be needed to conquer more serious difficulties. To compensate, Bungie is increasing player health by 300 and shields by 75 while in The Nether. “We really want to make your health a resource,” Harris noted.
Ammo will also appear at a more limited capacity in The Nether, but the developers explained that there are ways to earn both health and ammo drops 🌄throughout the activity. Fina💦lly, as Guardians progress through The Nether, they will acquire Boons, which are buffs that will remain present for the rest of the run. Destination materials, chests, and destructible environmental objects like pots were described, acting as potential resource caches.
The Nether will have variable instances, with one mode that caters to solo players. “For players who are wanting that explorative aspect, we’ve seperated out the modes a little bit. People can go in and they can explore the Dreadnaught, but people who are just looking to bust through the activity and get loot, they have a different matchmade mode,” Stevens noted. In addition to the solo and regular matchmade mode, there’s also an Expert difficulty option.
Published: Jan 29, 2025 08:04 am