Destiny 2: Recapping the Vaulted Campaign Storylines | Game Rant
Destiny 2 has grown substantially since it initially launched in 2017. With the game growing constantly, and the file-size becoming far too hard to manage, Bungie decided to trim the game down and "vault" a bunch of older content from the game to make room for new activities, locations, and stories.
These vaulted locations were added to the Destiny Content Vault, and while they are in there, they are unplayable and not part of the main Destiny 2 experience. With so many new players coming into the game as Destiny 2 goes free-to-play, some players will need a recap of all the vault content so they have a better idea as to what is going on in the massive Destiny universe.
Destiny 2's main campaign at launch revolved around the Red War, when the Red Legion of Cabal invaded the Sol System and attempted to steal the power of The Traveler. The Red Legion, led by Dominus Ghaul, managed to blindside the City, and Zavala and the rest of the Guardians did not know the Red Legion's fleet was on the City until it was too late. Ghaul brought with him a special ship, called The Cage, that somehow managed to block The Traveler's power, stripping Guardians of their Light and essentially turning the Ghosts into husks. Ghaul threw our Guardian off the deck of his ship and down into the City below.
The Guardian barely survived, and was shown a vision from The Traveler about a shard of The Traveler hidden deep within the European Dead Zone that could possibly give us our Light back. The Guardian slowly made their way out of the City as the Cabal gunned down civilians and Lightless Guardians. This mission was one of the most unique and emotional ones in the entire franchise, and a big mark against the Content Vault model as new players will not get to experience it any time soon.
After meeting with Suraya Hawthorne and being brought to The Farm, The Guardian finds the Shard of The Traveler and has their Light restored. With this newfound power, The Guardian helps restore a foothold in the EDZ, and reestablishes a communication network. Once the network was restored, The Guardian received a message from Commander Zavala, calling for any Guardians to regroup on Titan, a moon of Saturn. The Guardian arrives on Titan to find the moon overrun by Hive, and Zavala is doing everything he can to hold things together.
Titan was one of the most unique, albeit small, locations in Destiny 2, and hopefully Bungie can find a way to bring it back in an interesting way. Working with Zavala and Commander Sloane, the Guardian retrieves a Golden Age CPU from the Titan Arcology, which allows the team to learn more about Ghaul's secret weapon: The Almighty. The Almighty is tethered to the Sun, and if given the command, will detonate the star, wiping out the entire solar system. To put an end to Ghaul, the Vanguard will need to be reassembled — with or without the Light.
The Guardian ventures to the planetoid Nessus to find Cayde-6, who got trapped in a Vex time-loop while trying to steal a Vex teleporter. Assisted by the Golden Age ship AI, Failsafe, the Guardian rescues Cayde and secures the teleporter. Cayde informs the Guardian that Ikora is likely on Io, at the final city The Traveler graced before its final resting place above the Last City. On Io, both the Vex and the Red Legion are interested in mining the planet for any power tied to The Traveler, and the Taken (presumably led by a new, unknown force) have appeared.
The Guardian pushes the Taken back while uncovering the Red Legion plot to mine Light energy from Io. After learning of this plot, The Guardian, assisted by Asher Mir, broke into a Warmind Vault to learn more about The Almighty and potential ways to stop it.
The Guardian returns to Earth and regroups with the newly reunited Vanguard, who (alongside Hawthorne) plan a liberation plot to free the Last City. The Guardian must destroy The Almighty, which will set off the revolution. The Guardian returns to the EDZ and steals a ship belonging to Thumos, the Unbroken, and flies to The Almighty, detonating its main systems and taking the weapon offline.
At that point, The Guardian regroups at the Last City, and the fight to reclaim The Traveler begins. Citizens and Lightless guardians, led by The Vanguard, fight head-to-head against The Cabal, while The Guardian takes to the rooftops and uses the Vex teleporter from Nessus to jump to the Traveler's Cage. Aboard the ship, The Guardian learns that Ghaul has used the mined Light energy from Io to gain Light powers, and The Guardian faces off against Ghaul one-on-one for the fate of the City.
After striking Ghaul down, Ghaul's new Light powers bring him back to life in a semi-ethereal form, but just as Ghaul begins to proclaim his immortality, The Traveler reawakens, shattering the Cage, and obliterating Ghaul for good. With the Cage gone, Guardians gain their powers back, and the City reflects on what it means now that The Traveler has reawakened. With such a pivotal and life-changing event now in the Content Vault, hopefully Bungie can find a way to still tell these stories in-game without people having to resort to fan-made video recaps.
