To start, your proximity to the Traveler gives you access to new Light powers, including some that augment the abilities of nearby players. You'll also see new weapons, such as a support rifle that can switch to healing teammates. Enemies can use new powers of their own, too. The company is also rethinking how it tells stories with The Final Shape — instead of four seasons, you'll see three large episodes divided into a trio of smaller acts. There could be a stronger incentive to stick around as the story unfolds, in other words.

Bungie is still committed to finishing the current phase, and is kicking off the Season of the Witch this week. It sees Eris Morn take on Hive attributes to deal with a mounting threat. There are a few new systems to enhance your talents, and you can even craft hard-to-get exotic weapons after they've been unlocked through missions.

Season 23 (that is, the season starting in November) will make it easier to complete cooperative events. There will be a dedicated Fireteam Finder to locate buddies for a mission, and everyone can boost to the Light level of the most advanced player in the team.

The Final Shape isn't necessarily the end of Destiny 2. It does tie together many of the loose ends that have emerged since 2014, however. It also reflects Bungie's determination to evolve its brand — it's moving past Destiny to produce a Marathon follow-up and other projects.

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Meanwhile, the studio has reportedly delayed the Destiny 2 expansion, The Final Shape, and the studio’s next game, Marathon. Sony completed its deal last year to buy Bungie for $3.6 billion.

According to Bloomberg, Bungie delayed Destiny 2: The Final Shape to June from its original target of February 27, 2024. While not necessarily the end of Destiny 2, the expansion will serve as a resolution, wrapping up its main story’s loose ends. In addition, the studio has pushed back the release date for extraction shooter Marathon to 2025. That title, rebooting an IP from a 1990s Mac cult classic, is Bungie’s attempt to re-establish itself as a force in the modern gaming industry beyond Destiny.

Sony has joined much of the gaming industry (and the tech world at large) in laying off staff this year. Naughty Dog, Media Molecule and PlayStation’s Visual Arts support team have all faced cuts recently. In addition, Epic Games cut around 900 staff members in September, and CD Projekt Red announced in July it would lay off about 100 people. Niantic, Telltale, EA and Unity have also let go of workers in 2023.

When reached by Engadget’s Kris Holt for comment, a Bungie spokesperson pointed us to the following post on X (formerly Twitter) from Parsons:

Update, October 30, 2023, 4:43 PM ET: This story has been updated to add Bungie’s response.

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Bungie, however, says the expansion's delay is just because it “needs more time to become exactly what we want it to be,” going on to note that staffers are polishing the title “to deliver an even bigger and bolder vision.” To that end, the company’s rejiggering its release calendar a bit to ease the burden of the just-announced delay.

Season of the Wish, the final season in the game’s calendar before it moves onto an episodic model, starts tomorrow and will now include more content than previously anticipated to offset the delay. Starting in February, there will be weekly progression-based quests called Wishes that offer unique rewards. Bungie’s also moving the Guardian Games up to March with a renewed focus on class vs. class combat. Finally, in April players will get a two-month content update called Destiny 2: Into the Light that will act as something of a bridge to The Final Shape.

The forthcoming expansion wasn’t the only title slapped with the delay hammer after those layoffs. The studio has also pushed back the release date for the extraction shooter Marathon all the way until 2025. This is a rebooted IP for Bungie that first came to Macs all the way back in 1994.

As for The Final Shape, the expansion will include new dungeons, new maps, new character classes and much more. You’ll also get a final bow wrapped on the story, for those who play online shooters for the narrative arc.

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