Destiny 2's Crimson Days event includes a new map and 2v2 Clash combat

Destiny 2's Crimson Days event, confirmed for a comeback in January, will feature a new map called Burnout, the studio revealed today, and a new 2v2 Clash mode that will very strongly encourage players to stick together. Abilities will recharge faster for partners in close proximity, while those who stray too far apart will be marked by waypoints telling their enemies where they are.

Crimson Days will offer the usual array of themed rewards, including ornaments, emotes, ghost shells, sparrows, and shaders. Most of them will drop from Crimson Engrams, with a "knock-out list" ensuring duplicates won't appear unless and until you earn everything. Crimson Engrams are earned by playing the Crimson Days Crucible playlist and will also be awarded along with Bright Engrams at level-up, and there's no cap or limit on them.

Some of the reward items will also be available through the Eververse Store. Eververse purchases will count toward the knock-out list, so if you buy something it won't drop from future Engrams unless you've already acquired all the gear.

There will also be Milestone-based rewards:

Complete the milestone “Welcome to Crimson Days” by finishing five Crimson Days matches and visiting Lord Shaxx in the Tower to earn the Fire of the Crimson Days Emblem and the Tirastrella Ghost Shell.

Complete matches in the Crimson Days Crucible playlist for a chance to earn the Undeterred Exotic Sparrow.

Complete either the Leviathan Raid or the Raid Lair: Eater of Worlds to claim the Dieselpunk Exotic Ornament for Wardcliff Coil from the final chest.

Complete the Nightfall Strike during the Crimson Days event to earn the Flaunting Dance Emote.

It's no secret that Destiny 2 is struggling to maintain its player base, and it's a good bet that Bungie specifically pointed out the lack of restrictions on Crimson Engrams to preemptively alleviate concerns arising from previous player aggravations, such as a token throttle in the most recent Faction War or the hidden XP scaling system that came to light, to much furor, in November. The studio has a lot of work to do to recover and retain its audience—Tim shared some ideas on how to go about that yesterday—but first and foremost it has to be able to avoid those self-inflicted injuries, and be seen doing it.

Crimson Days will begin on February 13 and run until the 9 am PT reset on February 20.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.