There were four pieces of downloadable content (DLC) that were released for Bungie's 2014 first-person shooter video game Destiny. Each package of downloadable content added new player versus environment (PvE) missions and player versus player (PvP) modes, new locales to visit, and new items for the player to make use of. The game had three years of extended content.
Year One of the game featured two small expansion packs. The first was The Dark Below in December 2014, which was followed by House of Wolves in May 2015. Year Two began with the third expansion, The Taken King, which was a large expansion that released in September 2015 and had the largest effect on the game, as it changed much of the core gameplay. Upon its release, retailers issued Destiny: The Taken King Legendary Edition, which included Destiny and all DLC up to and including The Taken King. In December 2015, Destiny shifted to an event-based model, featuring more periodical limited-time events. A minor story-based update released in April 2016 called the "April Update", which acted as an epilogue to The Taken King. Year Three began with the game's fourth and final expansion called Rise of Iron, another large expansion that released in September 2016. Upon its release, retailers issued Destiny: The Collection, which includes Destiny and all DLC up to and including Rise of Iron. The game's final update, "Age of Triumph", released in March 2017, featuring updates to existing content and new challenges before the release of Destinys sequel, Destiny 2, that September.
Although the first three downloadable content packs were available for all consoles that Destiny was originally released for (PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One), the fourth expansion, Rise of Iron, is only available on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. As per an exclusivity agreement with Sony Interactive Entertainment, Destiny and all of its expansions featured timed exclusive content for the PlayStation versions. The timed exclusive content that was available at the launch of Destiny, as well as the exclusive content of the first two expansions, became available for Xbox when The Taken King launched. The Taken Kings and Rise of Irons PlayStation exclusive content became available for Xbox in October 2017 after the launch of Destiny 2.
Overview Prior to the official release of Destiny in September 2014, Bungie declared that a major component of the game would be a continuous release of new content. Bungie Director of Production Jonty Barnes said: "We're going to continuously update the game from now until the end of time. That's always going to be part of the philosophy of Destiny. We always wanted to build a new universe but keep building upon it, rather than to do a complete and utter restart periodically". By the time of Destinys launch, two planned packs of downloadable content (DLC) had been officially announced: The Dark Below and House of Wolves. From the launch of Destiny, players could purchase the Expansion Pass, which included the first two expansions at a discounted price versus buying them separately. Players also received an exclusive sparrow (EV-30 Tumbler) if they purchased the Expansion Pass or The Dark Below by January 15, 2015. At E3 2015, Bungie officially announced a new, larger expansion called The Taken King. On February 11, 2016, Bungie confirmed a new, large expansion for September 2016, titled Rise of Iron, and a full sequel to Destiny—Destiny 2—for 2017.
In the weeks proceeding from the release of Destiny, players were reporting areas that could be accessed by various glitches or secret accesses. These areas were described as appearing "half-baked", and were noted to often be devoid of items or NPCs. In an interview with Eurogamer, on the claims that these were on-disc DLC, Bungie president Harold Ryan replied that the content were incomplete resources intended to reduce download requirements for future DLC.
For Year Two, senior designer Derek Carroll explained that the studio wanted to shift towards an "event-based model" with "surprises" for players, available to all owners of The Taken King at no additional charge, as opposed to a timed roadmap, as had previously been speculated. Marketing director Eric Osborne further clarified its plans for "Year Two", stating that it would not consist solely of time-limited events as had been implied by others, but new "events, activities, content, and features", as well as an event planned for early 2016 that would be "far larger than anything you've seen since the release of The Taken King."
Year 1 Expansion Pass (2014–2015) An Expansion Pass was available alongside the release of Destiny, which granted access to the first two minor expansions of the game, The Dark Below and House of Wolves. While the expansions were available to purchase separately upon their respective releases, the Expansion Pass included the first two expansions at a discounted price versus buying them separately—the Expansion Pass was US$35 where the two expansions were US$20 each.
The Dark Below
Destinys first DLC pack, The Dark Below, was released on December 9, 2014. The expansion added new content centering on the Hive race and their deity Crota, Son of Oryx, who had been referenced in the original game. Four story missions, a strike, and a raid were added. New bounties, equipment, and three Crucible maps were also added, as well as two Crucible modes: "Inferno", a modifier on multiple modes where points are solely scored on kills and the player's radar is disabled, and "Doubles", a two-versus-two version of Skirmish. Maximum weapon attack damage was increased to 331 for new legendary and exotic weapons, and the Light level cap was increased to 32. Although previous legendary items could not be upgraded to the new stats, exotic items earned prior to the expansion's release could be upgraded through Xûr with the Exotic Shard material, however, players lost all previously earned perks, requiring them to relevel their exotics. An additional exotic weapon ("The Fourth Horseman" shotgun) and another strike ("The Undying Mind") were timed exclusives for PlayStation platforms until September 2015. A hard mode for the raid was added on January 21, 2015.
