Destiny 2 Review – An Evolving Universe

Our review of Destiny 2 is an analysis of not only the base game but also the various different expansions that have come out for it over the years. Because this game was a chance for Bungie to rewrite the mistakes with the prequel and start fresh, but as most veteran fans like me would know, it didn’t work out too well at launch.

But as a veteran player, seeing the evolution of the series has been a delight, to say the least, and with our article, I will put my thoughts on the game into words. So firstly, let’s discuss the rich lore and storytelling of the game.

Story And Setting

The original Destiny 2 campaign put us right into the fray of things with the Red War campaign, as we were introduced to a brand new villain known as Ghaul. And while it’s safe to say that his threats fell flat toward the end, the entire journey of losing and then reclaiming the Tower, made things all the more special, especially for older fans.

The game later continued down the line with two post-launch DLCs known as the Curse of Osiris and Warmind, which, in all honesty, didn’t offer much of a shift in narrative. These offered but a taste of the game’s world and lay down the groundwork for other future content. But thankfully, despite the negative reception to these two DLCs, we would see some actual gold soon.

That turning point would arrive in the form of the Forsaken expansion, which would take things in a different direction as we bid farewell to one of the game’s most beloved characters, Cayde-6. He was killed by the Scorn and Uldern Sov, a character many players may know as Queen Mara Sov’s brother, who was seemingly corrupted by the darkness.

Forsaken would push the story to a new level, introducing the new lore of the dreaming city into the mix as well as hinting at what’s to come with Savathun and her trickery as the Witch Queen. The entire campaign was well laid-out, almost giving us a Kill Bill-esque rollercoaster ride as we slayed every escaped Scorn convict only to reach the final showdown against Uldern Sov.

After that, the story took a turn again with the Annual Pass content, showcasing stories revolving around popular characters such as the Drifter and more. But soon enough, we would finally have a chance at where the game started building to the inevitable climax.

Destiny 2’s Shadowkeep and Beyond Light expansions finally gave us a glimpse at the entire light versus darkness saga coming to its fruition as the darkness pyramid ships had, at last, entered our solar system. The former expansion had us return to the moon in order to confront our nightmares that take shape in the darkness itself.

Beyond Light on the other hand let us to face a new threat, Eramis, as she sought to use her new stasis powers to triumph over the light. But alas the guardians put a stop to her, and we were able to wield this new ability instead.

And that brings us to the Witch Queen expansion, in which we fight back against Savathun and her forces of the Hive, who have seemingly received their own light-imbued powers. However, towards the end, we learned something that had been hinted at before, and that was that Savathun had been under the control of the Witness all along.

The Witness is an ancient entity who is seemingly the true culprit of the darkness, and eventually, this all leads us into Lightfall.

The Lightfall expansion so far has failed to deliver on the expectations that players had from its narrative. Still, hopefully, some answers will soon be answered in the coming months with the seasonal pass content or, even better, during the Final Shape expansion.

Destiny’s storytelling doesn’t do justice when explained in short terms like this, but when the lore is given enough attention, it can really draw you into this rich universe.

Gameplay

There are 3 different classes for you to choose from, the Titan, Hunter, and Warlock. The Titans focus on raw power, the Hunters rely on agility, and the Warlocks make use of magical abilities. Each of these function radically different from one another, and the subclasses further focus on more specific playstyles. All of them are distinctive, so don’t be afraid to try each of them out. 

The game at launch was certainly a letdown gameplay-wise, at least for me, who preferred a hardcore grind rather than a streamlined one where everything was spoonfed to you. Fortunately though, Destiny 2 has evolved significantly since launch thanks to the various different expansions that have improved the base experience.

Bungie values player feedback a lot, especially from their veteran fans, and as such, they have introduced a plethora of changes to the core mechanics of the game, such as armor being revamped, the mods system, weapon crafting, and the list of these changes don’t ever end here.

At its core, Destiny 2 is a multiplayer looter-shooter experience with tons of activities at your disposal, such as Strikes, seasonal Story quests, Nightfalls, Raids, and more.