In a post-credit scene, The Traveler's reawakening sends a pulse wave of Light across the solar system, and deep in the darkness of space, black pyramid ships hum to life for the first time since The Collapse.
Often seen as one of the darkest periods in Destiny 2 history, and the birth of the infamous "two tokens and a blue" joke in the community, the Curse of Osiris campaign takes players to Mercury to rescue the fabled Warlock-in-exile, Osiris.
Osiris has uncovered the Infinite Forest on Mercury, which is an infinite Vex simulation engine, and in that engine has learned of a coming threat that will lead the universe into a dark future. Osiris' ghost, Sagira, was found dormant, and Ikora wants The Guardian to travel to Mercury to find Orisis and get answers. Upon reuniting with Brother Vance in The Lighthouse on Mercury, The Guardian heads to the EDZ to reawaken Sagira, who warns Ikora and The Guardian that Osiris is in trouble and needs help.
The Guardians traverse the Infinite Forest and rendezvous with Osiris, who informs The Guardian of the being called Panoptes, a powerful Vex mind which has the power to change the universe forever. The Guardian traverses through the Infinite Forest and the Pyramidion on Io to uncover and transcribe a map to find Panoptes and put an end to the mind for good. Working with Osiris, The Guardian destroys Panoptes and subverts the dark future that Osiris uncovered. Despite the urging of Ikora, Osiris decides to stay on Mercury to continue monitoring the Infinite Forest for potential Vex threats.
Warmind was the second DLC for Destiny 2, and marked the start of a positive shift in the game that brought fans back into the fold. This DLC took place on Mars and revolved around Ana Bray and the Warmind Rasputin.
The Guardian receives a distress signal from a Guardian on Mars, asking for assistance. Upon landing, The Guardian learns that a new wave of Hive have awoken on Mars after being frozen under the ice for who knows how long. The Guardian meets up with the fabled Ana Bray (who has her own comic mini-series as well) and together the two push to the Bray facilities on the planet. The Guardian also learns that a Worm God, Xol, has begun attacking the planet and seeks to destroy the AI Warmind Rasputin.
Together, Ana and The Guardian delve deeper into Mars to destroy the Hive forces, as well as their leader Nokris, estranged son of Oryx, The Taken King. Nokris used necromancy to bring Hive back from the dead, defying the Hive Sword Logic, and thus was exiled by Oryx. Together, Nokris and Xol sought to bring about destruction on Mars together.
After defeating Nokris (though not permanently), the Guardian uses a fragment of The Traveler to lure out Xol. Together with Ana Bray and Rasputin, the Guardian uses charged Warmind Javelins to defeat Xol and save the Warmind. Xol, while defeated physically, would later channel itself into a weapon, Whisper of the Worm, that our Guardian still wields today. It was acquired through one of the best missions in Destiny history: Whisper.
Year 2's seasonal content kicked off with Season of the Forge, spearheaded by the newly introduced Ada-1. Players were introduced to the Black Armory, and the Black Armory Forges which were capable of creating powerful Golden Age weapons unlike anything Guardians had seen. Over the course of the season, players worked with Ada-1 to reignite the long-lost forges to create powerful weapons and uncover the stories of the old foundry families.
Season of the Forge did little to move the story needle in Destiny 2, but it did provide some of the most interesting exotics in the game (which are now available in the Exotic Weapons Kiosk). Players will get reacquainted with Ada-1 in the upcoming season, as she will be the main vendor for the new Transmog system, Armor Synthesis.
Following Season of the Forge, Season of The Drifter focused on the rogue light-bearer himself, and his preparations for the coming war with the darkness. Over the course of the season, players grow closer to The Drifter and learn more about his past. During this time, a member of the Praxic Order named Aunor Mahal tries to dive deeper into The Drifter's intentions, hoping to expose his evil ways to the Vanguard.
Ultimately nothing becomes of this investigation outside of learning more about The Drifter. Also during this season, players were taken back to the old Tower due to a recent invasion from some House Devils loyalists hoping to secure SIVA. Players took on the "Zero Hour" mission, one of the best missions in Destiny 2 history, to storm the remains of the old tower, defeat the Devil intruders, and secure Outbreak Perfected.
