Year 2 featured one large expansion, Forsaken, the periodical events, and three premium content drops, available via the Annual Pass, which began Destiny 2's seasonal model.

Alongside Shadowkeep, Bungie also made the base game of Destiny 2 free-to-play under a release titled New Light (which included access to Curse of Osiris and Warmind).

Ikora identifies the Ghost as Sagira, belonging to her former mentor and Vanguard predecessor, the legendary Warlock Osiris, who had been exiled from the City years before the first game, due to his obsession with the Vex.

[a][7] Traveling to Mercury, the Guardian locates the gateway to the Infinite Forest, a simulated universe created by the Vex inside the planet's core, but is unable to enter.

Brother Vance, the fanatical leader of the Cult of Osiris,[b] directs the Guardian to a hidden temple in the EDZ containing a modified Vex device that can restore Sagira.

Though Game Informer reviewed the title slightly more positively, they took issue with the shallow features, characters, and new locations, but noted that the several fun activities and loot chases available tempered frustration with the DLC.

GameRevolution gave some praise to the additions made to the lore and the premise of the Infinite Forest, but criticized the title for being a paid update with a boring, short, and asset-recycling campaign.

GameSpot felt that the Raid Lair was engaging and that new loot showed off quality gunplay, but took major issue with the fact that the campaign offered a half-baked story, tedious busywork, and reused content.

IGN gave the title a 5.5 out of 10 and wrote, "[Curse of Osiris'] campaign and story are a bust, its new content is mixed and buggy at best, and it does nothing to address the community's loud cries for fixes to the endgame.

Push Square was frustrated with the game's squandered potential and Bungie's repetition of previously made mistakes, and stated, "For its asking price, there's no reason not to expect more from this first expansion.

[2] Several months after the events of Curse of Osiris, the Guardian sets out for Mars, the first place where Humanity encountered the Traveler, pursuing the remnants of the Red Legion as they scavenge across the Solar System in their retreat.

To bait Xol, Zavala sends the Guardian back to the EDZ on Earth, to investigate another shard of the Traveler broken off when it awakened at the end of the Red War.

Following Xol's defeat, the remnants of the Red Legion, led by Val Ca'uor, assault the Leviathan in an attempt to assassinate Emperor Calus and seize the ship.

Game Informer was pleasantly surprised by the addition of substantial lore given Warmind's limited scope, and praised the Escalation Protocol mode, but noted that the lack of meaningful matchmaking kept it from reaching its full potential.

GameRevolution similarly wrote that while Warmind was better than Curse of Osiris, the lack of good matchmaking and improvements to the core gameplay showed that Bungie was not listening to player feedback.

Push Square thought that Warmind struggled to justify its price tag with its tired mission design and throwaway campaign feeling like a stopgap before the arrival of the next big expansion.

The Guardian rallies the Vanguard and all of their allies, including Cayde-6 in spirit form, for the ultimate showdown against the Witness, who is using the Pale Heart to invoke the titular Final Shape, the calcification and destruction of all life in the universe.

The expansion sees three new Light-based supers for each of the classes—"Song of Flame" for Dawnblade Warlocks, "Storm's Edge" for Arcstrider Hunters, and "Twilight Arsenal" for Sentinel Titans, as well as a new subclass, Prismatic, which allows Light and Darkness powers to be used in tandem.

Season pass holders have access to the rewards for both the free and premium tracks, as well as season-exclusive weapons and gear, materials, universal ornaments, and exotic quests.

The episodes, Echoes, Revenant, and Heresy, were originally scheduled for March, July, and November 2024, respectively, but due to The Final Shape's delay to June 4, 2024, these were pushed back.

Through the dungeon, players discover that a previous team of Guardians, led by Wilhelm-7, were lured to the infamous loot cave by Fallen due to a promise of riches, which resulted in a descent into madness for Wilhelm and the deaths of his fireteam, and ultimately, himself.

The free content includes a six-player PvE activity called Dares of Eternity, which takes the form of a game show hosted by exotic items merchant Xûr.

Rewards from the activity include weapons and armor inspired by Bungie's previous games—Marathon, Myth, and Halo—as well as an exotic quest for the sidearm Forerunner, based on the M6 magnums from Halo.

Into the Light featured a new tower defense horde mode called "Onslaught", where a three-player fireteam defended sectors of the Last City from the forces of the Witness.

Into the Light content that remained in the game after The Final Shape included the Onslaught activity, which received its own dedicated playlist under Vanguard Operations, the BRAVE weapons, the exotic missions, the PvP maps, as well as the Parade armor set and shaders.

The faction vendors from the original Destiny also returned to reprise their roles: Arach Jalaal of Dead Orbit, Lakshmi-2 of Future War Cult, and Executor Hideo of New Monarchy.

The seventh Dawning event took place in Year 6 during Season of the Wish, from December 12, 2023, to January 2, 2024; this edition featured an exclusive Memento which could be used in weapon crafting and the new legendary Arc glaive Albedo Wing.

A new NPC called the Statue of Heroes was added and provided bounties that, when turned in, awarded Moments of Triumph points for players which could be used to earn exclusive rewards.

In the first event, which took place during Year 3's Season of the Worthy and ran from April 21 to May 11, 2020, players picked up bounties and quests from Eva Levante, and upon completing these, earned bronze, silver, or gold tokens.

By scoring in these playlists, players earned buffs that would last until the weekly reset, and could be used to light torches around the Guardian Games Podium in the Tower, which granted further rewards.