New Season Destiny 2: Edge of Fate Revealed? Diving into Apollo, The Nine, and What Comes Next!

Oh, absolutely, Guardian! Get ready for the next truly huge chapter in our ongoing space adventures! The name Bungie seems to be teasing for this massive next expansion is Edge of Fate. You might have heard people talking about a codename “Apollo” before, but Edge of Fate looks like the official title they’re running with now. Think of this as way bigger than just a regular season or even one of the new Episodes – it’s positioned as the grand kickoff for a completely new saga in the Destiny 2 universe. Remember how the enormous story arc involving the Light versus the Darkness, the Witness, and everything that culminated in The Final Shape expansion and our journey into the Traveler’s Pale Heart, finally wrapped up? Well, Edge of Fate is designed to be the next big thing, the story that follows that epic conclusion and potentially sets the stage for years to come. It’s where Destiny’s narrative starts fresh, moving beyond the Light and Darkness Saga that defined the game for so long.

Definitely not the Witness! Their story reached its big, dramatic conclusion inside the Traveler during The Final Shape. We’re done with that particular big bad. Instead, Edge of Fate seems poised to pivot entirely and focus on a different, incredibly mysterious group: The Nine. They’ve been hanging around the edges of Destiny’s lore since the first game, pulling strings, being weird, sending Xûr to give us cool gear, but never really being the main focus. Now, it looks like their time has come. The guide points out how the teaser image prominently features their distinctive logo hidden in the background, alongside imagery like a singularity, which is heavily tied to their known motivations and lore. So, instead of fighting forces directly aligned with Light or Darkness, we’re likely going to be dealing with the cosmic weirdness and internal politics of these enigmatic entities.

You’ve hit the nail on the head – confusing is practically their middle name! They are intentionally one of Destiny’s biggest mysteries. The guide gives us the simplified version: they aren’t like humans or Fallen or Hive. They’re described as strange, powerful beings made from loops of dark matter, and their very existence is weirdly connected to life happening in our solar system, especially the complex energies generated by beings like us Guardians. But the really important part is that they don’t all agree on what to do! They’ve been stuck in a kind of internal disagreement, split into two factions ever since the Traveler showed up. There are Five of them who seem to think that sticking with us, maybe learning from the Light, is the best way for them to achieve their goal, which seems to be gaining stable, physical bodies (Xûr and the Emissary are their attempts at this). Then, there are the other Four who are totally over us. They want to cut ties completely, become independent, and their big, potentially universe-altering plan involves trying to create their own separate reality, maybe by forming a singularity – like punching a hole into a new dimension just for them. This split, this fundamental disagreement on how to exist, is likely going to be the central conflict we get caught up in during Edge of Fate.

It seems highly unlikely we’ll be fighting armies of “Nine Grunts” or “Nine Captains” like we do with other enemy races. The guide really emphasizes this point based on their established lore: The Nine are notoriously bad at creating stable, physical forms for themselves. Characters like Xûr and the Emissary are described as ongoing, somewhat flawed experiments in just having a physical presence. Their past attempts, mentioned in things like the Cockatrice Gates lore, often resulted in weird, non-functional creations or just messes! Because of this fundamental limitation, expecting a whole new enemy faction roster composed of Nine beings seems improbable. However, that absolutely doesn’t mean they won’t be dangerous or that we won’t fight against their influence. The guide reminds us they can affect the physical world in strange ways. They have known influence over the Taken, so we might face legions of Taken commanded or empowered by one of the Nine factions. They could also manifest as environmental hazards, reality-bending boss mechanics in the new raid or endgame content, or perhaps they’ll use proxies or corrupted beings to act on their behalf. Their power is real, just maybe not expressed through conventional armies.

