Destiny 2: The Final Shape is less than a month away, and Bungie has officially set the stage with its latest cinematic.
[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the finale mission of Destiny 2: Season of the Wish, which includes a major cutscene that leads into The Final Shape expansion.]
On Tuesday, Guardians jumped into a new mission that took them into the Black Garden, where the finale of the original Destiny takes place. Upon finishing the mission, players were shown a new cutscene, which sees the return of Cayde-6, the beloved (and long-dead) Hunter Vanguard.
For some quick context, The Witness — Destiny 2’s biggest bad — created a portal into The Traveler at the end of the Lightfall campaign last year, and it’s been hanging out in there ever since. Guardians have been unable to go inside, as the portal kills anything that gets close.
However, months ago, the Vanguard decided to allow The Crow to wish his way into The Traveler. The idea here is that, because Crow (formerly prince Uldren) and his sister Queen Mara have such a strong connection, Mara would be able to twist reality in order to help players get inside the portal.
And that’s where the Destiny 2 story paused for months, thanks to Bungie delaying The Final Shape from February to June.
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The cutscene on Tuesday finally pushes the story forward again, as we see Crow tumble out of the portal and into The Traveler itself. Aside from the giant monolith of death looming in the background — The Witness’ fortress — The Traveler looks picturesque. But Crow hardly has time to take in the sights before getting shot at.
Veteran players will likely recognize the silhouette of Crow’s attacker almost immediately: Cayde-6, the wisecracking Hunter Vanguard that Prince Uldren executed back in Forsaken. (This was before Guardians then killed Uldren and he was resurrected into a Guardian called The Crow without any of his old memories … that is until the Hive God Savathun gave Crow Uldren’s memories in Season of the Lost — a lot has happened in the last six years of Destiny storytelling, OK?)
The cutscene is loaded with fan service, but the real money shot is when we see the reverse of Cayde’s infamous execution, which shows the former Hunter Vanguard standing over Crow and aiming down at him. Cayde, of course, has no idea that this is no longer Uldren, and that his killer has been reborn as a Guardian. As he’s about to pull the trigger, Glint, Crow’s Ghost, reveals himself, causing Cayde-6 to lower his hand cannon.
Cayde helps Crow up and the two share an awkward moment before they both focus on the true task at hand: The Witness.
This cutscene, frankly, rules, and is the exact kind of thing I was looking for ahead of The Final Shape on June 4. Last year’s expansion, Lightfall, disappointed a lot of Guardians — myself included — in the story department, so to see something like this leading into what Bungie promises will be the finale of the past 10 years of Destiny is pretty exciting. All that’s left now is for us to traverse the portal ourselves and retake The Traveler from The Witness.
