One of the main criticisms levied against the first entry in Bungie's science fiction shooter Destiny was its lack of non-playable characters (NPCs) that took on important roles in the gameplay, but it seems as if the developer is intent on rectifying this issue in Destiny 2. As it so happens, the studio officially released a short trailer today introducing fans of the forthcoming sequel to one of its new NPCs known as Hawthorne, and it looks as if she will be bringing some serious firepower to the table.
As seen in the trailer below for Destiny 2, Hawthorne is a fighter with a pet hawk named Louis that players will encounter alongside more familiar characters in the game. She wields a sniper rifle, and while she seems to be a Hunter-type character, Cayde-6 remarks that it's hard to tell whether or not she's actually part of his group, leading Hawthorne to reply that she's "not really into capes."
As it so happens, Hawthorne isn't the only Destiny 2 NPC to receive a trailer focused solely on them, as Commander Zavala was featured in footage narrated by his voice actor Lance Reddick, as the Titan Vanguard told a tale of what life was like leading up to the building of the Tower. Not to mention, the aforementioned Cayde-6 was given the full spotlight in one of Destiny 2's earliest trailers dubbed "Last Call," with the Hunter Vanguard cracking jokes while having a drink in the middle of a devastating attack.
Taking all of this into account, it's good to see Bungie focusing on improving the characters in Destiny 2. In fact, many would argue that there was plenty of evidence of the studio giving NPCs a stronger presence in the opening Homecoming mission that was playable during the game's beta. As it so happens, there were a lot more NPCs actually doing battle and interacting during gameplay, so one can only hope for more of this to come in the final product.
Destiny 2 is slated to release on September 6, 2017 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and it will launch on October 24, 2017 for PC.
Source: DestinyTheGame – Twitter