As a fan of ancient history, videogames have long been my favorite way to explore long-dead worlds. Sailing the Aegean and running around Athens in Assassin's Creed Odyssey transported me back more than 2,000 years. Watching empires rise and fall in Civilization gave me an eye for conflict. Even The Forgotten City embraces its Roman heritage with open arms. Speaking of, city builder Pompeii: The Legacy is a historical game I'm incredibly excited for. Best of all, developer Siscia Games has finally revealed its Steam Early Access launch date, and it's here very soon.
July 20, 2025: Another new Brainrot Evolution code is in after some fixes.
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More than a decade since launch, Warframe is still one of the most successful MMOs around. Digital Extremes' sci-fi universe keeps getting bigger - especially now that we're headed to Tau. In a recent interview with PCGamesN at Tennocon, we talked to Digital Extremes' senior community manager Sarah Asselin and COO Sheldon Carter about the studio's newest project: Soulframe. A dark fantasy MMO with weighty combat and a focus on exploration, it's a game we've been patiently waiting for. According to the team, though, we may have to wait a little longer.
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Sundays are for counting the days. If you haven't heard: I'm leaving RPS on July 31st, bringing my 12 years with the site to an end (and 8 years spent with Gamer Network websites more broadly). This isn't like in 2021 either, when I nominally departed but continued to support the site from the management side and by writing evening news posts. This time is me gone for realsies. I have plenty of thoughts, more than I can reasonably fit in one post or a hundred. So: links? Links.
In the long history of Destiny as a franchise, there's always been one feature of the game that brings players together from across the world. Raid races.
Ever since The Vault of Glass back in 2014, gamers have raced or tuned in to watch streams of players attempting to become the first-ever to clear the hardcore endgame activity, and Destiny 2's The Edge of Fate expansion continues the trend with the new raid, The Desert Perpetual.
One team of six Guardians will "become legend" and earn bragging rights and exclusive loot as the only team to become first in the world to finish The Desert Perpetual. Top streamers and Destiny 2 players will be logging on and taking part, but you, too, can do so by playing when the raid goes live on July 19 at 12pm CT.
If you can't watch or play, but want to stay in the loop on who's winning, keep it locked right here for our live blog down below. Buckle up and get ready for what should be an exciting day of Destiny 2 raiding.
3:50am CT: It's over. After nearly 16 hours of raiding, a winner has been crowned. Bungie is working to confirm the winning squad, TheSnazzzyRock and Team Nuts. Normal Mode for The Desert Perpetual is now available.
1:12am CT: Oh no. Indebted got the boss into final stand, but two members died during that phase and they were unable to finish off the final segment of the boss's HP bar. They wiped and have to start over again.
July 20, 12:10am CT: It's happening. Indebted is on final DPS phase.
11:50pm CT: Wow, aTides and Indebted seem to have it figured out. They were one DPS phase away from going into final stand, but wiped. It feels like they're very close.
11:25pm CT:aTides has turned the stream back on, and they and others are learning how to DPS and maximize damage. The final boss is slowly being conquered. A winner could be crowned soon.
11:05pm CT:mariomonk, Saltagreppo, and LlamaD2 are now at the final boss as well, offering a second view at the boss.
10:55pm CT: The DPS phase is very cool. Koregos is a giant Vex Harpy that opens up and the Guardians must climb on top of it, expose its core, and then deal big damage to it to take down its health. This entire raid seems well made. Parabellum hasn't quite figured out how to DPS yet, and it's unclear how far along the other squads in the fight are with the boss.
10:09pm CT: Here's a sneak peek of the boss's damage phase from Haminator100's stream. They went back to hiding their screen shortly after.
10pm CT: Nine hours into the raid, we have one stream available for watching the final boss, and Tyraxe's chat is blowing up with support from viewers who are gracious that Team Parabellum are streaming their POV while others have their screens blocked. There's no telling how far along the other teams are in this fight.
