With the upcoming launch of The Ultimate Form, it’s an odd and thrilling time to be a Future 2 participant. On the one hand, we’re about to get a grand finale greater than a decade within the making. That is the ultimate showdown between the forces of Mild and Darkness we’ve been ready for, and as thrilling as will probably be to see the Witness’ story lastly come to an finish, it’s additionally disconcerting to not know what the way forward for Future seems to be like.
Bungie has mentioned The Ultimate Form gained’t be the top of Future, however Bungie additionally informed staff there’d be no layoffs because of the Sony acquisition in 2022, so it’s finest to take all the things it says with a grain of salt. With so many high-level builders transferring on from Future or pivoting to Bungie’s new recreation Marathon over the previous few years, together with experiences that the sport missed final yr’s projected gross sales targets by 45 % following the launch of Lightfall, it wouldn’t be stunning if The Ultimate Form finally ends up being the ultimate main enlargement. Perhaps Future 3 is already in improvement, or possibly this actually is the start of the top.
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Earn Unique raid weapons, adept gear, and extra in Future 2’s raid boss gauntlet.
I’ve been again on the Future 2 grind this previous week after an prolonged break (and for those who aren’t enjoying proper now, you have to be) and it’s onerous to disregard the sense of finality looming over the sport. The massive pre-expansion occasion, Into the Mild, is all about farming new variations of probably the most well-known and beloved weapons from Future 2’s historical past. The Recluse, The Mountaintop, Falling Guillotine, Hammerhead, and lots of extra classics are again for a nostalgic and explosive stroll down reminiscence lane.
With the Ultimate Form, we’ll even have entry to a brand new subclass referred to as Prismatic which mixes a number of subclasses collectively to make an final hybrid class. This seems like Future’s going out of enterprise sale – that second earlier than a recreation’s servers shut off the place all the things within the retailer is free and everybody’s character will get boosted to max stage. It’s like Bungie is telling us to have enjoyable, go nuts, as a result of that is Future 2’s final hurrah.
Perhaps, possibly not, nevertheless it’s inevitable that, at some point, Future 2’s improvement will finish, or on the very least, its tempo will gradual. I’ve been making an attempt to think about what Future might seem like in ‘upkeep mode’, and final night time, whereas enjoying the revamped The Whisper quest, it instantly hit me. Future 2 gained’t get new content material without end, however Bungie is sensible about utilizing all of the content material it’s already created, and it could actually discover methods to make previous content material really feel like new content material without end.
The Whisper is a secret unique mission – the primary of its type – launched to Future 2 again within the Warmind enlargement in 2018. It’s a timed mission that’s full of utmost platforming, ruthless fight encounters, and extra secrets and techniques to uncover than we’d ever seen earlier than. The Whisper grew to become the blueprint for each unique mission that got here after, and although it hasn’t been within the recreation for years, it’s nonetheless one of the beloved items of Future 2 content material ever.
Similar to everybody else, I spent many hours scouring the rooms and tunnels in The Whisper searching for secrets and techniques and shortcuts to enhance my time. The mission wanted to be repeated week after week as a way to unlock the catalyst for Whisper of the Worm, the Sniper Rifle you earn for finishing the mission the primary time, so over the course of a month my clan grew to become consultants at speedrunning this mission.
I keep in mind operating The Whisper again and again, however now that I’m operating it once more six years later, it seems like the primary time. I’m blown away by how little of this mission I truly keep in mind, and the way a lot I’ve needed to rediscover, and the way usually it seems like I’m enjoying by it for the primary time.
Some issues have modified. There’s a brand new remaining boss and new rewards for finishing it. Our gear and subclass choices have modified, so the way in which I strategy this mission is a bit totally different from how I might have executed it in 2018. Nonetheless I’m impressed by how a lot a recycled piece of content material feels model new to me, and there is a lot extra retired Future content material Bungie might dig again up, mud off, and repackage into one thing new.
The Whisper is not the one basic Unique quest that is again throughout the Into the Mild occasion. Zero Hour, the mission that rewards Outbreak Perfected on the finish, can be again for a restricted time.
There’s all of the seasonal actions after all. A rotating playlist that features issues just like the Sundial, the Menagerie, Forges, and Contact – with new rewards – might lengthen Future 2’s lifespan considerably. I believe again to all these one-off missions that have been solely within the recreation for per week and by no means performed once more – Interference from Season of Arrivals, Abhorrent Crucial from Season of the Seraph – and I ponder how a lot effort and time went into one thing that was so shortly discarded. Perhaps the way forward for Future 2 is much less new issues, and extra previous ones.
There’s already been a concentrate on recycling content material over the previous few years. The refreshed Future 1 raids, the timeline missions, and the return to Titan for Season of the Deep have been all demonstrations of Bungie’s willingness to dig into the vault and repurpose one thing from the previous to make it really feel new once more. Future 2 is very large, however at this level there’s extra content material that’s been misplaced than there’s at present within the recreation. I hope this isn’t the top of Future 2, but when issues are winding down, I hope Bungie can discover a approach to take advantage of out of all the content material it’s made over time, as an alternative of simply letting it rot within the Future Content material Vault.
