Following a series of missteps that came about after the Lightfall DLC came out, Bungie is now seemingly all hands on deck about the upcoming release of The Final Shape. Due to launch on February 27, 2024, The Final Shape represents the grand finale of the franchise’s long-lasting Light and Dark saga. Though Destiny 2 will continue trucking along for the foreseeable future, the big war that the Guardians have been a part of for over a decade now will come to an end, and that gives Bungie an opening to deliver heaps of Destiny 1 callbacks along the way.
Indeed, even though the reveal of The Final Shape has whelmed players on day one, the first big reveal trailer includes an impressive amount of throwbacks to Destiny‘s history. From returning locations to classic armor sets that may or may not come back with the DLC, there’s certainly much to go through, and that’s precisely what this article aims to do.
Destiny 1 callbacks in The Final Shape reveal trailer
On top of kicking off a successful new season in Destiny 2, Bungie has positioned itself for some big wins with The Final Shape. Provided, of course, that the studio can deliver on two fronts simultaneously: it needs to satisfy both newer players that haven’t had much experience with the game’s older narrative beats, as well as hitting the right notes with Destiny and Destiny 2 Year 1 veterans. That’s no mean feat! Now, we’ve got no way of knowing what novelties Bungie may or may not have in store just yet. We do, however, have an idea of what nostalgic bits may be coming.
Destiny 1 Tower makes a comeback
One of The Final Shape‘s establishing shots features the classic Destiny 1 Tower vista, though it no longer looks over the Last City. Instead, there’s the mysterious Pale Heart: the all-new patrol zone that plays host to bits and pieces from the entire Destiny franchise. This does set the stage for the rest of the DLC, from the looks of it: players should expect a healthy amount of remixing for reprised locations, enemies, and items, as it seems that the Pale Heart itself is some reflection of what’s come before. There are some interesting narrative implications here, for sure.
Cayde-6 is back
Having been killed off in the opening mission of the Forsaken DLC, few players expected to see Cayde-6 once again in the game proper. Yet, not only has the old Exo Hunter vanguard returned, but he’s also seemingly going to play a major role during the events of The Final Shape. The nature of Cayde’s return is totally unclear at this time, though it does seem like a safe bet to imagine that the same force that’s bringing together all the disparate pieces of old Destiny locations is bringing him back to life, too.
The Final Shape returns three classic Destiny 1 Exotics
Bungie has already confirmed that there will be at least three returning Destiny 1 Exotics in The Final Shape. These are the Khvostov 7G-0X, the Red Death, and Dragon’s Breath. These were fairly interesting and popular choices back during Destiny‘s original heyday, so it’s not awfully strange that Bungie would choose to bring them all back for Destiny 2‘s final narrative hurrah.
New Light subclasses lean into Destiny 1 content
While this hasn’t been outright stated, it’s not hard to see the parallels between The Final Shape‘s new Light subclasses and the classic Destiny Guardian subclasses. Hunters, for example, are finally getting a Bladedancer variant, while the Warlock Sunsingers may be thrilled to hear that the class’s new Solar Super is—from the looks of it—Radiance 2.0.
The return of Alpha Lupi
Finally, some of the ongoing murmurs taking place as part of Destiny 2‘s seasonal lore suggest that the ancient Alpha Lupi ARG is being brought back into relevance out of the blue. This is fairly tangential, granted, but lore-minded Guardians are sure to be thrilled once they hear that the Pale Heart itself seems to be in the dreams of Alpha Lupi.
It seems all but certain that Bungie will reveal more of these Destiny 1 callbacks as The Final Shape‘s release draws closer.