Screenshot by Destructoid
9:50pm CT: Some good news maybe? Tyraxe and Parabellum (world first for Salvation's Edge raid) have made it to Koregos, and it appears as though they will not be hiding their screen. Score! At least we can watch along now, at least for the time being.
9:10pm CT: Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Another team has joined the final boss fight and are also blocking their screens. They're being competitive and want to win, I understand that, but as a viewing experience, this is not ideal. It's now basically impossible to see who's "winning" the race at any given time until a winner is crowned.
8:55pm CT: We have movement once more. aTides and co. have now gotten to the final boss and seen that "wow" moment seen below. The race is on...but aTides, too, is hiding their screen. Oof.
8:20pm CT: Unfortunately, we're now in the dark for the time being when it comes to the final boss since Snazzzy blocked their screen. Still waiting on other teams to reach the same encounter. Here's how the stream currently looks.
Screenshot by Destructoid
7:40pm CT: TheSnazzzyRock's team made it to the final encounter and subsequently blocked his stream from showing his gameplay...but here's what the awesome encounter looks like. The boss' name is Koregos, The Worldline.
7pm CT: The next big moment in this race will be whoever finishes their third boss. As of now, it appears that none are super close to cracking it. This could be a long night.
6:52pm CT: aTides and Indebted have joined the third boss party. And round and round we go. Who will be the first to reach the final boss?
6:35pm CT: The groups who are on boss three have hit a wall again, attempting to figure out DPS phase and then once again maximize their damage to try and kill the Vex in question and make it to the final boss.
Screenshot by Destructoid
6:20pm CT: Vendetta has joined the fray after their second boss kill. There are now at least four teams on the third boss of the raid.
6:02pm CT: LlamaD2 and their team have cleared the second boss now. The third boss still remains a hurdle, with the final boss awaiting beyond.
5:55pm CT:Tyraxe and Parabellum have cleared boss two. They join TheSnazzzyRock and Team Nut on boss three.
5:50pm CT: This is where the raid winners are found. When the battle gets tough, when you're wiping again for the third hour in a row, you have to keep your mental straight in order to stay on top of the task at hand. It's not easy.
5:35pm CT: According to evanf1997, this raid race's length has now surpassed the length of both Leviathan and Deep Stone Crypt races. And there's still quite a way to go.
5:30pm CT: There's not much to report on currently, as the teams continue to make their way through this lithmus test of gaming prowess. TheSnazzzyRock is still one of the only teams we know of that have cleared two fights. I did just notice that the final boss for this raid leaked hours ago before Bungie banned the person responsible, and it seems like this race won't be ending quickly.
5:15pm CT: Four-time world first squad Elysium just cleared their first boss and are moving on to the second, while Datto and Math Class are still stuck on the first boss of the raid. It's tough out here.
5:05pm CT: While TheSnazzzyRock fights their third boss, Epoptes, the struggle continues for most other squads who are still stuck on either the second or first battles.
4:50pm CT: Over 155,000 viewers are tuned in to Destiny 2 on Twitch as the raid race wears on, with top channels including Aztecross (35,000) and Datto (19,000).
4:40pm CT: BREAKING NEWS! A new contender approaches as at least one team has cleared boss two. TheSnazzzyRockand "Team Nut" (yeah) have advanced past their second encounter and taken the lead in the race! One boss stands between them and the mysterious fourth pathway and assumed final boss, but every other team is hot on their heels.
4:35pm CT: Mr. Kackis is correct. These bosses all have very, very high health pools in Contest Mode, and that's where the bulk of the problem seems to be for all teams involved.
4:30pm CT: The raid race rages on as players are slowly but surely doing more and more damage against their bosses while trying to get that second clear, with a very interesting arrangement of weapons being used across the different encounters, everything from Touch of Malice to Finality's Auger. On a personal note, I've raided and raced multiple times before, and the key thing to remember for these teams here is to prevent getting frustrated as the night wears on and bosses refuse to fall. Avoiding tilt is a crucial part of being a raid racer, especially as the clock ticks and you're attempting to be the first to finish. There are still no clear leaders as so many teams are stuck on boss two.
