Can I use my Destiny 2 character in New Light?

Destiny 2. (Image credit: Bungie)

Can I use my Destiny 2 character in New Light?

Best answer: Absolutely! Returning players with old characters get access to all of the free content that Destiny 2: New Light brings.Latest expansion: Destiny 2: Shadowkeep ($35 at Microsoft)Previous expansion: Destiny 2: Forsaken ($25 at Microsoft)

What is Destiny 2: New Light?

Destiny 2: New Light is the free-to-play version of the game that includes the bulk of Destiny 2's content offering, including the following:

All Year 1 story content (Vanilla game, Curse of Osiris, Warmind)
All destinations, including Forsaken's and Shadowkeep's
All Year 1 Strikes and Raids
All Year 1 gear
Year 2 Exotics Thunderlord, Arbalest, Outbreak Perfected, and Bad Juju
Year 2 multiplayer activities Gambit, Gambit Prime, Black Armory, The Menagerie and The Reckoning
Shadowkeep's opening mission
Shadowkeep's two new Strikes

All of this content is available to players as soon as they reach the Tower after completing the game's introductory level.

Can returning characters jump right in to New Light's offerings?

If you used to play Destiny 2 at any time prior to the release of New Light, your account (and by extension, your character) will be given access to everything that New Light offers for free. For example, if you stopped playing before the release of Curse of Osiris and Warmind, but are coming back to the game now, you can play those expansions free of charge.

This entire process is automatic, too, so you don't have to worry about transferring anything manually. However, if you want to transfer an old character from one platform to another (for example, from PC to Xbox) you will have to set up cross save. Here's our full guide on how to do just that.

If you're interested in getting your hands on the entirety of Destiny 2's content, though, you're going to need to buy both the Forsaken expansion and the Shadowkeep expansion. Forsaken is Year 2's big expansion that has some of the best story, lore, and gameplay content that Destiny has ever had, while Shadowkeep sends players off to the Moon in order to stop a terrifying new foe that manifests itself as dark, twisted nightmares. Shadowkeep in particular has more content releasing over the course of October, including a new raid, a dungeon, Exotic gear quests, and a massive Vex invasion.