Destiny 2’s Season of the Chosen will pit players against the Cabal once again, according to a Bungie reveal on Tuesday morning. This isn’t the first engagement Guardians have had with the Cabal, of course. Players previously took on the Romanesque faction in the Red War that kicked off the Destiny 2 campaign, fought them in multiple battles to win the favor of deposed Emperor Calus, and most recently during Season of the Worthy, to stop a giant spaceship from plummeting into the Last City.
Season of the Chosen, Destiny 2’s 13th season, will start Feb. 9 and run through May 11. The season features three new Strikes, the mysterious new three-player Battlegrounds activity, Guardian Games, and a lot of new loot.
Next season, players will meet with Empress Caiatl — daughter to Emperor Calus, and current leader of the Cabal’s mighty empire. The Cabal seeks an alliance with the Guardians and the Last City, but talks quickly break apart when Caiatl asks the Guardians to bend the knee. Players will need to battle against Caiatl to protect the system from the Cabal once again.
Bungie describes Season of the Chosen’s Battlegrounds activity as a “three-player matchmade activity where [Guardians] will engage in ritual combat against Caiatl’s chosen warriors.” We don’t actually know much more than that. Bungie also referenced something called the Hammer of Proving, but we’re unsure what it is.
Season 13 also sees the reintroduction of two Strikes from the original Destiny, namely Devil’s Lair and Fallen SABER. But one big surprise for players is that Season of the Chosen also offers an all-new Strike, Proving Grounds. That Strike won’t be ready until later in the season.
For playing all those activities in Season of the Chosen, Bungie will give players a chance to boost their armory a bit more, with 25 new weapons spread across Legendary, ritual, and Exotic categories. After a frustrating few months after Bungie sunset a large portion of Destiny 2’s existing arsenal, the plethora of new loot should help players bounce back with a little more loadout diversity.
The season pass for Season of the Chosen includes a new armor set, as always, as well as the Ticuu’s Divination Exotic bow, which “charges multiple Solar arrows that can track several targets at once.”
The Guardian Games — Destiny 2’s version of the Olympics — will return once again as this season’s holiday event. Last year’s event saw a dominating victory by the Titans, and netted players the Heir Apparent Exotic machine gun.