New ‘Destiny 2: Gods of Mars’ Leak Points To New Enemy Faction, Cover Character Identity, And March Release

A second leak from the PlayStation Store revealed new details about the second Destiny 2 expansion, previously revealed as Gods of Mars. Veteran PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC gamers may finally have a true new enemy faction to battle, and fans also may have confirmation of the individual who graces the DLC promotional artwork.

A Japanese PlayStation Store listing for Destiny 2: Gods of Mars appeared late Wednesday evening before being removed, and there was some doubt about its validity due to odd translations. A second listing then appeared on the American PlayStation Store and was captured by a Reddit user. There appears to be no doubt about the second leak.

The Plot And Setting

As expected, the Gods of Mars expansion will come with new story mission and adventures, along with weapons and armor plus new multiplayer maps, just like Curse of Osiris. The interesting part comes with the description of the plot: Guardians will head to the Frigid Vale of Mars to once again help the Warmind Rasputin and work with a legendary Hunter believed to be dead.

“Charlemagne has reawoken on Mars and has imprisoned Rasputin within an ancient vault. Work with the elusive Ana Bray – long thought to be dead, in order to combat Charlemagne’s Remnants, free Rasputin, and uncover the secrets of Clovis Bray.”

This confirms the hypothesis of our previous article about Gods referring to both Rasputin and Charlemagne. Why the Warminds are at odds with one another is a separate question.

Meanwhile, the first bullet point in the features list states, “Explore the Frigid Vale, a new destination that conceals the mysterious Clovis Grove and Charlemagne’s Vault beneath its surface.”

That implies at least two new areas on Mars being added to Destiny 2 with Gods of Mars. Curse of Osiris essentially had two new areas as well, with the Fields of Glass and the Infinite Forest. Whether Clovis Grove or Charlemagne’s Vault will utilize the semi-random, not-really-procedural feature of the Infinite Forest remains to be seen.

Destiny 2 fans complained about the limited size and scope of Curse of Osiris, with only one new public event, one new Lost Sector, and the inability to explore the Infinite Forest outside of missions, Strikes, and Adventures.

New Enemy Faction

The fact a new enemy faction and bosses are also mentioned in the features bullet point is perhaps the most interesting. Destiny players have essentially dealt with the same set of four enemy factions since the original game first launched over four years ago. The Taken King and Rise of Iron expansions for Destiny 1 essentially re-skinned existing enemies and tweaked their abilities. Destiny 2 did much the same while adding some variants to the existing factions.

The plot describes the enemies as Charlemagne’s Remnants while the Japanese PlayStation Store translation mentioned them as “frames.” Destiny 2 players might recognize frames in the game already such as the Postmaster, Micha 99-40. These are used in The Tower and Last City as vendors, defense forces, or the infamous Sweeper Bot.

If Bungie can add a true new faction to Destiny 2 in a DLC that is more than just a re-skin, the developer will earn some desperately needed kudos from the community. Using frames makes sense as Bungie already has the character models available, but they haven’t truly been utilized outside of the social spaces.

Looks like we’re getting a new enemy faction for Gods of Mars. Thank god….s pic.twitter.com/edxTGno2o6

— Gothalion (@Gothalion) December 28, 2017

Ana Bray

The wolf sigil on the Destiny 2: Gods of War promotional art stirred some debate in the Destiny community. Some initially thought it was an Iron Lords reference before it was quickly pointed out this is a slightly different sigil used on the Destiny 1 cloak, Strength of the Pack, whose lore pointed to it belonging to Ana Bray during the Battle of Twilight Gap.

There was just one problem: Ana Bray was dead, according to Lakshmi-2. Whether she faked her own death and has been in hiding since or she returns through some mechanism of time travel is up for debate.

New Cooperative Activity

Another interesting feature listed is a new cooperative activity. Bungie has already confirmed that a second Raid Lair will be included with Destiny 2: Gods of Mars. Unfortunately, the listing is not clear if this is simply a new Raid Lair or something else. Is it possible a Prison of Elders or Court of Oryx style activity could be coming as well?

Release Date

Finally, the listing mentions a March release date for Gods of Mars, which would make sense based on the current seasonal structure. The month of March will mark start the third Destiny 2 season. This is two months earlier than House of Wolves was released for Destiny 1, so it will be interesting to see what Bungie has up its sleeves and if it can address the numerous issues with Destiny 2 in a timely fashion while also launching a new expansion.