Destiny: The Taken King Preview – E3 2015

June 29, 2015

Billed as having a 10 year plan and the largest new IP launch in the US, Destiny is continuing its journey with a new expansion, The Taken King.

Set after the events of the last two expansions, The Taken King follows Oryx, father of Crota, seeking revenge for the death of his son. You may remember Crota as the final boss of The Dark Below’s raid. Oryx has heard of your exploits, chiefly among them killing Crota with his own sword, and has come to our galaxy to destroy everything you know and love.

The Taken King begins with you investigating a disturbance at a base. When you arrive you find that the Cabal are fleeing in fear from an unknown enemy. The unknown enemy are known as The Taken. They are a mixture of Cabal, Fallen, Hive and Vex soldiers that have been corrupted by Oryx for his use. While the Taken may use known enemies, they have new forms and also new abilities. The Taken also twitch and jitter, to help show that they are being controlled against their will.

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Unlike the previous expansion DLC for Destiny, The Taken King will include a brand new area known as The Dreadnaught. The Dreadnought is Oryx’s base of operations and you will need to explore it during different missions. It will also act as a new patrol area, bringing in new patrol missions and daily events to liven up this new environment. There will also be a new raid that will take place within the Dreadnought. No details are currently known about what the raid will entail, but it is a welcome addition after the House of Wolves expansion did not include a raid.

The big news is that three new subclasses will be coming to The Taken King. Each will correspond with the currently missing element for each class. To be able to combat the forces of the Taken, you are sent on a quest to uncover lost powers, once held by Guardians.

The Hunter becomes the Nightbreaker. Using your void bow you will chain enemies to the ground, locking them in place and then triggering explosions. The Warlock becomes the Stormbringer, firing chain lighting from their hands. Finally, your Titan calls upon the power of the sun to become the Sunbreaker. You will forge a hammer out of fire and fling it at enemies, reminiscent of Thor with his Mjolnir.

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Other new inclusions are two brand new Player vs Player modes, Rift and Mayhem Clash. In Rift ,you capture the ‘spark’, which functions similar to a flag in capture the flag. Once you have captured the spark you become the spark runner and your opponents’ rift will open. You objective is to deliver the spark right into their rift, preferably by performing a backflip for extra points.

Mayhem Clash is set on a much bigger map than we have seen before in Destiny. It takes place on 2 large landmasses that are separated by a large gap and can only be traversed with portals and grab lifts. This means that there are two distinct battlefields and more options than normal for strategic locations. The biggest twist in Mayhem Clash is that your super energy recharges much faster than in any previous mode in Destiny. Bungie wanted to bring the mayhem in this mode, and having supers constantly triggering definitely lives up to the word mayhem.

Destiny: The Taken King is available on September 15th 2015 for $69.95 for existing players that own all the previous content, and $99.95 in a pack that includes all previous content for new players.