Over the past few years, whenever a new Destiny 2 expansion arrives, I’ve almost always used“This is the best Destiny 2 ever” to express my thoughts and reviews. So, going into Destiny 2: Lightfall, and seeing all the planned updates and improvements Bungie thought of, I thought this review would do the same thing again. But, it won’t.
Let me get straight to the point and say that Destiny 2 is still in good shape, but anyone who was hoping for Lightfall to be a big step forward for the game will be disappointed because, if anything, we’ve already shut down since Destiny 2: The Witch Queen. The new features and additions didn’t quite materialize as I’d hoped, and if anything, the Lightfall campaign was populated before next year’s Destiny 2: Year of The Final Shape story wraps up.
I mean, the Lightfall story isn’t as big and impactful as I’d like it to be. It feels more like a seasonal narrative arc backed up by a bigger production budget, which means we get a ton of sparkly cutscenes that really make your jaw drop. But the actual story itself feels irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, and it has serious problems explaining itself–it must be an absolute nightmare for newcomers to the game. What is The Veil, and why did we rush to the Neptunian city of Neomuna to protect it? Who are the real Cloud Striders? What is Witness and what does it want? And, most importantly, we’ve been asking the same question for nearly a decade: what is Traveler? None of these major questions are answered, instead we’re just pointed in the direction of the bad guys and told to pull the trigger like some kind of superpowered contract killer. It’s fun gameplay, but coming from The Witch Queen, narratively, it’s a huge step back.
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What about the new subclass: Strand? Well, the explanation leading up to how Guardians came into contact with the skill is full of plot holes, but luckily, the actual kit itself is pretty awesome, especially Hunter’s Threadrunner. Mobility, lethality, fluidity, and customization all make up a set of abilities that I can see becoming more fan-favorite than Beyond Light’s Stasis or even some of the original Light subclasses. However, I will say that Warlock’s Brood fails to deliver the same level of thrill and is seriously lacking in damage, while Titan’s Berserker feels like every other Destiny 2 in Titan Super, even if its damage is astronomical at the moment height of.
On the other hand, the enemies you face aren’t much different from what we’ve seen over the years. Aside from the Tormentors – which are exciting to face, and very menacing – the Shadow Legion Cabal feels like every other cabal we’ve faced in Destiny over the past nine years, even if they do contain Strand shields and Darkness towers to protect They, these two mechanics have minimal impact on gameplay at best.
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At least the new characters are interesting, right? well. . . No. Nimbus feels clichéd and corny, while Rohan (spoiler alert) doesn’t linger long enough for you to connect with him and even feel a little scared of how he meets his ending. And let’s not forget about the veteran character Osiris, who in this expansion has turned Bungie into one of the most irritating and frustrating characters in the entire game. His whole premise of just yelling at you and belittling you while he doesn’t contribute or try to explain the plot or what’s going on is really out of character for the character Bungie has built over the years.
Bungie seems to have an idea for the ending of Destiny’s Light and Darkness Saga, and in order to get there, we’ll need one last piece of filler before the action-packed finale. Do you remember how Avengers: Age of Ultron left you with that unsatisfying taste in your mouth, but getting both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame was necessary? Well, this is the feeling that “Light and Shadow” left for me. Instead of climaxing before the end, the band stumbles and misses a few beats, throwing everything off course.
But while Lightfall’s narrative has its demons, Neomuna is an excellent location. Cyberpunk City really explores verticality in a way that Destiny 2 didn’t dare to do before, and the scenarios and environments it offers are fantastic. The weapons (many of which are re-skins of other weapons) and armor sets also have an excellent aesthetic, and years of perfecting Destiny’s loot and power systems once again shine through in this expansion.
While technically not part of Lightfall, but more of a broader Year 6 experience, the UI update gives Triumphs and individual challenges more direction and weight, but handles it very well (despite being attributed to Class is Veteran, like my friend who hasn’t played Destiny 2 in two years feels like kicking the tooth), even though the new build and modding system is more conflicting. On the one hand, I can appreciate the changes and can see how they will benefit Destiny 2 in the long run, but at the same time, the number of mods removed makes the build crafting suite feel pretty barren and almost one-dimensional at the moment Yes, it’s a huge step back from the conclusion of Year 5 – even if the build-making might best be described as confusing to new players at the time.
While I believe the next 12 months of Destiny 2 will be fun and filled with narrative pacing, explaining and covering the issues Lightfall leaves players with (some of which will no doubt come up when raids start on Friday), it’s hard to see this The expansion is a bit of a letdown right now, at least when only looking at the story it’s trying (and apparently struggling to) tell. I know Destiny 2 isn’t a game that bursts its load within the first few days – it never has. But The Witch Queen proves that Bungie can deliver amazing expansion campaigns alongside all the other questlines and doodles to keep players engaged long-term. However, Lightfall is closer to the Shadowkeep and Beyond Light expansions in terms of story development.
I do want to add that Exotic is pretty awesome and really hits that power fantasy, and the new season content seems interesting, but none of that offsets the fact that Lightfall promises so much and just fails to deliver on its most important aspects : Battle. Still, Destiny 2 is a great game, and the rest of the expansion is pretty good too, but is this the best Destiny ever? No. Will Bungie get the ship back on course, though? undoubtedly.However, if the 2024 finale (Destiny 2: The Final Shape) follows a lackluster campaign like we saw in Lightning Fall, then…then there will be a LOT The unhappy Guardians.