The Year 2 Season Pass concluded with Season of Opulence, seen as one of the best seasonal installments to date. Players returned to The Leviathan upon receiving a summon from Emperor Calus, exiled former-leader of the Cabal. He brings the Guardians to The Leviathan to fight against Vex and Hive, captured by Calus, for amusement. While aboard The Leviathan, the Guardians learn that one of Calus' Shadows (Calus' elite squad of spies and members of various races in the Universe) has been corrupted by a Hive artifact and must be defeated.
The Shadow was Gahlran, the Sorrow Bearer, and the Hive artifact in question was the Crown of Sorrow. After striking down Gahlran, Calus formally indoctrinates the Guardian as one of his Shadows, and offers the Guardian a place aboard The Leviathan. Players were able to unlock the returning Bad Juju exotic pulse rifle during their time aboard The Leviathan and in the Tribute Hall. This season featured one of Bungie's best attempts at letting players farm for curated loot of their choosing.
Season of the Undying launched alongside the Shadowkeep expansion, and was generally seen as a weak Season overall, as are most seasons that launch alongside a major expansion (looking at you, Season of the Hunt). Season of the Undying focused on the massive surge in Vex portals opening on The Moon. The Vex resurrected the Undying Mind from Destiny's past, and it has been causing a lot of problems on The Moon. Ikora constructed a massive portal for the Guardian to journey through to put an end to the invasions once and for all.
Season of the Dawn saw the return of a character from Destiny's lore that fans wanted to meet for quite some time: Saint-14. On Mercury, Osiris has constructed a new device, the Sundial, which he wanted to use to rescue Saint-14 from his demise within the Infinite Forest. A group of Cabal Psions on Mercury discovered the Sundial and attempted to use it to rewrite time itself to undo their defeat in the Red War.
Over the course of the Season, players work to stop the three Psions while also discovering a way to bring Saint-14 back from the Infinite Forest. Ultimately, the Guardian succeeds on both fronts, and they pull Saint-14 from the past to the present, and he returns to the tower to lead the Trials of Osiris.
Season of the Worthy focuses on Rasputin, Zavala, and the Almighty. A team of Cabal disabled the Almighty's systems, sending it on a crash-course toward the Last City in a last-ditch effort to eradicate humanity. The Guardian, Zavala, and Ana Bray work to power up Rasputin to get the Warmind's help to save the City. By charging Seraph Towers around the Solar System, Rasputin gained enough power to launch a full-on assault on The Almighty, knocking it just off-course to save the Last City.
This season featured Destiny 2's first "live event" where players all gathered in the tower to see the Almighty's descent and Rasputin's attack. While not the most flashy, it was a big step forward for Bungie.
The final season before the launch of Beyond Light was the Season of Arrivals, which, as the name would imply, is the season that the Darkness reached the Sol System. Rasputin, fresh off the destruction of the Almighty, attempts to shoot down the Pyramid Fleet, but fails to do so — and gets disabled in the process. The Darkness is trying to commune with the Guardian and Eris Morn, but Savathun is interfering with the messages.
Throughout the season, the Guardian works with Eris to push back the Taken and clear the interference from Savathun to learn more about what the Darkness wants. The seasonal storyline concludes with the Guardians striking down Nokris, who has since allied with Savathun, clearing the interference and learning that the Darkness wants the Guardian to journey to Europa (teasing the Beyond Light campaign).
This season also concluded with a live event, where players traveled to the Tower to investigate a disturbance from the Traveler. Upon arriving, Guardians witnessed the Traveler heal itself of the wounds it incurred during its reawakening during the Red War. While a momentous occasion, Eris notes that the healing of the Traveler is not a finale to the Darkness war, but the inciting action against the Darkness for the war to come.
And that is the gist of all the Vaulted Campaigns currently residing in the Destiny Content Vault. While there is no schedule for if or when this content will return, Bungie did note that all the content in the Content Vault, including Destiny locations, is fair game for future content. While fans are not thrilled with Forsaken content being added to the Content Vault at some point, it does leave the door open for new content, as well as returning content that fans have missed. There is still a lot of new content on the way for Destiny 2, so the Content Vault is sure to be expanded in the future to keep the game's size manageable.
Destiny 2 is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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