Correct! Big changes happened to the content delivery structure starting in 2024, right after The Final Shape expansion concluded the main Light and Darkness Saga. Bungie officially moved away from the old seasonal model, where we got four distinct, roughly three-month-long seasons per year (like the very long Season of the Wish that led into Final Shape). The new system uses Episodes. Think of these as bigger, more self-contained content packages compared to an old season. They still tell ongoing stories and add new activities and loot, but they’re structured differently.

That’s precisely the intention behind the Episodic model, according to the guide! Instead of waiting roughly three months between major content drops or story advancements as we often did with the old seasonal model, the new system breaks things down further. Each Episode is divided into three Acts. A new Act is scheduled to release approximately every six weeks. With each new Act, Bungie plans to deliver a fresh batch of story content, quests, updates to activities (potentially evolving existing ones rather than adding entirely separate seasonal activities each time), and, of course, new rewards including weapons and armor. This faster cadence means the narrative should progress more consistently, and there should be new things to do and chase much more frequently throughout the year, hopefully reducing those mid-season lulls and keeping players more engaged between the larger expansion releases.

Absolutely! While the name might shift slightly (the guide calls it a “progression pass” specific to the Episode), the core idea is the same as the old Season Pass. Each of the three Episodes released per year will come bundled with its own pass, full of new rewards to unlock as you gain XP and complete challenges. Just like before, there will likely be a free track of rewards available to all players, and a premium track with many more exclusive items (cosmetics, materials, maybe early access to certain things) for players who purchase the Episode individually or perhaps through a yearly bundle like the old Annual Pass (if Bungie continues that purchasing model). A really cool tidbit the guide mentions is that each Episode pass guarantees access to an Exotic mission that awards both a new Exotic weapon and a new Exotic armor piece! The guide even speculates if highly requested items like Exotic Class Items could potentially return through this reward structure in the future. So yes, season pass holders (or Episode owners) will have plenty of loot to chase each Episode.

It sounds more like you get to choose the order you experience the story, rather than changing the final outcome! The guide explains that Edge of Fate might feature a nonlinear narrative design, which is a pretty big departure from how Destiny usually tells its main campaign stories. Instead of a single quest chain where Mission A must be done before Mission B, which must be done before Mission C, you might find yourself presented with multiple different story “threads” or objectives simultaneously after an initial setup. The cool part is, you could potentially choose which thread to investigate or complete first, second, or third, based on your preference. The overall plot would still progress once you’ve completed a certain number of these threads – maybe triggering the next major story beat or opening up the final confrontation – but the specific sequence you took to get there is up to you. The guide reassures us that Bungie likely designed it so the narrative still makes logical sense regardless of your choices, but it offers more player agency in how you engage with the story content. Plus, no more waiting for weekly resets for the next main story mission drop!

Pack your bags for potentially deep space, Guardian! While The Nine have deep roots in our own solar system, the guide highlights some very tantalizing clues found in the Edge of Fate teaser footage. Sharp-eyed players spotted text fragments that look like “Kepl…15”. This has ignited massive community speculation that we might be traveling to the Kepler-15 star system, home to known exoplanets like Kepler-15b. This would be a groundbreaking moment for Destiny 2, potentially marking the first time our Guardians physically travel to and explore a planet orbiting a star other than our own Sun! Imagine landing under an alien sky, exploring environments completely unlike anything in Sol. It’s a thrilling prospect representing genuinely uncharted territory.

That’s a fantastic question, and the guide offers a very plausible and fun theory centered on The Drifter! Getting to another star system likely requires some seriously advanced (or seriously sketchy) technology beyond our standard jumpships. Who do we know who dabbles in paracausal weirdness, has connections to The Nine (who exist beyond known space), and commands a ship, the Derelict, that’s basically a reality-bending engine (The Haul)? Yep, the Drifter! The guide speculates that given his history, his ship’s unique capabilities, and his entanglement with The Nine, he might be the key figure who provides us passage to Kepler-15. Maybe we have to help him upgrade the Derelict, or maybe he cuts a deal – whatever the reason, hitching a ride with the Drifter to explore an alien star system feels like exactly the kind of high-stakes, morally grey adventure Destiny could deliver in this new saga.