Plot Shortly after destroying the heart of the Black Garden, Eris Morn, a former guardian and the only surviving member of a team who tried to previously take on Crota, comes out of hiding and returns to the Tower to warn of the Hive prince's pending return. Her first quest tasks the Guardian with killing a Hive Knight on Earth called the Fist of Crota. The Guardian then sets out to stop the Hive from overtaking Rasputin, who are led by a powerful Hive Wizard called Omnigul, the Will of Crota. After the Guardian destroys a massive ogre called the Might of Crota, Omnigul flees. Eris then has the Guardian travel to the Moon to stop the Hive from summoning their god. This the Guardian does and they destroy a crystal that contained part of Crota's soul.
After returning to the Tower, Eris assigns the Guardian with two more quests. The first of these has the Guardian to fill an urn called the Urn of Sacrifice with the ashes of defeated Hive on Earth, including a powerful Hive Knight called Urzok, the Hated. The Guardian then takes it to the Moon to collect Hive eyes for Eris. The second quest has the Guardian destroy the remaining servants of Crota on Earth called the Heart of Crota, the Hand of Crota, and the Eyes of Crota. This leads to the strike, "The Will of Crota", where the Guardian hunts down and eliminates Omnigul.
Despite the Guardian's best efforts, including destroying part of Crota's soul, they were not able to prevent Crota's awakening. The expansion culminates with the raid, "Crota's End", where a team of guardians travel deep within the caverns of the Moon where they take on Ir Yût, the Deathsinger (another powerful Hive Wizard) before completely destroying the Hive prince himself.
The events of Destiny: House of Wolves follow.
In the base game, there is a story mission called "The Sword of Crota" where the Guardian is tasked with destroying the weapon. When The Taken King released, it added a new questing system to the game and this mission became the first mission of The Dark Below quest line.
Reception
The Dark Below received a mixed reception from reviewers, who were critical of its content. It has an aggregate score of 63/100 for the PlayStation 4 version (based on 41 reviews) and 59/100 for the Xbox One version (based on 4 reviews) from Metacritic—no score is available for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions. Vince Ingenito of IGN, who gave the expansion a 6/10, stated that the only reason to purchase the expansion was for the raid. He said there was very little to do in the expansion, stating "I saw barely anything substantial that I hadn't seen in Destiny before", noting how the expansion's story missions were just recycled areas of the base game. He also criticized the story, saying it did not add much to the lore of Destiny. Justin Clark of GameSpot, who also gave it a 6/10, had similar remarks and criticized the amount of grinding needed to play the expansion's content. Clark, however, did enjoy the quest that involved killing Urzok, the Hated. Urzok is a powerful enemy that appears in the middle of a periodic event, a chaotic war between the Fallen and the Hive, and any player can participate. He said these are the type of events that Destiny should have more often. Tom Bramwell of Eurogamer, who also gave it a 6/10, was more positive of the story missions, but was critical of how all pre-expansion gear is effectively obsolete. All new gear featured higher attack and defense, but the old gear, with the exception of exotics, could not be upgraded. Although exotics could be upgraded, all the work players had put into maxing them out became wasted because they had to redo all the work to max them out to the new stats.
House of Wolves
House of Wolves was released on May 19, 2015; the expansion added new content centering on the Fallen race, as players attempt to thwart a campaign by Skolas, Kell of Kells, to unite the Fallen race under his rule. The expansion added a new social space (the Vestian Outpost), which is the hub for the expansion's content, six story missions, bounties, weapons and gear, a new special weapon class (sidearm), a strike, and three Crucible maps. An additional Crucible map ("The Timekeeper") was a timed exclusive for PlayStation platforms until September 2015. A revamped upgrading system was introduced: players could reforge new legendary weapons (except House of Judgment and Trials of Osiris weapons) to try to achieve better perks. Upon obtaining the Etheric Light and Exotic Shard materials, players could "ascend" all legendary and exotic items, respectively, to the highest levels possible as of the expansion: Light level cap 34 and 365 damage for weapons. Because of the backlash of the first expansion, players did not lose any perks on their items when upgrading to the new stats. A limited-use weapon was added and is only available in certain missions: the "Scorch Cannon" (similar to a rocket launcher but the rockets can be attached to enemies and their explosion delayed to cause more damage). Two new multiplayer modes were also added: Prison of Elders (PvE arena) and Trials of Osiris (PvP game type).