Completing the Parting the Veil quest — an extension of Destiny 2: Lightfall‘s story made available in Season of the Deep — unlocks the Veil Containment lore mission icon on Neomuna. However, this isn’t a regular mission. At weekly reset, it shares breadcrumbs of lore about the Veil and the sinister origins of Neomuna from the perspective of Chioma Esi, presenting a new way of storytelling.
If you read Destiny lore, names of Ishtar Collective researchers like Chioma Esi and Maya Sundaresh should sound familiar. In the Lightfall campaign, we discover that they are also the founders of Neomuna, so expanding that storyline, the Veil Containment lore provides some history, even discussing SIVA and the Vex.
In a roundtable interview with the narrative team at Bungie, we asked the developers why they chose to do the weekly Veil Containment audio logs instead of a quest or mission. Senior narrative designer, Robert Brookes, said that the structure of Veil Containment was mostly a creative choice.
“I wanted to kind of explore a different narrative delivery than we’ve done in the past,” he said. Brookes explained how going into Season of the Hunt, players received messages from Osiris as he ventured into the solar system to understand the planets that disappeared. Brookes said, “those are really long audio logs, more than we normally put inside the mission because we have to budget the VO experience versus the gameplay.” He clarified how the length of a mission wouldn’t be enough for the audio logs and even a repeatable mission would have to end with extensive dialogue.
The Veil Containment approach came from the desire to create an intimate space between the player and the audio logs unraveling secrets from centuries ago. He explained, “What I wanted to accomplish was the sensation of sitting down and listening to something like ‘The Magnus Archives’ — which is like a horror podcast — and getting that kind of feeling like it’s just you in this quiet creepy room, and you’re listening to someone having an emotional breakdown.” Chioma and Maya were lovers and brilliant scientists confronting the trepidation of building a new civilization amongst this mysterious Darkness artifact. Also, overlooking the otherworldly artifact, the vacant lab, and the glitchy audio log computer illustrate an ominous setting to experience these research and personal audio logs.
“You’re listening to these, really, really emotional and charged — and at times horrifying stories — it creates a different play experience than if you’re hearing them in bits and bites between shooting some enemies,” saying how Destiny hasn’t had many untroubled moments such as this. He further pointed out that unlike the holoprojector dialogue, vendors, or the HELM radio, here, players listen to Chioma from where she once stood.
Earlier in the group interview, Brookes said that the Veil Containment lore will continue throughout Season of the Deep and bleed into the next season. There will be additional audio logs that lead up to The Final Shape expansion as well. “I think those are going to be very revelatory, not just for the Witness, the Traveler, and the Black Fleet, but also some of the stories [through] Lightfall and after The Final Shape,” hinted Brookes.
