We know what you’re thinking. Hitbox Gaming dedicates an unusual amount of column inches to a two year old shooter, particularly at a time when there are so many great games being released.
“Hey, Hitbox Gaming” you’re likely wondering, “why don’t you play Titanfall 2 for its amazing story line, Final Fantasy XV for the 10 years its been in development or The Last Guardian for what’s likely to be a combination of both reasons?”
Luckily, we have a good answer to this Paxman level of interrogation you’re dishing out. Just by happenstance, Titanfall 2, Final Fantasy XV and The Last Guardian all feature on Hitbox Gaming’s Christmas List. The other game on this list of relevant and innovative smash hits, you ask? It is, of course, Destiny, which announced a big free DLC at last weekend’s PlayStation Experience.
Set to go live on 13th December, Destiny: Rise of Iron – The Dawning will bring a Tomb Ship’s worth of festive spirit to the Tower, in what is already looking set to be the largest free update for Destiny yet.
During The Dawning, the three social areas in the game will be decorated with festive-themed decorations and denizens of these areas will provide gift giving quests to players. Similar to the Festival of the Lost Halloween event, these quests will reward characters with a themed loot box which may contain cosmetics or un-levelled gear. No doubt these loot boxes will also be available to purchase via micro-transactions, which caused a great deal of saltiness during the Festival of the Lost.
The Dawning will also see the reintroduction of Sparrow Racing League, a competitive racing mode using a Guardian’s space hover bike. Unlike last year’s event, SRL is free to all Destiny: Rise of Iron players and there will be a new record book for players to complete. Just like with the Rise of Iron and Year 2 Moments of Triumph books, players will have to achieve specific goals in order to win rewards, including shaders, emblems and more. After the event is complete, players will be able to replay any Sparrow Racing League map with their friends via the private matches feature introduced in September.
A number of the features introduced during The Dawning will stay on when the event comes to an end on 3rd January. One of these is the strike bounties, which you collect from Commander Zavala. Similar to the weekly Shiro 4 or Variks bounties, they will require players to fulfil certain requirements when in the SIVA strike playlist (number of headshots, bosses killed etc) to have a chance at receiving loot. Exclusively amongst the loot pool for these bounties is a Year 3 Icebreaker sniper rifle, the PvE camper’s dream.
A number of the strikes have also been updated in The Dawning, including the Nexus, which is the only strike not currently in any of the Level 40+ playlists. The updated Nexus strike will now have a Taken element, which may come as a disappointment to any players who were glad to see the back of martyr hobgoblins, darkness captains, teleporting thrall, invisible minotaurs and multiplying psions.
The two other strikes which have been rebooted are the Will of Crota (Omnigul) and The Shadow Thief (Taniks). Both of these have been infected by SIVA so it will be exciting to see how the virus has changed these two well-loved strikes.
For any Guardians who were understandably disappointed by the Festival of the Lost, it looks as though The Dawning could be a great time to give Destiny another go. For new players, much of the content that requires you to be at maximum level is going to be staying in the game after the event finishes so it’s still not too late to get started.
Check out Bungie’s trailer for Destiny: Rise of Iron – The Dawning here.
