Destiny 2 will vault the Forsaken campaign and Tangled Shore destination next year

Destiny 2 Forsaken
(Image credit: Bungie)

Bungie will remove huge chunks of Destiny 2's Forsaken expansion when Destiny 2: The Witch Queen arrives on February 22, 2022. 

The studio confirmed these impending cuts as part of the next update to the Destiny Content Vault. This system was added alongside the Beyond Light expansion last year, and its release saw several planets from Destiny 2's launch and early DLCs, not to mention the entire Red War campaign, removed from the game. 

In Destiny 2 Year 5, the DCV will gobble up the Forsaken campaign, the Tangled Shore destination, the Presage and Harbinger Exotic missions, and the majority of Year 4 seasonal content. 

"Vaulting this content will allow us the space to launch The Witch Queen expansion and its new Throne World destination," Bungie says, "as well as new features like weapon crafting, the new Legendary difficulty campaign option, the new Glaive weapon archetype, plus all the additional content we have planned for the four new Seasons to come starting in February." 

The Dreaming City destination, the Last Wish raid, and the Shattered Throne dungeon from Forsaken will remain playable. Bungie says it's also looking into alternative sources for Hawkmoon and Dead Man's Tale, which drop from the Exotic missions being removed. Meanwhile, the currency conversion previously available at the Tangled Shore vendor Spider will be moved to the Tower Cryptarch Rahool. The Tangled Shore Strike Warden of Nothing will remain in the game as well, and it will be joined by the Year 4 Battlegrounds activity and combined with existing Strikes in a new playlist dubbed Vanguard Operations, which will be free to all players. 

Cayde-6 in Destiny 2: Forsaken

(Image credit: Bungie)

Compared to the first round of vaulting, which basically just gave players a stick to bite down on, the Year 5 vaulting will be cushioned slightly. For starters, the Forsaken campaign will be available for free to all players from December 7, 2021 through February 22, 2022. 

December 7 will also see the release of a new Forsaken Pack which is essentially a trimmed version of the expansion. It will let players access the Last Wish and Shattered Throne as well as all of the Forsaken Exotics. It also comes with three Exotic Forsaken Ciphers which can be redeemed for any Forsaken Exotics excluding pinnacle Exotics like One Thousand Voices. If you already own Forsaken, you'll receive this pack automatically and these Forsaken Ciphers will become Ascendant Shards instead. 

It's worth noting that at the time of writing, the Forsaken expansion itself is still available for purchase at its updated price of $25. It's unclear if Bungie will adjust its price or add any sort of DCV disclaimer before December 7, but for all intents and purposes, new players are better off waiting for the free campaign and discounted pack if they want to play Forsaken. 

Seemingly to salve the loss of more content, Bungie affirmed the benefits of the DCV in its post. "The DCV has provided a great deal of technical 'breathing room' that the team has devoted to important improvements to the Destiny experience," the studio affirmed. "Upgrades such as drastically reducing our patch response times, improving loading times, offering quicker access to UI such as your inventory or the map, and others link directly to the opportunities that the DCV created for the team." 

In addition to The Witch Queen's content, Year 5 will also see some old DCV content added into Destiny 2. This includes another Destiny 1 raid (following up on the Destiny 2 release of the Vault of Glass), one PvP map from Destiny 1, and two Destiny 2 PvP maps which were previously cut. Bungie always suggested that cut Destiny 2 content could one day be polished and revived via the DCV, and these two returning PvP maps will technically be the first example of this for Destiny 2 content specifically. 

Destiny 2 Tips | Destiny 2 Crucible tips | Destiny 2 Class guide | Destiny 2 Heroic Public Events | Destiny 2 Aspect of Destruction | Born in Darkness Destiny 2 Beyond Light guide | Destiny 2: Beyond Light Entropic Shard guide | Destiny 2 Season 15 mods | Destiny 2 Season 15 exotics | Destiny 2 anti cheat | Destiny 2 Witch Queen

Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.

Read more
Destiny 2 Star Wars armor sets
"Oryx is back": Destiny 2's final Episode takes the MMO to the site of the iconic Taken King expansion for a Coil-inspired roguelite mode, and also Star Wars armor
Destiny 2 Kell's Fall art
"If your cake is trash, nobody wants to eat it": At a tough time for Destiny 2, Bungie drops an Exotic mission promising vampire vibes, a cool shotgun, and a finale with bite
Destiny 2 Episode 3 Heresy screenshot of Eris Morn
Destiny 2's new Episode suggested the upcoming Apollo expansion will launch on July 15, but that date has mysteriously been scrubbed from the game
Destiny 2 Guardian in Taken energy
Bungie yanked Destiny 2 servers offline for emergency maintenance as Episode 3: Heresy got off to a rocky start, but it looks like we're back in business
Key art for Destiny 2's Heresy Episode.
"A fun example of a bug becoming a feature": Destiny 2 accidentally made Exotic Glaives free to all classes, and Bungie says "we're going to let this ride"
Destiny 2 Kell's Fall art
The Destiny 2 dev behind Titan's game-changing Banner of War was also on its new Exotic shotgun Slayer's Fang: "I gotta live up to this, especially as my first gun"
Latest in Destiny
Key art for Destiny 2's Heresy Episode.
"A fun example of a bug becoming a feature": Destiny 2 accidentally made Exotic Glaives free to all classes, and Bungie says "we're going to let this ride"
Destiny 2 Episode 3 Heresy screenshot of Eris Morn
Destiny 2's new Episode suggested the upcoming Apollo expansion will launch on July 15, but that date has mysteriously been scrubbed from the game
Destiny 2 Guardian in Taken energy
Bungie yanked Destiny 2 servers offline for emergency maintenance as Episode 3: Heresy got off to a rocky start, but it looks like we're back in business
Destiny 2 Star Wars armor sets
"Oryx is back": Destiny 2's final Episode takes the MMO to the site of the iconic Taken King expansion for a Coil-inspired roguelite mode, and also Star Wars armor
Destiny 2 guardian in scorn armor
How to get Destiny 2 Twitch Drops and link your accounts
Destiny 2 Kell's Fall art
The Destiny 2 dev behind Titan's game-changing Banner of War was also on its new Exotic shotgun Slayer's Fang: "I gotta live up to this, especially as my first gun"
Latest in News
Minecraft movie image of Jack Black as steve
Don't expect Minecraft to go free-to-play anytime soon, as Mojang says "It doesn't really work with the way we built it"
Yasuke looking over the water to a shrine during sunset in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Assassin's Creed Shadows has an entire island stuffed with adorable kittens you need to check out, and it's based on an actual Japanese cat paradise
phase zero key art showing zombies in a hallway
Former Witcher 3 and Dying Light devs reveal their Resident Evil homage, complete with PS1-style fixed cameras
Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis System was only created because WB Games wanted something to combat Batman Arkham Asylum's second-hand sales, exec says
First-person screenshot from ASYLUM, showing the protagonist's hand holding up a notebook while walking through a dark corridor.
After 15 years and a $120,000 Kickstarter push, this cult horror dev has finally released a successor to their 2006 breakout game
screenshot from Rogue Light Deck Builder showing a claymation figure sitting behind a desk.
With 97% positive reviews on Steam, Rogue Light Deck Builder is a hilarious $3 parody game that takes its name very literally