Bungie has revealed the first details surrounding the first set of downloadable content for Destiny, confirming that fans of the persistent world shooter will get access to The Dark Below in early December.
The biggest new addition looks to be new character Eris, who will appear in the Tower to provide Guardians with new quests and missions that promise to explain more of Destiny's sprawling backstory and lore. One of the vanilla game's main criticisms, it's hoped that the DLC will tie up loose ends and do a better job of explaining the history of the Traveller to players that were left confused at the end of the campaign.
A new six player Raid called Crota's End will give high level characters that have already mastered the Vault of Glass a brand new set of challenges and monsters to overcome, while the cooperative Strike The Will of Crota looks better suited to smaller Fireteams. PlayStation gamers will also get exclusive access to co-operative Strike The Undying Mind, an exotic weapon and other, unannounced unlocks, which won't be coming to Xbox platforms until at least Autumn next year.
Bungie will be raiding the Light level cap to 32 and making new weapons, armour and gear available to unlock, including legendary and exotic items. An additional five Bounty slots added to each character should save players the hassle of frequent trips back to the Tower to turn in their quests, speeding up progression.
Destiny's multiplayer mode will also get a boost, with three new multiplayer arenas; Pantheon, a Vex temple filled with tight corridors set within the Black Garden, Skyshock, a dilapidated interplanetary defence array designed for vehicular combat as well as infrantry fighting, and The Cauldron, a close-quarters arena built on an abandoned Hive ritual site.
“Destiny was created as a living universe, which has allowed us to improve the experience post launch in real-time,” Bungie President Harold Ryan said during the announcement. “It also gives us insight into the things players are looking for in new content. We’ve seen from feedback that people want new activities, gear and weapons and of course the immensely popular Raid. The community helps shape our development decisions and that’s really important to us.”
The Dark Below will be available to buy individually or as part of the Destiny Expansion Pass on the 9th of December. The £35 expansion pass will also include the second, unannounced DLC pack, so will save gamers £5 over buying each £19.99 expansion individually, whether you're playing on old-gen consoles like the PS3 and Xbox 360, or the new-gen Xbox One or PS4.
