Every Destiny 2 DLC and Expansion from launch to The Final Shape

Every Destiny 2 DLC and Expansion from launch to The Final Shape

Destiny 2 isn't the easiest game to get into, with so many expansions, so here's a full rundown of the Destiny 2 DLC in order to prepare you for Destiny 2 Codename Frontiers.

01st Jul 2024 15:29

Images via Bungie

Destiny 2 has certainly changed a lot in the almost seven years since it launched, and a big part of that is thanks to Bungie's regular expansion schedule.

The game has seen six major expansions so far (we're not counting Curse of Osiris and Warmind since they were a) smaller and b) are now vaulted), with the latest, The Final Shape, capping off the ten-year story saga of Light vs Darkness.

That means there's plenty of time to catch up if you are looking to get into Destiny, although you should note that the base game's campaign, the bulk of Forsaken, the seasonal stories that stitch expansions together, and the accompanying cinematics have, sadly, been moved to the Destiny Content Vault.

Still, if you're looking to dive in (particularly with so many Destiny 2 DLCs regularly discounted) you'll find our rundown of each expansion in order below. Looking for a story recap? We have one of those, too.

Spoiler Alert: You'll find some spoilers for Destiny 2's plot and DLC stories here.

  • Curse of Osiris (Vaulted) (December 5, 2017)
  • Warmind (Vaulted) (May 8, 2018)
  • Forsaken (September 4, 2018)
  • Shadowkeep (October 1, 2019)
  • Beyond Light (November 10, 2020)
  • The Witch Queen (February 22, 2022)
  • Lightfall (February 28, 2023)
  • The Final Shape (June 4, 2024)

As you can see, the yearly releases of the expansions shifted from late in the year to early the following year between 2020 and 2022, due largely to COVID-related delays.

Destiny 2 expansions, from Forsaken to Lightfall

Not many fans talk about Curse of Osiris or Warmind, both of which arrived as part of the base game's season pass. Not only are they now unavailable, but both were pretty heavily panned by critics. It wasn't until Forsaken that things really picked up.

The first Destiny 2 expansion, Forsaken, with art of the Guardian carrying the remains of Cayde-6

The first annual expansion to Destiny 2, Forsaken took us back to the Reef and introduced us to the Dreaming City, the home of the Awoken. The plot of the expansion centred around Uldren Sov, manipulated by Riven, the Taken Ahamkara, staging a breakout of the Prison of Elders and creating the Scorn.

The most notable event of this expansion was the death of Cayde-6, the incident which incited our journey for revenge. Forsaken had a darker, more personal tone due to this, and was capped off by the Last Wish raid.

Destiny 2's second expansion, Shadowkeep, where the Guardian investigated the Scarlet Keep on the Moon

Shadowkeep brought us back to the Moon, which as we know is haunted. In Shadowkeep we learned just how haunted the Moon has become in our absence, with Nightmares now populating much of Luna.

We came here to work with Eris Morn to learn more about these Nightmares, the Scarlet Keep that the Hive had constructed, and exactly what lies beneath the surface of the Moon. The expansion also brought us back to the Black Garden in the Garden of Salvation raid and introduced us to the puppetmaster behind 'The Darkness' - albeit with The Witness posing as a doppelganger of our own Guardian.

the Destiny 2 expansion Beyond Light gave the Guardians the Stasis powers pictured here

A pivotal moment in Destiny 2's overarching story was Beyond Light, which brought us to Europa for the first time. Here on this moon of Jupiter, we worked with the Exo Stranger again to take down Eramis, the Kell of Darkness.

While learning about the Darkness, we also learned we could wield it ourselves. This introduced the first Darkness subclass to the game, Stasis. With a new campaign, new icy Stasis subclasses, and the Deep Stone Crypt raid, Beyond Light brought plenty to the game.

Savathun, the villain of the Destiny 2 expansion The Witch Queen

Lauded as one of the best updates Destiny has ever seen, The Witch Queen brought us face-to-face with Savathun, the Hive God of Cunning. During this expansion, we got to explore Savanthun's Throne World and encounter the Hive Guardians; Light-wielding Hive with powers similar to our own characters.

The Witch Queen introduced a new campaign system, allowing players to replay campaign missions as they like. The new campaign, new location, new enemies, and Vow of the Disciple raid were excellent additions which set the stage for the future of Destiny. It also added a narrative full of twists and turns befitting of the Witch Queen herself.

Guardians fighting a Tormentor in the Destiny 2 expansion Lightfall

Lightfall is the penultimate chapter in the "Light and Darkness saga" of Destiny 2. Lightfall brought the conflict with the Witness into the forefront, but rather than directly combating them (assumably that is being saved for The Final Shape), we went toe-to-toe with the Witness' new Disciple, Calus, and his Shadow Legion of Cabal.

We journeyed to Neptune and made contact with the people of Neomuna, a hitherto unknown pocket of humanity that survived the Collapse. We worked with their protectors, the Cloud Striders, and defeated Calus and his Shadow Legion by wielding Strand, a new subclass.

While some were left wanting, Lightfall brought another well-crafted campaign (albeit missing a few important plot details), an interesting new location, and the very fun Root of Nightmares raid.

Destiny's latest (and current) expansion, The Final Shape sees our Guardian, and the likes of Crow, Ikora, and Commander Zavala, entering The Traveler itself for the climactic final battle against The Witness.

The campaign is one of the series' finest, capping off with the Salvation's Edge Raid and, then, the Excision mission which brings twelve players together, alongside characters from the last decade, to finally defeat the Witness.

Bungie has already confirmed that Destiny 2 will continue, and while we've got a series of Episodes running for the remainder of the current year, little is known about the next expansion - if there is a traditional expansion coming.

Destiny 2 Codename Frontiers has been revealed as the next entry in the Destiny journey, but we're still in the dark about what that'll entail.

Dave McAdam

About The Author

Dave McAdam

Dave is a Senior Guides Writer at GGRecon, after several years of freelancing across the industry. He covers a wide range of games, with particular focus on shooters like Destiny 2, RPGs like Baldur's Gate 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, and fighting games like Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8.

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