If video games have taught us anything over the past few years, it’s that grappling hooks are the most exciting new feature you can add to a franchise.
Destiny 2: Lightfall, the MMO’s 2023 expansion, will let Guardians swing around on a grappling hook with their new Strand powers, which Bungie originally unveiled back in August. But in the expansion’s latest trailer, which debuted at The Game Awards 2023, players got to see some grappling hook gameplay that confirmed that Guardians can grapple to anything — even their fellow Guardians.
About thirty seconds into the new trailer, once the pretty cinematic moments are over, we see a Thundercrash Titan take off using their Super. Now, for the uninitiated, Thundercrash is a Super added in Destiny 2: Forsaken, which causes the Titan to turn their body into a missile, letting them literally fly through the air until they crash into something. The super isn’t new, but the Hunter using their grapple to hitch a ride on the Thundercrash is.
Bungie knows how to make a flashy trailer, and this moment takes the cake. The Thundercrash Titan glides toward a group of enemies and the Hunter is able to fly through the air with them. When the duo lands, both of them start kicking ass together, and we even see the Hunter grapple into an opposing Cabal and do some kind of melee execution on them.
The rodeo Hunter is certainly the highlight of the trailer, but there are plenty of other interesting Strand tidbits and possible teases hidden in there (plus we get lots of shots of the gorgeous Neomuna destination).
Twenty two seconds into the trailer, we see a Hunter slam into the ground. When they land, all the Cabal around them lift up into the air and remain suspended. We see this same effect later on in the trailer where a handful of Cabal are levitating — trapped by Strand — around a Warlock standing in a Rift.
During a gunplay section, starting 23 seconds into the trailer, we see a Titan shooting what appears to be green bullets out of a new gun. Green bullets might not seem out of place in a Destiny 2 trailer, but bullet color typically matches that of the weapon’s element. It took nearly a year to get Legendary Stasis weapons in the era of Beyond Light, but this makes it seem like Guardians will get Strand weapons almost immediately in Lightfall. Shortly after the Thundercrash segment, we also see a Titan pop a Towering Barricade, which causes a massive blade to slice out in front of them, seeking out nearby Cabal targets.
Just shy of the minute mark we see all three classes cast their new Strand Supers, which we’ve mostly seen before. However, this trailer does seem to confirm that the Titan’s new blade-hands Super is yet another roaming Super ability — something Titan players already pretty familiar with. The Hunter Rope-Dart Super appears to have a massive swing radius to it, letting the Guardian slice up a group of Cabal with ease, and the Warlock Super summons a bunch of homing missiles out of thin air.
The rest of the trailer is mostly focused on story and cinematic moments, rather than gameplay. However, we do see a Titan doing a dash punch through a glass window in the back half of the trailer. This animation mirrors many of the other shoulder charge abilities Titans have access to, and will likely be one of the Strand melee options.
The trailer is packed with plenty of other enticing moments that are worth calling out. If you’re interested in a longer breakdown, we recommend checking out Aztecross’ analysis video.
Bungie will release Destiny 2: Lightfall for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X on Feb. 28, 2023.
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