Destiny was criticized because few non-player characters had important roles in gameplay, but Bungie is intent on fixing that in Destiny 2. Today, the studio released a new video introducing one of the NPCs who will appear in Destiny 2's story.

Hawthorne is a fighter who you'll encounter alongside more familiar characters. She wields a sniper rifle and seems to be a Hunter-type character, although Hunter leader Cayde-6 remarks that she's not a part of his group. She also has a really cool-looking hawk named Louis. Check out the video:

This is Hawthorne. When all was lost, she stayed to fight. pic.twitter.com/i4yOGkUyQH — Destiny The Game (@DestinyTheGame) August 24, 2017

It's encouraging to see Bungie focused so much on improving the game's characters; even in the opening Homecoming mission that was playable during Destiny 2's beta, there were a lot more NPCs actually fighting and interacting.

Bungie released another video this week that re-introduces Cayde-6. The wise-cracking Hunter, voiced by Nathan Fillion, will be very important in the game's story.

Destiny 2 launches on September 6 for PS4 and Xbox One, and on October 24 for PC. The PC beta will go live on August 28 for those who pre-order the game, and it'll open to the public on August 29.

This week, Bungie also released Destiny 2's launch trailer, and we learned that loadouts won't be locked in Raids (as they will be in other high-level activities). Finally, you can check out our new preview of Destiny 2 and watch footage from the European Dead Zone area.