Destiny 2 Beyond Light's Europa Will Have Dynamic Storms

The new destination of Europa in Destiny 2's Beyond Light expansion will be different from any that have been part of the game so far. The moon of Jupiter is a frozen frontier littered with ruins and secrets, and while you'll wield some of that icy power in the new Stasis abilities, you'll have to contend with the enemies you find there, and the dangers of the moon itself.

Bungie detailed some of what players can expect when they visit Europa in a blog post that discusses a new feature for the area: dynamic weather. Currently, weather in Destiny 2 pretty much exists for aesthetics. There are a few places where you'll occasionally see things like rain when you enter an area, and the time of day is variable as you load into a public area on the various planets or on the Tower. On Europa, however, weather will be something you contend with--although Bungie says it won't drastically change gameplay.

Europa is home to intense snowstorms, as Bungie explains, and new systems have been created for the destination to make it feel like a hostile environment. You'll face those storms as you play, and they'll arise dynamically while you explore; expect to see clear skies on Europa darken ominously in natural-feeling ways. Those snowstorms will drastically affect the look and feel of Europa, but they'll go beyond aesthetic touches to cut visibility and make navigation difficult as you struggle to see what's ahead of you, pick targets, and make out the silhouettes of distant landmarks. As Bungie writes in the post, you might want to bring a thermal scope to cut through the icy gale. You can already find guns with the occasional thermal scope in Destiny 2, but that might be a hint at what to expect from the weaponry you'll find at the new destination as well.

The post describes how the weather systems allow for dynamic shifts as well as developer control over the weather, so expect to battle storms as well as Fallen enemies as you venture through Europa's story content. But while snowstorms are going to affect the battles you fight, they won't have major effects on them--Bungie describes trying gameplay tweaks, like high-force winds that affected grenade trajectories, and found the alterations made fighting on Europa a slog. So you're not going to get knocked off your sparrow by a big gust of wind, or watch your throwing knife sail off in a different direction when you zip it toward an enemy's head--but you will have to contend with the snow in your face and filling your vision.

The developer also detailed how it created sound for Europa to match its storms. You can read more about it (and hear what Europa will sound like) in Bungie's blog post. The studio has also revealed that Destiny 2's file size is shrinking, but you'll have to re-download it from scratch. And very soon, Festival of the Lost will begin.