Destiny News: Bungie Debuts Trailer for September’s Expansion

Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove… Ahem. Bungie debuted their official launch trailer for September’s Destiny expansion, The Taken King, yesterday. Before I say anything about it, though, take a look for yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTvf2cAIUtk

Yes, that is Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog” in a Destiny trailer. Somehow, the distorted percussion of Jimmy Page’s guitar fits the mystical space-magic of Destiny. Or maybe it just fits the general personality of Bungie. Either way, I really like this trailer. Bungie has a special relationship with their community that they strive to maintain, and this is the kind of fun trailer that really emphasizes that.

So, about the trailer itself. If you’re a Destiny player, you’ll immediately notice and welcome what appears to be an increase in cinematic content and quality. Commander Zavala and Cayde 6 are shown actually participating in the action driving the story, and I’m assuming Ikora Rey will be doing the same. There’s also a great shot at 0:57 of Queen Mara Sov’s brother, Uldren Sov, flying into battle shrieking. His attitude toward my Guardians may make him my least favorite person in the Destiny-Verse (as well as among many of the recent games I’ve played). However, watching him soar into the fray was kind of awesome. There’s also the possibility that that’s fear and not anger written across his features, and that he’s crashing. Either way, it’s more characterization than Destiny has had in the past.

On that note. SPACE BATTLES. As a longtime science-fiction fan, I love starfighter dogfights, and I enjoy games that include them. As such, I hope that the epic battle agaisnt Oryx’s (The Taken King’s) dreadnought featured in the trailer will be an actual part of the game and not just an awesome cutscene. (Though, as Destiny doesn’t feature much of the latter, even an awesome cutscene would be an excellent addition to the game).

The other major focus of the trailer was, perhaps predictably, the three new classes. For those of you that haven’t been keeping up with your weekly updates the past year, Hunters will be getting a support oriented class called the Nightstalker, that will be able to keep enemies pinned, use smoke grenades, and fire a bow for their super. Warlocks will get the option of becoming Stormcallers, an offense-oriented class that can shoot lightning out of their hands (awesome). Sunbreaker Titans will be handed a flaming hammer super and told to smash enemies with extreme prejudice.

The Taken King drops on September 15, and preorders are available now. Stay tuned! It’ll be an exciting couple months for Destiny players.