Was it Worth the Wait? Destiny 2 Review

It’s been 3 years since the first Destiny was released and memories of its initial launch are filled with some pretty horrible memories. Loot drops were filled with some pretty terrible random ways of getting anything remotely close to being rare and legendary drops seemed next to impossible and after Bungie releasing a ton of updates the game became more and more playable. The first games biggest downfall was its complete and utter lack of a story and the lore wasn’t even in the game itself. The first game wasn’t even good in my opinion until after the Taken King DLC was released and a slew of updates and changes came that made the game feel much much better, however, nothing was brought to the table in terms of the main story. When Bungie finally announced that there would be a sequel released in March of this year, we were all hoping that this would be the game that we should’ve had all along. Well, does Destiny 2 live up to all the hype? It’s finally time to find out.

The game starts out asking you if you would like to import a previous character from the first game. So, since I was going to already play as a Hunter I decided to go ahead and import my Hunter from the last game. Your levels and experience do not carry over from the last game, which is definitely not a bad thing as Destiny has always been a grind for loot type game anyway so that is completely fine with me. What I really thought was a nice touch that Bungie added for veteran Guardians is some nice artwork style cutscenes showing your past battles from The Taken King to Rise of Iron and it also shows you the names of the fellow Guardians that fought alongside you.

The game immediately starts off showing the Traveler being taken hostage by the new villains in the game called the Red Legion and their leader, Ghaul. Ghaul kidnaps the Speaker and claims the Light as his own causing all of the Light to disappear. However, your Guardian is able to reclaim a Shard of the Traveler which unlocks the first of three subclasses that the game introduces this time around. Being a Hunter the first subclass I unlock is called the Arcstrider which provides you with a new Super that gives you a melee attack in the form of a Staff that allows you to run around and melee enemies left and right. This is probably my favorite of the three Hunter subclasses in which the other two are the Gunslinger from the first game and then the third and new subclass is the Nightstalker which gives players a bow to use for their Super ability. One of my favorite classes, the Titan, has this really incredible that basically makes you Captain America where you are provided with a shield that looks awfully familiar to a certain other shield that allows you to throw it at your enemies and return to you. The classes and subclasses are a lot more fun to play this time around with so many different options as well as the ability to change your subclass at any time. Also when unlocking a new subclass you have to play a special mission in the Black Forest which provides some excellent lore about your subclass which is great considering the sheer lack of lore in the first game.

Speaking of lore this is where Destiny 2 shines. The amount of lore in this game is outstanding, especially compared to the first game. The story in Destiny 2 is definitely one that I thoroughly enjoyed this time around. No more “I could tell you of great things” that we heard in the last game. This time around players will have so much story thrown at them that they won’t know what to do with it. Not only that, but there is also a ton of activities to do in this game that players will find themselves quite busy with the amount of loot and gear to find. No more having to decode random drops from enemies whereas loot is told to you everytime something is dropped. The game does have a Crypyarch which is used to decode engrams that you will get from leveling up the reputation from  Zavala, Cayde and Ikora as well as the Gunsmith and also some other characters I’d rather not reveal. The campaign itself can be finished in about 5-6 hours however it is full of content that will satisfy returning Guardians and new players alike.

PvP is back once again in the form of Crucible which shines yet again. Loot is fairly handed out to outstanding players but even if you lose you will still be given some pretty good loot for your time. Unlike the first game that featured six-versus-six matches, Destiny 2 only features for the time being four-versus-four. Players are also now given the ability to see if their enemy has their super charged or if their enemy team has heavy ammo. Clash, Control, and Supremacy make their returns as well as two new modes called “Countdown” which features a best-of-seven mode that has players plant a bomb in the enemy base and defend it while it waits to explode. The other new mode is called “Survival” where each team has a certain amount of lives that are shared across the team. Trials of the Nine has replaced Trials of Osiris from the first game and will now feature either Countdown or Survival games modes every Friday and ends the following Tuesday.

One of the biggest complaints and flaws is the way Shaders work in Destiny 2. In the first game whenever you unlocked a new shader you had the ability to un-equip and re-equip as many times as you wanted which was great whenever you wanted to change your characters appearance as well as your other weapons and gear. However, Bungie decided that shaders now have a limited use and once you use a shader it is gone. Granted that once you find a shader you typically get more than one, however, once you use one it is gone. Shaders have become the new microtransaction in Destiny 2 which is not a good thing and something the Destiny community has been pretty upset about. You can’t even (at least as of this review) use Glimmer to purchase shaders with which would make a ton of sense and be a bit of a compromise instead of having to purchase Silver to get the right amount of shaders you need.

Another complaint and personally my biggest one that was never addressed in the first game and still for some reason was left out in Destiny 2 is the lack of proximity chat. I cannot imagine why Bungie thought it was a good idea to not be able to chat with random Guardians that are within range. Especially during Strikes where you can be partnered up with random players and it takes away from the immersion of the game not being able to communicate with players, especially when in an open world where others are trying to wander around aimlessly looking for loot caches and other hidden things in the game. It would be nice to be able to communicate with others via headset only so long as they are close to your character with the option to at least turn the proximity chat off or on. However, taking the time to stop and form a party once again takes players away from the immersion of the game. I really hope Bungie does an update where we are able to chat with players that are closeby so that we don’t need to take unnecessary time away from a game that is not able to be paused.

All-in-all Destiny 2 is a definite upgrade from the first game. Proving a very deep story and worlds full of lore and loot to be found. With Bungie already having planned out months of content in advance you shouldn’t have a hard time finding something to do. The worlds are no longer barren and you won’t have a hard time finding plenty of people to make fireteams with. Destiny 2 is the game that the first one should’ve been and one that gamers will truly enjoy for years to come.

Brian Daniels

I’ve been writing and covering many forms of entertainment such as comedy shows, and arcade bars as well as reviewing video games and more for the past decade. I love to write and I am blessed to be able to have the opportunities that I have had in the entertainment and technology fields.