The MMO shooter Destiny surprisingly celebrates Halloween since yesterday. Allegedly, there are also 4 new hover bikes, the Sparrows, new to the game, but no one has found them yet.
It was a surprise for the Guardians who logged into Destiny after the update yesterday (if they could, as there have been some issues with the Monkey error code in recent days). Mail awaited the Guardians. Upon arriving at the mailbox, there was a Halloween package containing the consumable “Jackolyte”. Clicking on it puts on a pumpkin mask for 30 minutes. And they even hear spooky voices.
Destiny celebrates Halloween and no one knew it beforehand. Bungie never hinted that seasonal events would take place in Destiny. Halloween is particularly fitting: After all, the Guardians are also walking dead.
Pumpkin head Jackolyte brings Halloween to Destiny
The pumpkin head “Jack-O-Lantern” is a tradition that Irish immigrants brought to the USA. It is common there to carve a ghoulish face into a hollowed-out pumpkin and light it with a candle from the inside. If one succumbs to the dark pumpkin powers, one can even hear screams.
This pumpkin head is also the only thing that has been really found in the game so far, but there is supposed to be at least one other item newly added to Destiny, as well as allegedly four new Sparrows. At least that’s what the data miners say. However, they have not yet found the items in the game.
Just a few days ago, data miners uncovered new shaders and jumpships in the database for the upcoming expansion “The Dark Below” in the databases.
Where are the other hidden gimmicks in Destiny?
And this time too, the data miners know more than Bungie has said or what Guardians can see in the game: There is supposed to be an item that changes the “respawn” animation. “Flight of Shadows” is said to be obtainable by fighting the Hive on the moon. The data miners suspect, based on the item’s icon and name, that the respawn animation shows a swarm of bats coming together into the Guardian. Where this item can be found, no one knows yet. However, one can be sure that more Hives have been taken down on the moon in the past few hours than usual.
The same goes for the item “Refer a Fireteam”. This is even more mysterious. Perhaps it is an achievement or something else. It is said, according to the tooltip, to be awarded to anyone who brings other Guardians back from the darkness. Whether this has anything to do with Halloween is unclear.
Four new Sparrows have surfaced in the Destiny databases
Furthermore, four new Sparrows have appeared in the databases. Some speculate that this could be a reference to the “four horsemen of the apocalypse”. Perhaps they are not necessarily Halloween Sparrows, but there might be one for each planned seasonal event? This would be a sign that Bungie intends to do this more often. The four Sparrows are named: Nightfall, Tumbler, Snowflake, and Dragonrider. They are legendary, have speed 6, which is the same as rare Sparrows in Destiny.
With the four Sparrows, there is the option to disable the stabilizers. Perhaps one could then perform the famous barrel roll, spinning in the air. Similar stunts are possible with the legendary Sparrow Timebreaker. It also has a special function that can be triggered using the shoulder buttons.
At the moment, players are still puzzling over how to obtain these items and Sparrows. Some speculate that they could be made available on Friday with the appearance of Xur. Or the actual event might start only on October 31st. After all, the night of October 31st to November 1st is traditionally the time to celebrate Halloween. And then Xur would also be available in the Tower again.
Update 30.10 8:45: There is still no indication of where the Sparrows or the respawn item might be found. No one has encountered them in the game yet. The fans of Destiny are now hoping that this could be resolved with the appearance of Xur on Friday. Whether Bungie really uses the black market dealer as an “event dealer” is unknown. What is clear is that his appearance will receive even more attention than usual.
Update 31.10 10:10: Xur has appeared for Halloween. What he has, you can read here. It is now at least clarified where to find the “Flight of Shadows”, the item that changes the respawn.
