A project lead at Bungie has recalled the time that he played Destiny‘s Wrath Of The Machine raid with late actor Lance Reddick.
On Friday (March 17), it was announced that Reddick had died at the age of 60. Reddick starred in John Wick, Lost, and The Wire, and voiced Commander Zavala in the Destiny game series.
Besides lending his voice to Bungie’s shooter, Reddick was also a big fan of playing Destiny. His wife Stephanie acknowledged in a tribute how much her husband “loved” the game and its community.
— Lance Reddick (@lancereddick) March 18, 2023
Yesterday (March 19), Bungie project lead Blake Battle recalled that in 2017 – months after starting at the company – he was asked if he would play Destiny‘s Wrath Of The Machine raid with Reddick.
“This was not a PR event,” wrote Battle on Twitter. “He had just casually mentioned to someone on our community team that he hadn’t been able to do that one yet, and would love to do it with some folks before [Destiny 2] came out.”
“A ragtag group of the Raids and Community teams launched into Wrath with Lance on a weekday night,” Battle continued. “This is when I learned he played Warlock, which cracked me up. He didn’t want a carry, and he didn’t need one. On every fight he learned a mechanic role.
You earned your fame and success and did it while still being a good human being. The kind of person that will perform a phone recording of a hilarious fan fiction Zavala monologue and post it just for the lulz. Thank you for all you brought to our lives; RIP Commander (7/7)
— Blake Battle (@blakebattle) March 19, 2023
“On the final encounter, going into the last DPS phase, we had an untimely death that caused a little chaos, and Lance ended up needing to jump from the back of the room, glide onto Aksis’ back to stun him before the wipe. He pulled it off and we cleared the raid.”
Battle added that “the excitement in his voice after our clear was palpable,” and said “the whole run he was kind, sociable and patient”.
“He talked to us like he was just some guy from LFG looking for a chill group,” the project lead said. “The kind of person you’d want to add to your friends list to play with again sometime.”
Since news of Reddick’s death broke, thousands of Destiny 2 players have been paying their respects by visiting his in-game character.
“To the thousands of Destiny players who played in special tribute to Lance, thank you,” wrote Stephanie Reddick. “Lance loved you as much as he loved the game.”