Destiny 2 is getting a new tutorial — possibly led by a familiar face

Bungie revealed details on Destiny 2’s revamped new player experience in its Thursday blog post.

With Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, Bungie introduced New Light, a free-to-play experience for Destiny 2. Currently, New Light only has one mission, which starts players in the Cosmodrome from the original Destiny and then takes them up to the Tower. But once they get there, the game isn’t exactly great about telling them what to do next. Bungie is changing that with the upcoming Beyond Light expansion.

A rebuilt Cosmodrome

With Beyond Light, Bungie is removing a host of in-game planets and replacing them with a brand-new location, Europa, and bringing back an old location from the original Destiny, the Cosmodrome in Old Russia. And with the return of the Cosmodrome, Bungie will expand the new player experience, helping them understand how Destiny works before throwing them into the icon/NPC fest that is the modern Tower.

The Cosmodrome will return like players remember it, including with Spinmetal, the planetary material from the original Destiny — although the Plaguelands area from Destiny 2: Rise of Iron is “under quarantine” by the Vanguard, and therefore off-limits. The Cosmodrome will also include new Destiny 2 features like Lost Sectors.

Previously, Bungie mentioned that the Cosmodrome will launch in an incomplete state, and then get an update later this year. This week’s blog makes no mention of that, unless the Plaguelands will become available in Season 13 (there is no evidence to support it will).

A new guide

When new players enter this revamped Cosmodrome, they’ll meet up with a new NPC Guardian instead of finding their first ship. This new Guardian is working with his Fireteam to investigate some nearby Hive, and offers to show players the ropes. His name is Shaw Han, and he’s a Hunter covered in some (purposely) generic Hunter gear — including the Young Ahamkara’s Spine Exotic gauntlets.

Shaw Han will drag players through the Cosmodrome on a few missions, each designed to teach players what Destiny is, said Bungie:

As a new player, you’ll spend your first few missions getting acquainted with the state of the world in Destiny 2. You’ll have [an] opportunity to take a few weapons out for a spin, find engrams to try different armor and see our progression systems, and have some time to learn how to navigate the user interface to understand quests, bounties, collections, and more. All of this will happen before you set foot in the Tower.

Even better, veteran players can choose to jump into this quest chain for themselves on Nov. 10, to get an idea of what the new tutorial is and to experience the story.

But players have already started speculating about Shaw Han, and whether he’s a character that Guardians are already familiar with.

Who is Shaw Han?

There’s a leading theory on Twitter right now that Shaw Han is actually Uldren Sov, the prince of the Awoken, who killed Cayde-6 back in Forsaken and died before a Ghost, Pulled Pork, resurrected him. All of that happened in 2018, with the Forsaken expansion, and we haven’t seen Uldren since. But we did hear about him via some lore from last year’s Dawning holiday event.

The Amnesia-S2 lore doesn’t mention Uldren by name, but we know it’s him based on the description of his Ghost and the way people react to him. When Guardians wake up after death, they remember nothing about who they were during their first life, but they still look the same. So while Uldren doesn’t know he’s responsible for the death of one of the most beloved Guardians, other people recognize him and treat him like garbage. And so he always wears his helmet.

Uldren has been a Guardian for two years now, so it’s possible he’s given up on his shy ways and has embraced being a Guardian. Perhaps, knowing what it’s like to be alone as a new Guardian, he decides to take new players under his wing and teach them the ropes?

Most of the current idea around Uldren being Shaw Han is a complete guess, but there is some other evidence to suggest that Uldren is in the Cosmodrome location.

Bungie released the UI image above a few weeks ago, and it’s a preview of the new Triumph screen in Beyond Light. The eight nodes in the middle each represent a planet in Beyond Light. The second symbol from the left, on the top row, is two stacked triangles. If you look at the image of Uldren from the original Destiny, you’ll see the same symbol on his chest.

This seems to suggest that we will run into Uldren at some point in the Cosmodrome. And while we aren’t sure Uldren is a Hunter, it’s likely, based on his aesthetic and the Vanguard Dare. If you put two and two together, it’s not a huge leap to suggest that Shaw Han is really Uldren in disguise — or trying to live his new life, free of the baggage his face carries with it.

All of the evidence stacks up for Uldren Sov being Shaw Han, but we won’t know for sure until Nov. 10, when New Light players finally get the tutorial they deserve in Beyond Light.

Source: Read Full Article