Bungie brought in real science to help create Destiny 2’s Edge of Fate expansion, calling on an astrophysicist to understand dark matter, the fourth dimension, and more.
The Edge of Fate has been out for over two weeks now. It kicked off the game’s next big multi-year saga called the “Fate Saga,” with a whole new set of mysteries, characters, and lore. It’s safe to say, fans have been loving, at least the narrative side of the expansion, so far.
So, how did Bungie actually pull this off? At this year’s GCX convention, Destiny 2’s narrative team revealed they didn’t just make it all up as they went along. They actually hired a real astrophysicist to help figure out the science behind some of the game’s wildest concepts, including the mysterious Nine, time travel, dark matter, and what it might be like to exist in the fourth dimension.
This new info comes straight from the writers themselves. During the panel, Destiny 2’s narrative director Alison Lührs and narrative lead Hannah Filipski walked everyone through the journey of building Edge of Fate from scratch.
How Real Science Helped Bungie Bring Destiny 2’s Nine and the Fate Saga to Life
The writers started with a clear set of goals for the new saga, which they even showed on a slide at the GCX panel. Their main aims for Edge of Fate were:
- Wake up fanbase
- Break some rules
- Be a re-entry-point
- Launch momentum forward
“We knew that the best way to do that was to break some rules,” said Hannah Filipski, talking about the goals for the Edge of Fate. “What hadn’t the story done? What haven’t we explored? What do we do that feels fresh? And what challenges can we bring Destiny 2 into without alienating all the rest of our players who’ve been with us for the last 10 years?”
The big push for Edge of Fate was to focus on “soul,” to bring back that sense of hope and wonder Destiny stories are known for. “And finally, we knew we wanted to talk about the Nine, said Alison Lührs. “They’ve been a big factor in our back pocket for many, many, many years.
“And there’s just a lot that wasn’t really defined about them at the time. Sounds like a right place for exploration. We want new questions. We want big world building and we want to encourage speculation.”
But when it came time to actually nail down how the Nine would work, and especially how things like time, dark matter, and fourth-dimensional existence might play out, the writers realized they needed some outside expertise.
“They can manipulate time like we can manipulate a piece of paper”
So, they called in Dr. Moiya McTier, an astrophysicist and science communicator. Dr. McTier was the first Black woman to earn a PhD in astronomy from Columbia University and is also known for combining astrophysics with folklore during her studies at Harvard. She’s also the author of The Milky Way.
“Before we broke the story for Apollo, we decided to bring in some consultants,” Lührs said. “We brought in Dr. Moiya McTier, an astrophysicist, to help answer some questions for us. We knew that the Nine were really closely connected to the idea of dark matter, right? That’s what they’re made out of.”
“And initially, we thought the whole sequence was just going to be us quizzing her on dark matter until someone asked the most important question that would eventually kickstart the entire saga, which is, ‘What’s it like to be a fourth-dimensional being?’
“And she got really excited and told us, ‘it means they can manipulate time like we can manipulate a piece of paper.’ And that was just the most electric sentence any of us had heard in a while. And it became the root of the next saga’s story.”
The team describes their approach for the Edge of Fate narrative principles as a “web, not a line.”
Here are the key narrative principles for Edge of Fate, from the presentation slide:
- Web, Not a Line: The story is an array of experiences.
- We Explore an Unfamiliar Home: Our theme explores inverting the familiar, a place that does not want us here, embracing the strange.
- Hard Science Solves Mysteries, Space Magic Creates More: We can know space, but there must always be more mystery to discover.
- Stock the Fridge with New Ingredients: Expand our story with fresh concepts and ideas.
It’s always cool when video games bring in real experts to make the story feel bigger and smarter. What do you think about Bungie bringing in a real astrophysicist for Destiny 2? Let us know your thoughts below!
