Festival of the Lost was Destiny’s annual Halloween event. But thanks to the launch timing of Destiny 2 last year, Bungie skipped the holiday in 2017. Festival of the Lost finally comes to Destiny 2 this year, offering some new rewards, new quests and a new activity.
Today, Bungie revealed almost everything about the event, which starts for all players on Oct. 16.
When Festival of the Lost returns, players will be able to chat with and purchase bounties from Amanda Holliday, the Tower’s shipwright. These bounties will reward a special currency called Fragmented Souls. Players can then take this new currency to buy seasonal items like Destiny-themed masks, as well as what looks to be an event-exclusive auto rifle called Horror Story.
But there appears to be more to this holiday than playing “Dresstiny” in the Tower. Players will also be able to venture into an event called the Haunted Forest. The event is timed at 15 minutes, and players will need to use that limited amount of time to delve deeper and deeper into the forest. Players will be able to enter alone, matchmake with other players or simply enter with their own Fireteam.
Interestingly, the Haunted Forest that Bungie shows off in its post looks a lot more like the Infinite Forest on Mercury than the Dark Forest in the EDZ. If the Haunted Forest is actually a timed dungeon inside of the Infinite Forest on Mercury, it could end up turning that activity into what players originally wanted it to be before Curse of Osiris was released.
There will also be a murder for players to solve starting on Oct. 30. Master Ives — the Cryptarch from the House of Wolves expansion located in the Reef — has been killed. Fortunately for us, his murder will provide some entertainment for the Tower cops as we go on a new questline to solve it.
Bungie mentioned that players will be able to earn powerful rewards from solving Master Ives’ murder. But with no mention of what loot might come from the Haunted Forest, the leak regarding the returning Thunderlord exotic machine gun is looking promising. We’ll have to wait for diligent dataminers to do their job once Bungie releases the patch on Oct. 16.
Finally, like all holidays, Eververse vendor Tess will offer a new engram to players once they level up. Instead of simply getting the Forsaken engram, players will now also receive an Ephemeral engram. In these special holiday engrams, players will be able to earn all kinds of themed goodies like ships, sparrows, ghost shells and the other regular stuff.
For players with bad luck, Tess will sell a select offering of these holiday items each week. And as always, players will be able to spend Destiny’s real-money currency Silver to purchase additional engrams.
Festival of the Lost and all of its activities will be free for all players of Destiny 2 — even those that have never purchased DLC.
Update: Bungie released a new trailer for Festival of the Lost today, highlighting what players can earn and the new activities they can take part in during the three-week event. That trailer also teases a secret something for Destiny 2, ending with “And as the festival comes to a close ... a mystery awaits us all.”