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After nearly a decade, the main Destiny story arc is nearing its conclusion. Bungie has revealed that Destiny 2: The Final Shape will be available on February 27th, 2024. You’re tasked with nothing less than stopping The Witness from remaking the universe, and have to enter the Traveler itself to save the day. As you might guess, this involves both an amped-up story (Bungie has already confirmed the return of Cayde-6) as well as new gameplay mechanics.

To start, your proximity to the Traveler gives you access to new Light powers, including some that augment the abilities of nearby players. You’ll also see new weapons, such as a support rifle that can switch to healing teammates. Enemies can use new powers of their own, too. The company is also rethinking how it tells stories with The Final Shape — instead of four seasons, you’ll see three large episodes divided into a trio of smaller acts. There could be a stronger incentive to stick around as the story unfolds, in other words.

Bungie is still committed to finishing the current phase, and is kicking off the Season of the Witch this week. It sees Eris Morn take on Hive attributes to deal with a mounting threat. There are a few new systems to enhance your talents, and you can even craft hard-to-get exotic weapons after they’ve been unlocked through missions.

Season 23 (that is, the season starting in November) will make it easier to complete cooperative events. There will be a dedicated Fireteam Finder to locate buddies for a mission, and everyone can boost to the Light level of the most advanced player in the team.

The Final Shape isn’t necessarily the end of Destiny 2. It does tie together many of the loose ends that have emerged since 2014, however. It also reflects Bungie’s determination to evolve its brand — it’s moving past Destiny to produce a Marathon follow-up and other projects.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/destiny-2s-main-storyline-comes-to-an-end-with-the-final-shape-on-february-27th-165616802.html?src=rss 

It’s that time of year again. The annual Gamescom trade fair opens its doors today, but you don’t have to be in Germany to participate in the reveals and updates. All of the good stuff is being streamed live, beginning with the opening night event, hosted by Game Awards guru and former Spike TV personality Geoff Keighley. For those of us far from Europe, the event starts streaming at 2PM ET. Watch it right here.

So what can we expect from the stream? We don’t have to wonder, as Keighley took to Twitter/X and dropped a laundry list of titles that’ll receive the spotlight during the event. Expect trailers or updates on forthcoming titles like Alan Wake 2, Sonic Superstars, Tekken 8, Mortal Kombat 1 and more. You can also expect some information on upcoming DLC content, like Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty.

Of course, these high-profile gaming conferences are all about generating buzz, so there should be a surprise or two, beyond the titles mentioned by Keighley. For instance, last year’s opening night showcase dropped a new trailer and opened up pre-release orders for Dead Island 2. That title had been stuck in development hell for a decade, so nobody expected that kind of info-dump at Gamescom. 

Gamescom 2023 extends far beyond the opening night. There are more events and streams throughout the week, though many are intended for folks involved in the development side of things, via the affiliated Devcom sibling event. Gamescom is the world’s largest gaming trade fair, measured by exhibition space and the number of visitors.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gamescom-2023-opening-night-stream-watch-it-here-at-2pm-et-170020656.html?src=rss 

The Game Awards has grown enormously and has become a much-awaited annual year-end celebration for video game fans around the world since it first took place in 2014. If you’re looking forward to watching it this year, you can now fire up your calendars and add a reminder: The 10th annual show is scheduled to stream live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on December 7th, 2023. Just like in the previous years, the event will stream for free across various platforms, including Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok Live, Steam and X, the website formerly known as Twitter. 

Last year’s show was the biggest one yet, with an estimated 103 million viewers tuning in, which was almost 20 million more than 2021’s numbers. It also introduced the Best Adaptation category, reserved for projects that translate video games into popular media, like movies, TV shows and books. Plus, Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, stars of The Last of Us, which fans were still looking forward to and had yet to premiere back then, attended the event to present an award. The organizers haven’t revealed just yet whether they’ll have big stars guesting again this year, but they did say that the event will feature musical performances by The Game Awards Orchestra and other artists. Of course, you can expect to see new game trailers and announcements for launch dates and expansions, among other things. 

Geoff Keighley, creator and executive producer of The Game Awards, said: “Each year, we look forward to hosting a show that honors the stand-out games of the year, while also announcing and previewing some of the world’s biggest and most anticipated video games. With so many beloved video game franchises exploring new mediums and developers creating new experiences across platforms, whether in games, television, movies, and beyond, the industry continues to expand in many surprising ways, and we can’t wait to honor the year’s best games and to show viewers around the world what’s next.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-game-awards-2023-will-stream-live-on-december-7th-160040230.html?src=rss