There's Two New Destiny: Rise of Iron Mystery that Guardians Are Trying to Solve Right Now

Many Destiny fans believed that the last major mystery the Rise of Iron expansion would hold was the raid-centric quest to unlock the Outbreak Prime, which was the product of both a pretty extensive out-of-game ARG and some challenging in-game feats. But Destiny players are always determined to find more secrets buried in the game, real or otherwise.

There are currently two potential mysteries that have the community on high alert, though it’s unclear if either are genuine, or leading to some specific reward (another exotic) or perhaps merely an easter egg.

The first mystery has to do with Last Exit, a new Crucible map on Venus. Apparently during a Bungie stream, PvP lead Derek Carroll hinted that there was a code on the map that did…something. Naturally, that set fans off in a frenzy.

Fans have so far collected a garbled string of text from a display found in the map, which reads: “33szl’!( +9-7!!/@ 2enr?hqj+r,r+c?)j?96exd.?i 7kjpsq3euj@x.yt5 ,3..” So far, no one has been able to decipher what the punctuation/symbol-heavy message says, if it’s even a message at all.

The other theory is that the code has something to do with trains that light up with different colors/message as you approach them: “ALPHA REGIO” (blue), “BETA REGIO” (red), or “OVDA REGIO” (green), that may be some sort of code themselves. Derek Carroll later tweeted out a strip of green in relation to the stream (though it looks like a greenscreen backdrop to me), and three Twitter accounts for each color sprung up online and started posting Rasputin-like code gibberish. The last time Twitter accounts popped into existence for the Owl Sector ARG, they were not genuine, however, so this could be an overzealous fan.

This one does sound like some kind of code, and it would be interesting to hide it a new PvP map, when usually this sort of thing is in PvE content. Progress seems to have stalled for the moment, but I would expect that if this does not lead to anything, Bungie would eventually let fans know to stop banging their heads against the wall. But if this is chasing after something, it’s unknown whether it’s the trigger to some new quest, or possibly just something fun. Though I think Bungie may have learned their lesson about how fans don’t really like easter eggs in Destiny, and they’d rather have rewards, given the relatively annoyed reaction to “Oryx’s basketball court,” which they had to clarify had no greater significance when it was discovered.

(Update: Derek Carroll just said on Twitter than while the code is a mystery, it is in fact just an easter egg, not a quest. The easter egg itself has still not be uncovered.)

The second mystery may or may not be linked to this, but if I had to guess, it isn’t, and again, it may not be a mystery at all.

It has to do with the Wretched Eye Strike, where players have stopped to look at two strange clouds of gas flashing with the sort of Hive runes that were found in the original Black Spindle quest, another famous Destiny secret.

Right now, this is more or less the extent of it. There are two clouds of smoke, both of which give you a “slowed” debuff as you enter them. These clouds are not found anywhere else in the game, and are accompanied by wizards in both of them. The theory is that there is a hidden, third cloud somewhere, and all three members of the Strike fireteam have to stand in them for…something to happen. Some players believe that doors with odd-looking symbols on them may hold secrets or more gas clouds.

Many are convinced that this is going to somehow be a trigger a quest to get a gun they’re calling the “Ogre cannon,” an item that was briefly glimpsed as an icon in Taken King promotion, but never appeared in the game. Though strangely, the cannon the Wretched Eye Strike boss fires at you does actually resemble that weapon a bit. The thought is that maybe there’s a secret where you can get that heavy weapon, but again, this is all speculation and thread-connecting at this point.

It is unusual to see mechanics this specific relegated to two minor parts of a single strike. The gas is not found anywhere else in the game, and specifically applies a slow debuff while being littered with Hive runes. Yes, it could just be a trap to annoy players in those specific rooms, but it would certainly be a weird design choice if there’s no greater significance. Rise of Iron introduced new floor-based Hive traps that are found in many missions, but again, this gas is nowhere else. It is admittedly strange, and I understand why the conspiracy theorists are running with it.

These are two very different kinds of mysteries, and I would be surprised if both didn’t turn out to be something, in the end. Bungie has shown that they seem to be shying away from time-based secrets, instead letting players find and solve elaborate mysteries on their own, which is what the community said they wanted after a million dead-ends during the great Sleeper Simulant hunt of 2015. It worked out well for Outbreak Prime, and who knows, maybe there is another hidden gun or two waiting to be discovered. Stay tuned for any updates, and feel free to join the chase yourself by poking around in-game.