This theory adds a potentially terrifying twist to the Kepler-15 speculation! The guide points out a visual detail in the Edge of Fate teaser: the planet shown appears to have a large chunk missing or torn from it. This visual strongly resembles the massive, strange rock that The Drifter is known to drag around space tethered to his ship, the Derelict. This has led to the chilling hypothesis: could Kepler-15 (or a planet within that system) actually be the same desolate, nightmare-fuel planet where the Drifter originally encountered those bizarre Light-suppressing creatures and tragically lost his entire crew? If so, returning there, possibly now under the influence or observation of The Nine, would be an incredibly dangerous and lore-rich destination, delving deep into one of Destiny’s darkest backstories. It’s purely speculation based on visuals, but it’s a compelling and creepy possibility!

Big changes might be on the horizon for armor, designed to make buildcrafting clearer and more impactful! The guide details a potential armor system rework for the Edge of Fate era. One major speculated change is moving away from armor pieces having all six stats (Mobility, Resilience, Recovery, Discipline, Intellect, Strength). Instead, armor might roll with only three core stats. This sounds limiting at first, but the other part of the change is that the individual stat cap might roughly double – going from the current max of 100 (Tier 10) up to maybe 200! This combination means you could find armor hyper-focused on, say, Resilience, Recovery, and Discipline, allowing you to push those specific stats much higher than currently possible without “wasting” points on Intellect or Strength if your build doesn’t need them.

Get ready for some real fashion with function! The guide confirms that Destiny 2 is expected to introduce armor set bonuses, a long-requested feature. Similar to many RPGs/MMOs, wearing multiple pieces from the same named armor set (like the full set from the new raid, or maybe a world-drop set like the hypothetical Tex Mechanica gear mentioned) would grant you special passive perks. The speculation mentioned is a smaller bonus for wearing 2 pieces of a set, and a larger, more powerful bonus for wearing 4 pieces. The beauty of the 4-piece bonus is that it still leaves your fifth armor slot open for an Exotic armor piece, so you don’t have to sacrifice your favorite Exotic for the set bonus! The guide even suggests you might be able to mix and match, perhaps wearing 2 pieces from one set and 2 pieces from another set, to combine their minor bonuses. This should make collecting and choosing full armor sets much more meaningful for gameplay and encourage a lot more experimentation with different loadouts beyond just hitting stat numbers.

Edge of Fate is definitely positioned as the next expansion, likely the big tentpole release for 2025. However, the guide also discusses how Bungie’s overall content strategy might be evolving after The Final Shape. Alongside the new Episodic model delivering story content throughout the year (with three Episodes planned annually), there’s significant speculation and hints that Bungie could shift towards releasing two somewhat smaller, but still substantial, expansions per year instead of the traditional single major expansion (like Witch Queen or The Final Shape). If this two-expansions-per-year model happens, then Edge of Fate would likely be the first of those for 2025, with another potentially following later in the year. This would represent a major shift towards more frequent large-scale content drops for Destiny 2 moving forward.

Raid fans, rejoice! The guide confirms that it’s extremely reasonable, almost guaranteed, to expect a new raid as part of a major expansion like Edge of Fate. Raids are considered pinnacle endgame content in Destiny 2. They typically feature unique, complex mechanics requiring tight teamwork from a six-Guardian fireteam, culminating in a challenging final boss encounter. Raids are also primary sources for some of the most sought-after loot, including exclusive new weapons with unique perk pools, thematic armor sets (which might now have those new set bonuses!), and sometimes even raid-specific Exotics. While the specific theme or enemy type for the Edge of Fate raid is unknown (will it involve The Nine directly? Take place on Kepler-15?), the existence of a new raid is a very safe bet.

