I can’t lie, I thought I had a fairly good idea of how Destiny 2 The Final Shape would play out based on past trailers, developer comments, and the general direction of the game’s narrative over recent months. Well, the new The Final Shape trailer – which I imagine will be our last look at the expansion before it arrives on June 4 – has just exposed my naivety. My jaw hit the floor, along with many other Destiny 2 fans, when that trailer aired, as there are several huge twists and mysteries that we didn’t expect to see.
Destiny 2 is one of the best FPS games ever, but a lot hinges on the delayed The Final Shape. Declining player counts in 2023, layoffs at Bungie, and the pressure that comes with concluding a long-running storyline, means it has to deliver. While I simply thought it would achieve this by being Destiny 2’s big, blockbuster Avengers Endgame moment, where all our allies converge to take on the walking vape that is the Witness, it really does seem like Bungie has cooked up something truly radical.
This new launch trailer for the space game’s imminent expansion throws up some big unanswered questions, and I’m going to go through four of them here. I’m sure if you’re clicking on this article you’re happy to see this kind of speculation, but be warned that there could be potential spoilers ahead for The Final Shape if you’re trying to go in blind.
- The fate of Earth
- Zavala’s role in The Final Shape
- Who is the veiled figure?
- How has the Witness got hold of The Veil?
The first big moment in the trailer is what appears to be the actual enactment of The Final Shape – or at least some initial major step towards it. The Last City and seemingly the entire Earth can be seen frozen, fractured, and corrupted – let’s not forget that The Final Shape is essentially the Witness’ vision for a world that is completely inanimate, so that no life (and therefore, no suffering) can occur.
Now we know what this looks like in action. The main question is though, does the Witness actually manage to begin this process? Does this actually happen? Or is this a vision that lays out the stakes of what will transpire should we fail to defeat the Witness? That is the mystery.
I’m also surprised to see so much of Zavala in this trailer and how it is insinuated that he has a big part to play in this story. Of course, we already knew Zavala would feature in The Final Shape and have some involvement. However, it’s felt to me like Ikora, Cayde, and even Crow would be leaned on more heavily this time around.
However, in the launch trailer, he is seemingly coming face to face with the Witness (and a lot of the Witness’ visions, by the looks of it) on his own. We then see him being lured into the black corruption that is plaguing the Traveler with a deceiving vision of his former wife Safiyah. A voice line from Ikora says: “Zavala, don’t do this”, and in a moment with the Witness, the villain asks him to “join us”. Zavala’s resolve has been tested many times in the past, but I really wonder if we’re going to see him go somewhat rogue – or, at least, make a brave and noble play to try and defeat the Witness that Ikora doesn’t support.
For real lore-heads, the shot above of a veiled figure holding a fragment of glass (and the army of veiled figures we see stood behind Zavala at one point) is one of the most intriguing and exciting moments of the whole trailer. Some have speculated that the main figure holding the glass is the Winnower. For context, there are tales in Destiny lore of two entities called the Gardener and the Winnower – the former embodies the Light, the latter embodies the Dark.
However, the theory I’m currently siding with is this one, which posits that these veiled figures are representations of the race that sacrificed and converged itself to become the single form that we see today as the Witness.
And finally, a big one for me – how the heck is the Witness standing in front of the Veil?
The mysterious, Darkness counterpart to the Traveler, the last time I checked it was locked up safe and sound on Neptune following the events of the Lightfall campaign. While this could just be a vision, it could also mean that the Witness has found a way to steal the Veil and get it inside the Traveler to create the link between the two entities that it believes will bring about The Final Shape. If it is really there, I want to know how the Witness pinched it.
Bungie no doubt has plenty more twists and turns up its sleeves, but my main takeaway from this launch trailer is that The Final Shape’s story is going to be much deeper than the superhero movie I thought it might be. I’ll admit, I’m a bit fearful that so much of the amazing stuff we see in the trailer will eventually be put down to ‘it’s just a vision’, but if Bungie really pulls this off, it could cement Destiny 2 as one of the best PS5 games and best Xbox games ever.
For more ahead of The Final Shape release date, check out the new Exotic trace rifle that’s both unique and one of the coolest-looking weapons Bungie has ever made.
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