Forsaken Campaign

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The expansion's story revolves around the Guardian tracking Uldren Sov through the Reef. Uldren, corrupted by the Darkness, was driven to find his sister, Queen Mara Sov. The journey introduced players to the Scorn, undead versions of the Fallen race that had been revived into a new, aggressive form. Unlike previous enemies, Scorn do not take cover and possess the most aggressive artificial intelligence in the game. The narrative takes place across two new environments: the Tangled Shore and the Dreaming City. In the Dreaming City, players could visit the Blind Well to summon Scorn, Hive, or Taken for public battles using special charges of Light corresponding to three difficulty levels, with an optional fourth tier triggered at the end of the third. The story also revealed Uldren's shadowy dealings with the Nine and his controversial game of Gambit.

In Their Own Story

The campaign allowed players to take out the initial six Barons in any order they chose, offering a more liberal sense of mission layout and player choice. Upon reaching the Dreaming City after completing the main campaign and a post-campaign mission, players faced a three-week curse cycle triggered by the first completion of the "Last Wish" raid. This cycle opened new activities, including "The Shattered Throne," the game's first-ever dungeon, which was initially available only when the curse was at full strength. The narrative deepened as players learned about Uldren's past and his relationship with the Drifter, a roguish Lightbearer involved in Darkness-fueled games. The story bridged events from Forsaken to Shadowkeep through seasonal content like Season of the Forge, which introduced Ada-1 and the Black Armory, and Season of Opulence, where Emperor Calus invited Guardians to his ship, the Leviathan.

Reader's Guide

To experience the full campaign, players must complete the main storyline to unlock the Dreaming City. The expansion added four new multiplayer strike missions, one of which was a PS4 timed-exclusive, and four new Crucible maps. A new weapon type, the Combat Bow, was introduced alongside three new supers for each character class, unlocked via "Seeds of Light." The first Seed is obtained through the campaign, while two others require high-level endgame activities. For the new Gambit mode, teams of four compete by defeating PvE enemies to collect motes; depositing 25 motes opens an invasion portal. The EXP level cap was raised to 50 and Power to 600. Note that prior to its removal in February 2022 with The Witch Queen expansion, the campaign was made free-to-play in December 2021.

Did You Know?

• Forsaken introduced the game's first dungeon, "The Shattered Throne," which was initially only accessible every three weeks when the Dreaming City's curse was at full strength.
• The expansion's release coincided with patch version 2.0, which made fundamental changes to core functionality to mark the start of Year 2.
• Gambit features a progressive ranking system called "Infamy," where each rank is separated into three tiers requiring more points than the previous.
• The Scorn enemies are noted for having the most aggressive artificial intelligence in the game and do not take cover.
• Ahead of its removal with The Witch Queen expansion, the Forsaken campaign was made free-to-play in December 2021.