When The Others Blocked Your Light, You Learned to See Beyond The Stars: A New Era for Destiny 2
The title of this piece comes from singer/songwriter Tyler Lyle in the song “Good in Red” from the newly released EP “Horror Show” by The Midnight.
Founded in 2012 by producer Tim McEwan and front man Tyler Lyle, The Midnight has become one of the top acts in synthwave; a dreamlike sub genre full of synth sounds, 80s vibes and nostalgic goodness releasing their debut EP, “Days of Thunder”, in 2014. The Midnight, however, is much, much more than your average synthwave band. Combining Tyler Lyle’s experience with folk music, prolific songwriting portfolio and willingness to expand the genre together with McEwan’s razer-sharp production sensibility and technical know-how, The Midnight has become greater than the sum of its parts. So too has the shared-world shooter Destiny 2 from independent video game studio Bungie.
Destiny launched in the summer of 2014; a good year indeed as it saw both the launch of one of the biggest video games in modern history, the release of the debut EP of The Midnight, and the birth of my own daughter. I remember being sent home from the hospital the night after Addison was born to get some sleep but instead played a few hours of the Destiny beta on my PlayStation. So, it would seem 2014 was the birth year of some of the best things in my life; The Midnight, Destiny and my daughter.
Fast forward six years and The Midnight is going strong, releasing new albums, touring and even holding an online streaming concert during the Covid Pandemic. Destiny is going strong too. November 10, 2020 will see the newest and perhaps most anticipated Destiny release yet; Beyond Light. Old secrets will finally be unveiled, new allies will be forged and players will uncover mysteries long frozen beneath the ice of Europa. My kid is doing great too.
So it is at this interesting moment in time when so many of the things I love are really coming into their own. Beyond Light brings Destiny into a new era when Guardians (the titular heroes of the Destiny universe who, up to this point, have relied on a benevolent Traveler to bathe them in its protective Light) are about to plunge headfirst into the anthesis of the Traveler; The Darkness.
Tomorrow Guardians will venture to Europa, called to the icy rock by both a distress signal and an invitation from The Darkness itself. What will we find there? For one thing, we will find new powers and the ability to wield The Darkness in the form of stasis; the first new elemental class (together with Void, Solar and Arc) since the game’s inception. We will see the return of the enigmatic Exo Stranger who made her presence felt so heavily in the campaign story from Destiny 1 (I don’t have time to explain her whole back story here). We will forge new weapons, armor, and experiment with new powers. And perhaps the true puppet-master, the one who has presumably been pulling the strings all along, will finally reveal herself: Savathûn.
Right now is an exciting time for fans of The Midnight, for fans of Destiny and for fans of my daughter (I’m her number one fan). I find it so interesting these three major elements in my life all began in the same year and I am so thrilled to continue my journey with all three. You can listen to The Midnight here and tomorrow we go Beyond the Light.
See you Starside Guardians.
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