4pm CT: We've reached the four hour mark of the raid. You still hanging in there? These are rookie numbers, but we'll see if there's a "eureka" moment in these boss fights where teams start to roll and make big progress soon. As of now, it's just a lot of second boss encounters and many, many more teams still on the first boss.
3:45pm CT: This raid race is unique in that teams are fighting three different bosses all at once, and the fights are all pretty different from one another. One fight may be easier than another for one team, and vice versa. But with the big group of around 10 teams who have finished one fight now stuck on their second fight, it may be a while before we see any progress. In general, it feels like most teams on their second encounter are now back at square one when it comes to figuring out DPS phase before even learning how to maximize damage.
3:30pm CT: More and more teams have cleared their first encounter, creating a logjam of squads who are all basically in the same spot in the race. One thing to note, though, is that this raid has not yet had any puzzle-heavy fights, and it's all been purely about unlocking DPS phase and then maximizing damage.
3:25pm CT: Bungie taunts the racers once more as we have unconfirmed reports that players on their second encounter are fighting against more adds in the same boss fight that others had in their first attempt on the same boss. Whoa.
3:20pm CT: The spectator action has entered a lull as the teams sweat and grind, but each squad learning more about new encounters with each wipe means we could be minutes away from a second boss clear any moment. I'm also very interested in knowing how much info each team is learning about their new encounters, considering the DPS methods are becoming widely known by those watching.
3:11pm CT: Multiple other teams, including one led by Salvation's Edge race winner Haminator100, have also beaten their first boss and are onto a second encounter. There's now no clear leader yet again.
Screenshot by Destructoid via MultiTwitch.tv
2:57pm CT: Three hours into this race, here's where we are. All_The_Players and Vendetta has cleared the Iatros boss fight and have moved on to Epoptes, so they are currently in the lead. Once done, the third boss, Agraios, will need to be cleared. The key here will be how much intel from other streams and boss fights the teams are getting to see how quickly they can clear the second and third fights to move on to the final boss. This means the subsequent fights could go quicker, but teams could just as easily get stuck on the others.
2:50pm CT: Yep, ATP and Vendetta have now moved on to Epoptes, meaning the three bosses we've seen likely need to be cleared before anyone can move on to the assumed fourth and potentially final fight.
2:40pm CT: Judging by previous races, the boss clears should be coming fast and hard now. ATP is in the lead, moving forward through the raid as other teams continue to attempt to clear their first encounters.
2:31pm CT: Oh my God. All_The_Players and Vendetta has cleared Iatros right at the last second, and then wiped. But it appears that they got the new checkpoint and have moved on. "Uncertain Future" is now the new objective and ATP has officially taken the lead.
2:20pm CT: A couple of teams have gotten very close to clearing, but once the third damage phase ends and Enrage kicks in, it's basically over. This is a struggle for everyone involved, but at this point it takes absolutely perfect execution to take down the bosses thanks to Contest Mode's difficulty.
2:15pm CT: We've reached the point of this first encounter where a team can lock in and clear the fight at any minute. But with three different first bosses, everything else is entirely up in the air.
2:10pm CT: Teams are getting very creative when it comes to optimizing their DPS output, trying to find the perfect combo of weapons and abilities to melt the HP bar on each boss. You really have to throw everything you can at the enemy to deal enough damage. This is some fun stuff.
2:06pm CT: As always, Bungie is watching on live from their HQ as Guardians struggle and suffer through the race.
2:05pm CT: SO close. The boss reached Enrage and ATP and co. have wiped, but that's the closest we've come to a boss clear so far.
2pm CT: We're two hours in now, and teams are pretty consistently reaching DPS phase, and now everyone is still just trying to figure out how to deal the most damage as quickly as possible. All_The_Players and co. have pulled out Legend of Acrius and Lord of Wolves to DPS Iatros and are close to clearing.
