Wave after wave of enemy troops advanced with seemingly no end in sight. Attacks come from all angles at once. The lives of innocent Eliksni prisoners are at stake. In response, the Guardians do what they do best: take up arms and rush into battle.
One of the main features introduced in Destiny 2The latest episode of Revenant is Onslaught: Salvation. A wave-based defense that pits fireteams of three Guardians against increasingly fierce waves of enemies, Onslaught also allows Guardians to purchase powerful defensive units to use against the invading army. In its original form (introduced in Destiny 2: Into the Light), Onslaught was a cramped and intense mode, filled with tension and ‘Did you see that?’ moment. Now, with Onslaught: Salvation, the development team is raising the bar.
“There was a lot of great and constructive feedback from the community with the original Onslaught,” said Destiny 2 designer Clayton Kisko. “What we hear most often is that they want Bungie to invest in the mode with new maps, new enemies and new defenses and that’s exactly what we’re doing with Onslaught: Salvation.”
From a thematic perspective, Onslaught: Salvation’s three new maps – Widow’s Court, Event Ruins, and Kell’s Tomb – are leaning into the gothic horror genre in line with Revenant’s macabre visual theme. If the original Onslaught was about defending the Last City from the forces of the Witnesses, this time the theme is more about slaying monsters, fighting evil and saving innocent people.
By nature, Onslaught maps need to concentrate a lot of power into a few relatively tight spaces to provide maximum tension and action. The three new maps each have their own unique layouts, while building on lessons learned from previous Onslaught maps.
“This time we were able to identify design weaknesses early and overcome the enemy’s teleportation problems,” Kisko said. “We ensure that there are at least three wide lanes for each Advanced Defense Unit (ADU) site. For Event Ruins, the larger map, we learned from Mothyards (from the original Onslaught) and aimed to ensure enemy spawn locations were closer to the ADU to ensure close completion times. than with the remaining two maps.
Besides the new maps, Defenders will be happy to know that they will have new defensive countermeasures available this time around. New Air Strikes will rain down retribution on humanity’s enemies, and for those who want to get a little more involved there’s a rideable Turret.
“The mountable turret is great for mass destruction of enemies or damaging a heavy unit like deadly blasters that like to attack ADUs,” Kisko said. “However, it can get too hot, so players will need to balance when they shoot and for how long. Defensive upgrades increase turret health and damage. The final upgrade will add scorching bullets. What’s cool about this is that the sandbox team was able to design it so that the turret can combine with any of the rider’s Sun pieces or build around hot rounds.”
While protecting the ADU is one of the key mission components in the game Onslaught: Salvation, it’s certainly not the only thing that keeps the Guardians going. Boosts and bonus objectives take players out of their comfort zone (and away from the safety blanket of relying on defensive countermeasures). This time, players will infiltrate the Revenant Nest to free the captured Eliksni. For an additional objective, new shielded enemy units will appear, requiring Guardians to use special ether light cannons to stop them.
Jonathan To, Destiny 2’s narrative lead, said the team worked hard to bring narratives into Onslaught: Salvation to keep things moving from a story and character standpoint.
“The main writers of Onslaught: Salvation have created some excellent character building and exchanges between Spider, Crow, Eido, Eramis and others. Crow is finding a new role for herself in the City, Eido is the player’s partner this Episode in a role we can’t wait to share more about, and who knows what Eramis will do when she returns. Again, both helped and fought against us in the past. Fans of Eliksni and the Fallen story thus far in Destiny will love what the team has done here.”
Onslaught: Salvation will be playable when Destiny 2: Revenant releases, starting October 8.
