Destiny 2: Into the Light Onslaught Mode Reveal

What You Need to Know About Into the Light’s Onslaught Mode

On March 19th Bungie had their first live stream revealing the free-to-play event coming on April 9th, Into the Light.

This stream revealed the new activity coming with the event, Onslaught. This article will review the known details of the new game mode and general thoughts on it.

What is Onslaught?

This new game mode is the closest Destiny has ever had to a horde mode. Onslaught is a 3 player activity with up to 50 waves of enemies and bosses throughout. The activity ends if a central base, the ADU is destroyed, and depending on the difficulty, the activity ends when the fireteam is all dead. Waves last roughly a minute or two, with bosses on every 10 encounters, and a pyramid ship encounter every 10 encounters as well.

After each wave, there is a purchase window in which players can buy and upgrade defenses around the ADU. Scrap is the currency that is earned by the team during the activity and is used to purchase these defenses and upgrades. These defenses assist you and your team throughout the waves but can be destroyed.

The gameplay on stream took place on an altered version of the PvP map Midtown, but will supposedly feature various maps and rotate enemies. Depending on the map and wave there will be varying objectives. There doesn’t appear to be anything new from past seasonal content in terms of gameplay. Such examples are dunking a spark or throwing batteries at the ADU to heal it.

Loot

During the activity, the main player was utilizing a new rendition of Midnight Coup. At the end of the activity, the player received a Hung Jury. There is speculation that other fan favorites are returning with the activity. It is also speculated that Mountaintop and Recluse are returning with Lord Shaxx being a main vendor with the event. Loot for the activity will most likely be very good to prepare for Final Shape and will be the primary focus of the second live stream on March 26th.

Thoughts on Onslaught

The game is at a pivotal point just before a delayed expansion and a dwindling player count. Into the Light serves to onboard new and returning players before The Final Shape. Onslaught introduces a new horde-like mode which is something players have been asking for, but it has its pros and cons.

Onslaught – The Good

A new game mode is a great thing to have. Especially one that has long been sought after. A wave-based mode with scaling difficulty is new to the franchise and has the opportunity to create a new engaging gameplay loop. Purchasing and upgrading defenses every round is also something that can be interesting, most notably in higher difficulties where these defenses can be imperative.

The game mode intends to appeal to Destiny players of all levels. It even has the intent to bring in new players. From the preview, it seems there will be multiple versions of the activity in terms of difficulty. This is a must-have in the current state of the game where the same activity can feel like a joke to some yet impossible for others. This has to be the standard going forward as the skill range in the game is very wide.

Bungie also cleverly got around one of the issues with a horde mode in that it can take far too long and the rewards cannot be reaped. There are alternative versions of the mode to perform truncated versions of the activity. This gets into part of the bad though as Bungie created a shortened version that is more digestible, but they didn’t create a true horde mode.

Onslaught – The Bad

The game mode goes against what a true horde mode is. A true horde mode can never be beaten. Meanwhile, this game mode is limited to 50 waves. It’s a missed opportunity to not infinitely scale the difficulty with endless waves. That way there can be competition or a leaderboard for the highest runs. A challenge could be intrinsically built into the game for the more skilled subset of players rather than through handicapping yourself by playing solo or through other means.

The area, the gameplay, and the objectives seem much of the same. It is a stretch to expect immense innovation in a free event, but it is still disheartening to see the gameplay objectives being more of the same. Dunk the spark, throw a ball at something, stand on a plate. The main challenge will come from the combat aspect, and the main innovation of the mode will be in the waves and purchasing phases.

In conclusion

With a new mode and what seems to be a lot of revamped loot coming, Onslaught will be worth checking out. Be sure to look out for more updates on the upcoming Into the Light Event, and check out our build page for the best builds to take into Onslaught.