Screenshot by Destructoid via Twitch.tv/aTides
1:55pm CT:mariomonk and co. haven't even been able to reach 50 percent damage after two phases, making a three-phase completion seem out of reach at the moment. But as teams continue to maximize DPS, this will change throughout the day.
1:45pm CT: Streamer aTides has found DPS phase against Agraios. But nearly two hours into the raid, one can only wonder what happens once the squads are able to defeat their respective bosses. I'm assuming they will then move on to one of the other two, needing to clear all three before moving on to either the next phase of the raid or even the final boss. But that's just conjecture.
1:35pm CT: It's difficult to keep up with how teams are gaining progress on these fights since several squads have their microphones muted and their screens blurred so we can't see exactly what buffs or debuffs are being used. It's all a part of the competitive nature of the race. For now, teams are still trying their best to maximize their DPS against the bosses.
1:20pm CT: ATP has reached the Enrage timer on Iatros, which means there is just three damage phase windows to clear the boss. This is going to take perfect execution. Most of the teams who have reached damage have been against Iatros, while Apoptes and Agraios still seem to be giving the other teams problems.
1:15pm CT: If you're just joining the race, welcome! We have only just now seen our first damage phase by mariomonk and their team against Iatros, Inward-Turned, a Wyvern enemy. MrFruit has also reached damage, as has All_The_Players, so we are finally seeing progress. One part of the battle has been cracked. Now it's all about doing that again, surviving, and dealing enough damage to clear the fight.
1:10pm CT: Over one hour into this raid race, and everyone is still struggling to figure out the DPS mechanic on every boss. If the teams have scouts looking at other bosses to try and figure out mechanics, they could eventually relay it to them to make subsequent battles easier. But for now, we're in the very early phases of the raid.
Screenshot by Destructoid via Twitch.tv/Saltagreppo
12:55pm CT: For Epoptes, we're dealing with flashing symbols on a wall that seem to correspond to symbols that are on the shield of a major Vex enemy. There's also several different buffs popping up, enemies called Magistrates, and a whole lot of confusion as teams continue to sort out the mechanics nearly one hour into the raid.
12:45pm CT: One thing I know for sure so far? This boss fight music is yet another OST banger. Destiny 2 never misses when it comes to the soundtrack.
12:40pm CT: Here's my perspective, watching along with multiple squads as they struggle to figure out boss mechanics while also trying to stay alive as the enemies are at a higher base power.
Screenshot by Destructoid via MultiTwitch.tv
12:35pm CT: Reports are coming in that the starting areas of the raid have separate directions to go into, potentially four, so it seems as though the fourth may be unlocked after the three bosses we've seen are defeated.
12:30pm CT: We're 30 minutes in to this race and with three totally different boss fights, teams are all figuring out how to enter DPS phase on their encounters. Feels like we'll be in for a long one today.
12:24pm CT: Even the official raid watch-along stream hosted by evanf1997 is having a hard time keeping up with the three totally different fights. We are in uncharted territory so far.
12:17pm CT: Well, this is going to be difficult to track. Three different first boss encounters, three different sets of mechanics to learn. This will make it harder to track who's in the lead, at least until bosses are felled. Seems like there's Iatros, Apoptes, and Agraios for the three totally different fights.
Screenshot by Destructoid via Twitch.tv/Gigz
12:13pm CT: It appears that the three different bosses are in different areas, so it's possible that this raid is similar to D2's first raid, Leviathan, which had different encounters depending on which direction you go. This is wild already.
12:10pm CT: What is going on? Gigz has reached the first encounter and it's a boss named Epoptes, Lord of Quanta, while Saltagreppo is at an encounter with a different boss named Agraios, Inherent. And now All_The_Players has a different boss, too, named Iatros, Inward-Turned. Ohh, we've got some big Bungie nonsense already.
