Destiny 2 reveals a horde mode

Destiny 2 developer Bungie has announced Onslaught, a new horde mode for the game. The offering is set to arrive for all players on 9th April, as a core component of Destiny 2's upcoming Into the Light update.

Onslaught is a three-person wave-based activity set on a selection of familiar but slightly-tweaked Crucible maps, where you and your allies must defend a war asset from taking too much damage. The aim is to protect the asset and keep each other alive for as long as possible.

Between waves, you can quickly acquire and place down a series of defensive options, including turrets, tripwires, and – brilliantly – a decoy Sweeper Bot, which will happily soak up bullets while tidying away debris.

Onslaught will offer two versions: a vanilla 10-wave option and a harder 50-wave Challenge mode, and it's here things get more interesting. This tougher challenge rotates the location you need to defend every 10 waves, warps you to a nearby Pyramid Ship to quickly take out enemies there, and introduces boss waves with meaty enemies. (Although, yet again, you're fighting minions of the Fallen and Hive.)

Footage shown during last night's Into the Light livestream looked fun, though I suspect Destiny 2 hardcore players will be looking to get their hands on the mode's highest levels to see how exactly the difficulty ramps up – and, crucially, what the loot rewards will be for sticking with it.

Into the Light is planned as an update to keep Destiny 2 players ticking over until the franchise's delayed The Final Shape expansion arrives in June.

It's been a tough time for Bungie, with job cuts at the developer, a management reorganization, and reports suggesting interest in Destiny was trailing off, leading to lower-than-expected The Final Shape pre-order sales.

Bungie has countered that with a series of additions aimed at winning back fans, including the arrival of hoverboards, a long-awaited character creator, plus collaborations with Mass Effect and… Ghostbusters.