The second Destiny 2 expansion isn’t coming until sometime in the spring of 2018, but the name of the DLC recently leaked from the PlayStation Store. PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC gamers should expect something different though despite the fact the leak points to a return to Mars.
Twitter user Ollie Martanto (aka HalfCubed) shared an image of the Indonesian PlayStation Store featuring the Destiny 2 Expansion Pass. Curse of Osiris was naturally listed for Expansion I, while the Expansion II title was revealed as Gods of Mars .
This is the latest and biggest clue concerning where Destiny 2 will go next as it ties together much of the information presented in-game along with the Expansion II teaser image. The good news is Guardians appear headed to an all-new area of Mars and not to the familiar red sands of Destiny 1 .
Destiny 2 provided clues to the release of Curse of Osiris through a pair Adventures – “Hack the Planet” and “Deep Conversation.” The first saw the AI Failsafe imprisoned by the Vex for a decade where she revealed she communicated with a “fellow prisoner” believed to be Osiris. The second Adventure is more explicit as it concludes with Osiris sending his regards to the Guardian.
Similarly, there are multiple potential references to Gods of Mars . The first is in the teaser image itself. There is the clear structure of a Warmind along with the figure of a female Guardian believed to be Ana Bray or a Bray family member based on the wolf sigil on her shoulder.
There are multiple references to Ana Bray throughout Destiny lore including a hidden journal in a secret Tower room. A Bray is also mentioned in the “Arecibo” Adventure on Io as someone who scrubbed data from a Warmind network.
Meanwhile, the “Arecibo” Adventure ends with Ghost interfacing with the Warmind network and experiencing some issues as he freaks out and says the following.
“I don’t understand. Wait. Something’s happening… Gah! Red sand! Mars! Icecaps! Ahhhh!”
This along with the frozen-themed cover art for Destiny 2: Gods of Mars points to Guardians venturing to the ice caps of Mars instead of the familiar haunts of Clovis Bray. Now the question is if players will face the Warmind Rasputin once again or perhaps the Warmind Charlemagne, who was the original Warmind of Mars. The fact the title of the second expansion refers to more than one god opens the possibility to both appearing.
The other question is the size of the expansion. Curse of Osiris was criticized for the relatively limited play space on Mercury plus the Infinite Forest’s lack of variety and limited accessibility.
Bungie still has much work to do with Destiny 2 before reaching the Gods of Mars expansion. The player base is currently revolting over rewards from The Dawning being locked behind Eververse and how the microtransaction shop is deeply ingrained into the game’s mechanics instead of items being rewarded through gameplay. There are also other lingering issues such as issues with Three of Coins and Exotics among others.
The Destiny 2 developer claims it is listening to player feedback and is looking at changes to Eververse and other hot-button issues. It will be interesting to see how much it can fix to restore confidence in the game’s community prior to the second expansion launch.