12:05pm CT: To no one's surprise, The Desert Perpetual has an aesthetic purely inspired by The Nine and its familiar locales from several other activities in Destiny 2's past, such as Trials of The Nine. Sounds and looks like Maya Sundaresh is up to no good as well, so expect the Vex to feature heavily.
12:00pm CT: The race has begun! May the best team win.
11:50am CT: 10 minutes to go until we begin. Another concern I have is...just how much will Kepler mechanics like Matterspark, Relocator, and Mattermorph be used in this raid, if at all. Matterspark is near-universally disliked, so if it's a big necessity in The Desert Perpetual, the reactions will be fun to witness.
11:40am CT:Destiny legend Datto has a Guardian-themed V-Tuber model?! How cool is that?
Screenshot by Destructoid via Twitch.tv/Datto
11:30am CT: As the streamers and their teams all make last-minute preparations and jump around the Tower, sound off: where are you watching from? Will you be participating? Hit up the comments section below, Guardians.
11:14am CT: Speaking of Salvation's Edge, that raid race's winner Team Parabellum will be looking to repeat today, while Saltagreppo and Clan Elysium will look to extend their record and win their fifth race.
11:01am CT: One thing to keep an eye on today as we get started is server stability. Players have been having issues with servers and the game itself soft-locking in specific encounters and activities, so let's hope the raid is clean. Also, how long will we go? Last year's Salvation's Edge raid that came with The Final Shape had a race that went well into the morning hours of the following day. For my sake, I hope this is a quick one!
July 19, 2025, 10:50am CT: Good morning, gamers, Guardians, and dear readers. It's the most wonderful day of each year in Destiny 2. It's time for a new raid. Get ready to lock in and watch as teams across the world attempt to win the title of world first
What is Contest Mode in Destiny 2?
In Contest Mode for The Desert Perpetual, Guardians are capped at 100 Power. This means that anything higher than 100 Power will default to the cap number, thus ensuring vast difficulty as enemies will progressively become higher Power levels throughout each encounter.
Every player that completes the raid during Contest Mode will be granted the raid's exotic weapon. Once Contest Mode ends on July 21, Power advantages will be enabled once again.
Disabled items
To ensure competitive integrity, several items are disabled for the duration of Contest Mode.
Weapons
Outbreak Perfected
Third Iteration
Choir of One
Icebreaker
Barrow Dyad
Hierarchy of Needs
Grand Overture
Armor and Mods
Temporal Tracker Weapon Mod
Temporal Blast Seasonal Weapon Mod
Temporal Armaments Seasonal Weapon Mod
Temporal Adapter Seasonal Weapon Mod
Temporal Loader Seasonal Weapon Mod
Miscellaneous
Bounty and Weapon Leveling Progression for Combatant Kills
Raid Race rewards
Image via Bungie
Anyone who completes the raid during Contest Mode (ends on July 21 at 12pm CT, 48 hours after it begins), will earn the exclusive emblem Timeline's Blade. Anyone who completes the raid at any point will receive the emblem Third Unknown, pictured above.
The winners will receive special rewards including a world first raid race championship belt. Bungie will also sell a special jacket, bag, and pin for anyone who links their Bungie account to the Bungie Store and completes the raid, as part of the Bungie Rewards system.
Image via Bungie
The Desert Perpetual loot pool
Data mines reveal that the raid's exotic will be a Strand rocket launcher, but there is also an auto rifle, combat bow (new crossbow weapon archetype), fusion rifle, rocket launcher, sniper rifle, and submachine gun when it comes to legendary weapons, along with exclusive armor sets for each class.
More about which encounters drop which piece of gear will be revealed as players progress through the raid.
Raid race streams to watch
Bungie is partnering with several streamers across different languages and regions who will be hosting watch parties for the race, along with the developer hosting a pre-show beginning at 11:45am CT.
Individual player perspectives will also be found in the Destiny 2 Twitch directory, featuring top streamers and raid racers looking to win their first race. Others will be looking to become two-time, three-time, or even four-time winners.
Here are some top streamers to watch (more will be added throughout the day):