Each week, the in-game activities refresh on a specific day, and it becomes a goal for you to tackle them before they reset to earn powerful rewards as well as the ‘Pinnacle Level’ gear. From a new player’s point-of-view, you will have to gradually unlock access to most of these activities through quests and by leveling your Guardian to meet the power requirements to tackle harder activities.

You’ll mostly be doing these anyways to earn Vanguard reputation as well as complete three of them in a playlist for weekly rewards or tackle their Nightfall version for a challenging experience but one that can have a plethora of loot at the end.

The list of activities to do is almost endless, any one of which might make you addicted to the game if you like the sublime first-person gunplay. The only hindrance is that the solo player experience can be severely daunting, especially if you don’t prefer to play with other players too. It might end up blocking you from the true experience of the game, which are group activities such as raids.

Raids in Destiny 2 are one of my favorite aspects, one that I’ve adored since the release of the first game on the PS4 with my friends. These activities test the communication between all six members, as you need to complete numerous encounters and solve puzzles in a neat fashion to move on to the next step. The final Boss fights are the true endurance tests, ones that push you to pull out all the stops.

As someone who recently completed the latest Root of Nightmares Raid of the Lightfall expansion on day one, take it from me, these activities allow you to experience majestic moments of teamwork that ultimately reward you with the most precious gear in the game.

The only downside is that these raids require other fire team members to complete, and there’s technically no matchmaking here. If you don’t have any friends that are into the game, you can try to find a random raid group on LFG sites or, better yet, join a clan to help you out. But for the most part, an effort has to be made to get a group together.

Clans are a necessary part of the game, they function similarly to guilds from other MMOs, and you can easily find dozens of them open for recruitment on the LFG platforms as well as Bungie’s official clan recruitment site. It will make the solo player experience less daunting, and honestly, these challenging activities will make you appreciate the spectacular moments of the game even more. You might even get enticed, like me, to tune into the launch of these raids where players and streamers around the world compete for the ‘World’s First’ title.

As a new player, you might be a bit intimidated as to where to even start with the game, because Destiny 2 isn’t the most friendly MMO title out there. I’ve got a couple of friends playing it for the first time right now, and they are finding most of the content overwhelming or confusing to the point where it can infuriate you if there’s no one to provide a helping hand.  But there are a lot of players in the community willing to help out newcomers, and all you have to do is reach out. Sooner or later, you’ll find a sherpa of your own.

Visuals And Performance

If you’re an existing player of Destiny 2, then you may already know about the performance of the game, which doesn’t need too much introduction. But as for players who might be new or eager to know how it runs, the game is fairly optimized well for PC as well as offering an unlocked framerate experience and other features on next-gen consoles.

There are occasional dips when things start to pop off, such as when you need to clear hundreds of enemies. Still, it’s nothing too severe, especially considering the number of graphical settings that you can tweak here and there, which makes it easily manageable in most circumstances.

The art direction of Destiny 2 is definitely one of the aspects of the game that is often underappreciated in my opinion. It’s hard not to admire the strikingly amazing details that go into the grand scheme of things here, such as gazing afar at the Traveler from a distance on one of the pyramid ships during the raid, or even being awe-struck upon your first visit through Savathun’s throne world.

The game does not pull any punches here whatsoever, and I constantly find myself being mesmerized by the skybox details as well as the environment design itself. This is a really pretty game, even after 5 years.

Verdict

Overall, Destiny 2 is the game that introduced me to quite a few friends that I grew close to over the years. While that may be a personal sentiment, the game as a whole is honestly one of the best looter shooter multiplayer experiences that you can find in the industry. Bungie continues to push the boundaries of the game to make it a true MMO-like experience, which, to be fair, it sort of already is.

The various expansions offer a significant amount of content, and while purchasing all of them can be rather expensive, if you have a committed friend or two to join you on this journey, then it can still be a worthwhile investment. Moreover, breaking yourself out of your comfort zone to find a clan or just meeting new players across the world in LFG groups is certainly something I found myself enjoying over the years.

Destiny 2’s rich lore, varied activities, and incredible gunplay make it one of the most enjoyable looter shooter experiences to date and my favorite multiplayer game of all time that I’ll never put off playing anytime soon.

This has been our Destiny 2 Review. While you’re here, consider checking out some of our other articles. 

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