Destiny 2 Festival Of The Lost Trailer Teases Murder, Mystery, And Spooks

Destiny 2's yearly Halloween-themed event, the Festival of the Lost, kicks off this week, bringing new events and new spook-themed loot for players to find. Perhaps most importantly, though, it brings with it the ability to shoot various aliens and other players while wearing goofy masks of Destiny characters. [Update: You can see all of the masks and items in our Festival of the Lost gallery.]

This year's Festival looks like it'll be more involved than previous versions, though. In addition to masks to wear and a few specialized pieces of cosmetic gear players can find, it's getting a specialized spooky gameplay activity: the Haunted Forest. It's a version of the (supernaturally dull) Infinite Forest from the Curse of Osiris expansion, where players would encounter randomized groups of enemies spread out across arenas whose layouts were also somewhat randomized.

During the Festival, the Forest will be spookier, and possibly deadlier, than its previous iteration. Players dive into the Forest for 15 minutes at a time to see how far they can get, but the deeper they go, the tougher the battles become. The trailer also suggests it'll be dark and full of terrors, and the lighting and shadows on display definitely help it look like it'll fulfill the "Haunted" moniker.

In addition to new Triumphs for players to pursue in order to earn a bunch of Festival-themed cosmetic items, the event will also see a new story-based quest line. This one has you trying to solve the murder of Master Ives, the Cryptarch Destiny players might remember from the outpost in the Reef. Bungie hasn't provided much in the way of details about what happened to Master Ives, but we do know the quest line will drop players an extra piece of Powerful loot at the end, which should help in leveling up and trying to take on Forsaken's Last Wish raid.

As Bungie describes it on its website, this Festival is also potentially going to be a more somber celebration. The Festival of the Lost is always about honoring the fallen in Destiny's distant, post-apocalyptic, magical sci-fi future, but this year it follows Forsaken, which saw the death of main Destiny character Cayde-6. That event is informing the Festival, at least somewhat, so expect to be hearing a lot about how much the game's characters miss Cayde's jokey geniality.

The Festival of the Lost kicks off starting with the weekly reset at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 6 PM BST on October 16, and last until the same time on November 6. It's also not the only thing coming Tuesday; Bungie is also launching the first of two post-Forsaken updates this week. The update includes a variety of tweaks, like an increase in Scout Rifle damage, some bug fixes, and a decreased in how often the grenade launcher Edge Transit appears in loot drops.

Tuesday will also mark the start of another Iron Banner competitive multiplayer event, which also has been tweaked in the wake of Forsaken. Iron Banner lasts until October 23.