Destiny 2 devs on Bungie experimenting with other genres: "We're not just shooter bros"

Destiny 2 is in the middle of Season of the Wish, designed as a longer season intended to bridge the gap between last year's Lightfall and the delayed Final Shape expansion.

While Lightfall has been divisive, it's fair to say that Bungie has clawed back some ground with the release of the subsequent seasonal stories, and Season of the Wish feels uniquely positioned to last a little longer in the memory thanks in no small part to the inclusion of The Coil.

This roguelike-esque mode offers multiple pathways that escalate in difficulty, changing routes as players progress, and has been a hit with many players, this writer included. At a recent Bungie developer roundtable, I asked if the team is considering other genre-bending content additions.

"We're not just shooter bros"

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"We're really happy with the reception for The Coil," Clayton Kisko, Feature Lead and Activities Designer for Seasons explained.

"It's been building for a while, and you take into account when looking at something like an activity what adjacent seasonal activities we've done, what's the theme, the story and the fantasy."

"That's the same for seasonal activities. So if all those things fit, I think it's absolutely on the table and something we want to continue to explore."

"I don't see that going away anytime soon, and at the end of the day, most of us are gamers just like you and your clan mates, so we're having conversations like 'oh, it'd be cool to do this or that,' that's just in our nature."

"I think we have some activities coming up in the future that players will definitely be excited about."

"Everyone here has such a large appreciation [of other genres], like we're just, we're not just "shooter bros"," Kisko added, pointing at Season of the Deep's inclusion of fishing.

More to come

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The Coil follows on from last season's Altars of Summoning, which saw varying levels of difficulty and drop-in, and drop-out functionality, and that's something the team is keen to continue with.

"I think players are really appreciating (and I'm really appreciating as a player) the variable difficulty," Nikko Stevens, Senior Narrative Designer on the Destiny 2 Seasonal team explained.

"You can pretty much step in at any level and at any at any level of skill progress up to a point where you are challenged."

"If you don't want to do that and you kind of just want to cruise and chill out and do some runs, you can do that in Riven's Lair and have that more concise, relaxed experience."

"But allowing something in the game where you can step in, perform, succeed at a low level or perform and succeed at a high level and get rewarded no matter where you come in, have your time be appreciated, that's a really difficult thing to do."

For more from our conversation with the Bungie team, check out our discussion about the Warlord's Ruin Dungeon, as well as approaching the end of a ten-year story arc.