Dungeons, the three-player challenging endgame content, are also highly likely to be part of the content offerings around the Edge of Fate timeframe, though maybe not launching exactly alongside the expansion itself. The guide explains that sometimes new dungeons (which can be incredibly atmospheric and lore-rich, like Forsaken’s Shattered Throne or the Prophecy dungeon related to The Nine) are released as part of the accompanying seasonal content (now Episodes) rather than being included directly with the expansion purchase. So, while we should definitely expect a new dungeon sometime during the year Edge of Fate is active, whether it requires owning the expansion or just the relevant Episode (or Annual Pass access, if that’s how it’s bundled) remains to be confirmed by Bungie’s specific release plans.

That’s a major challenge Bungie likely faces with Edge of Fate, and the guide acknowledges it. The Nine are arguably one of the most complex and esoteric parts of Destiny’s lore, built up through cryptic hints, obscure lore tabs, and hidden meanings since the first game. Launching a whole new saga centered around them could absolutely be intimidating for players who are brand new to Destiny 2, or even for veteran players who haven’t deeply engaged with that specific lore (“lapsed players”). They won’t have the years of community discussion and background knowledge. The guide suggests Bungie needs to perform a careful balancing act: they must deliver a story that feels meaningful and revealing for longtime fans invested in The Nine, but simultaneously present the core concepts and motivations in a way that’s accessible and intriguing for newcomers, allowing Edge of Fate to serve as a potential jumping-on point for the next saga without requiring a PhD in Nine-ology beforehand. Focusing on the fundamentals of their internal conflict and immediate goals might be key.

The guide frames this as a really smart narrative pivot for Destiny 2’s future! The massive, decade-long Light and Darkness Saga reached its definitive conclusion with The Final Shape expansion. To keep the universe feeling fresh and moving forward, Bungie needs compelling new stories and conflicts. The Nine are perfectly suited for this transition because, as the guide points out, they were never truly aligned with the simple binary of Light vs. Dark. They represent a completely different flavor of cosmic entity – ancient, powerful, alien, driven by inscrutable motives tied to existence and reality itself. Focusing on them allows Destiny to explore more esoteric, philosophical, and potentially reality-bending themes, introducing concepts like singularities, pocket universes, and maybe even forms of new power unrelated to Light or Darkness. It’s a chance to recapture the sense of deep mystery and the truly unknown that defined early Destiny, setting a distinct tone for the next saga that is separate from the war against the Witness and his forces.

The guide definitely thinks this timing is suspicious and potentially very meaningful! It highlights that The Drifter, a character whose entire origin and power set are deeply intertwined with The Nine after his disastrous voyage beyond the solar system, is playing a significant role in the current season (the Episode running just before Edge of Fate is expected). Is it just a coincidence that he’s suddenly back in the spotlight? Perhaps. Or, the guide speculates, is Bungie deliberately “priming the pump”? By bringing the Drifter and his morally grey perspective back to the forefront now, they could be reminding players of his crucial connection to The Nine and setting him up narratively to be a key player, maybe even our reluctant guide or facilitator, in the next expansion. His knowledge of Unknown Space and whatever resides there could be invaluable. It feels like deliberate foreshadowing for his likely involvement in the Nine-centric plot of Edge of Fate.

If only we had Xûr’s foresight! Alas, the guide confirms that as of its writing, Bungie hasn’t announced the specific, official release date for Edge of Fate. We know it’s the next expansion following The Final Shape, intended to kick off the next major chapter or saga for Destiny 2, likely in 2025. Looking at past major expansion releases (like Witch Queen, Lightfall, or even The Taken King way back when), they often targeted a late winter/early spring window (February/March). However, delays can happen (The Final Shape moved to June), so it’s hard to pinpoint exactly. The best guess based on historical patterns might be the first half of 2025, but we absolutely need to wait for Bungie’s official reveal and announcement, which usually happens several months in advance. Until then, Guardians will be busy with the content rolling out in the current season / Episodes, knowing that the next season or new Act is only about six weeks away under the new model, with no announced end date for the Edge of Fate content block itself yet.