Destiny 2’s Tower is covered in Taken Blight, but the NPCs don’t seem to notice

Destiny 2’s Tower got engulfed in a darkness called the Endless Night at the start of Season of the Splicer. But with the weekly reset on June 22, things got considerably worse. The main Tower plaza is now infested with Taken Blight and goop. But the civilians of the Tower, even characters like Commander Zavala or Lord Shaxx, have nothing to say about it.

When I first landed in the Tower this week, the change was obvious. There’s a giant Taken ball floating in-between the walkways in the Courtyard — you can actually stand on it for a great view of the the Traveler. There are more Blight balls scattered around the Courtyard, and Taken goop just bubbling on the floor every few feet. Taken energy arcs between two points in the Tower, making the front look like it has Saturn’s ring.

It’s a cool and unsettling image to load into. The Tower is normally a safe space, but this makeover certainly doesn’t put my mind at ease while I’m rummaging through my Vault.

The problem with the Taken Tower is that none of the NPCs or main characters seem to notice at all. There are still humans scattered around the courtyard, complaining about things in the Last City. Rahool will still decrypt my engrams, offering me his usual greeting when I approach him. There’s a pool of Taken Blight resting on the roof of the Eververse store, threatening to eat its way inside and possess Tess, yet she still gives me the same spiel when I walk too close.

Image: Bungie via Polygon

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of this transformation is Zavala’s complete lack of comment. As soon as I landed in the Taken Tower, I walked up to the Vanguard Commander to see what was up, and literally bumped into a Taken Blight on my way. But when I interacted with him, he said his same usual lines and stared out at the Traveler. I understand that Lance Reddick is a busy man, but Bungie didn’t even offer some pop-up text with commentary on the massive Taken Blight two feet from Zavala’s ass.

Bungie has done a really excellent job with environmental storytelling over the past year. When the Almighty crashed last spring, Zavala stood in his usual spot, but he was staring up into the sky with the rest of us. Darkness envelopes the entire Tower and it serves as a constant reminder of what’s going on in the story. But for how hard the Taken Tower immediately hits, there’s no follow up from the characters around you.

Savathun is somewhere in the Last City, and almost certainly behind the Tower’s new look. Quria, Savathun’s right-hand Vex minion, seems to be this season’s big-bad. Dangerous things are happening in normally safe spaces, but there are still normal humans allowed in the Tower Courtyard?

Adding Taken Blight to the Tower is major change, but it all falls a little flat when the Tower’s usual suspects just keep waving hello.