Bungie hopes to improve Destiny’s storytelling with The Dark Below expansion

Whether it was the way the story was told, or the story itself, I think most would agree that Destiny's story failed to live up to the hype set forth when Bungie said it could sit alongside greats like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.

With Destiny's first expansion, The Dark Below, Bungie is hoping to fix that. The general premise of The Dark Below's story involves a new character, Eris, who after years of hiding amongst the Hive shadows has come forth bearing an ominous warning that the The Hive seek to summon a god, Crota, to destroy the Earth. It's your job to find Eris in the Tower and take on these special quests.

While the story itself is rightfully of some concern — given the rather bland we previously sat through — many players are equally concerned with how Bungie plans on delivering the new story. Based on comments made to Eurogamer, it at least appears that Bungie has listened to player feedback and learned from their mistakes.

"The structure of the story in this expansion is different than the story in the core game. Looking at how the story plays and how we wanted to repackage it and reacting to fan feedback, we're taking a different approach to the story in this one," said Bungie president Harold Ryan. "So it's going to be driven in a very interesting way for players, as you meet with Eris in the Tower and follow her guidance through the story."

Elaborating, Ryan explained that quests in The Dark Below will more closely resemble that of the Exotic Weapon Bounty for the Thorn. "And so it's going to feel much more emergent and interactive in the world as you play through and unlock the story of Eris."

"What you'll see in this expansion, it's going to be a very different approach to telling a new story to players than the thematically-driven story from the original launch of the game," Ryan continued. "It's going to feel much more loot driven and story driven in that it's going to feel faster-paced with more action as you go through it, and with exposition. The important thing about Eris is, this story is going to be her story, and she's going to send you on a mission that's a lot of fun."

In addition to the new story, which offers three new missions, The Dark Below will increase the Light Level cap to 32, offer a new cooperative Strike, and three competitive multiplayer arenas in the Crucible. The Dark Below is set for release on December 9.