It’s wild to think that “Destiny 2” has been around for many years now and this year making it ten years since the original game. All of which has been consistently telling a rather intense and expansive narrative throughout expansions. With “The Final Shape” now here it’s time for the story Bungie has been telling us to finally pay off. I was unfortunately unable to get into the game on launch due to the servers being overloaded, which is why this review is a little late, but I suppose for the developers that’s a good problem to have and a testament that shows the fanbase for this franchise is still huge and were highly anticipating this release as much as I was.
So, a quick rundown of the story, obviously there is a lot to unfold in this saga so I’ll try to keep it brief and specific to this expansion only. In “Destiny 2: The Final Shape,” the campaign takes your guardian on a gripping journey as you embark on a mission to track down the franchise’s big arch-nemesis, The Witness. This very creepy and intimidating villain vanished through a self-created portal on the Traveler’s surface at the dramatic end of the “Lightfall” expansion. As you delve into this quest, you’ll traverse through six intense story missions filled with emotional highs and lows, uncovering critical information about The Witness’s vulnerabilities along the way. The climax of the campaign sees your guardian facing The Witness within the very heart of Darkness itself. Here, you’ll discover that the key to weakening this powerful adversary lies in destroying enigmatic statues ensnared in the Darkness. Joined by steadfast allies Zavalla, Ikora, Cayde-6, and Crow, you engage in a fierce battle that culminates in delivering a significant blow to The Witness—marking the first time this nearly omnipotent foe has been wounded.
While that was a lot to digest, the new features are also a welcoming feast. There is a new subclass called “Prismatic,” which is really cool, allowing you to combine light and darkness powers how you want. There is a new enemy race also introduced called “The Dread” and they’re the first new enemies added in many years. Normally we got reskins of familiar enemy types but these are completely new that can fly, attack, and even stun you. How this expansion was structured was also quite different, given a more linear approach. Given how this is the epic conclusion, it was probably the wise choice to do this, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t feel familiar too, the balance was well done giving us enough new things to make this aging game still feel fresh.
When the final raid was released (which was a crazy whopping twelve person need raid), it was time to finally take down The Witness and experience the game’s end. The stakes were there, the tone was serious and emotional. Seeing Cayde-6 back was a huge highlight for me personally. So yeah, there were a lot of heartfelt moments that really felt earned and I never felt such epic build up to such a crazy raid. This truly did feel like an “Avengers: Endgame” moment where Destiny’s “Light & Darkness” saga they’ve been telling for so many years all came to an incredibly satisfying end. I don’t know what the future holds with the Destiny franchise. I know Bungie is going to be full steam ahead on their next game “Marathon,” which I’m very excited to learn more about. If this really is the end of Destiny for now, it ended the best way it could have, with a bang.
9/10
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Related: Nick Navarro Reviews
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
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