Fun fact for those New Lighters reading this review amongst the many others in circulation right now. Destiny 2 was a paid game in 2018, nearly a decade ago, costing around 50 Malaysian Ringgit, including the base game and a few raids, sealed and unopened.

I sold it to a retailer for 12 Ringgit when it went Free-to-Play a few months after it, enough for a fish sandwich and a Strawberry milkshake. Back then, it was a rough time for Bungie, as they were going through the divorce with their publisher, Activision, and their Shadowkeep expansion at that time wasn’t cutting it for them.

Then, 2020 happened, and I was looking for games to play with my friend group who wanted to play something that has co-op in it. Luckily, this was during their Game Pass era, so we blasted through Shadowkeep and Beyond Light, messing around Dares of Eternity and just discovering how much fun this MMOFPS really is, albeit two years later.

Fast forward to today, after playing through one of the best expansions in the game that was The Witch Queen too, arguably, one of the worst in the form of Lightfall, also within two years, I came towards perhaps the final stop of this weird saga of Light and Dark that the Destiny series have cultivated in 10 years way back in 2014, in a sort of crisscross way between two games, which I somehow mirrored it with my previous encounters.

The Final Shape on the surface feels like a “Farewell but not goodbye”. A “we hope to see you fly with us once again” sort of vibe that long-time players would get when they have reached the end of the destination. And boy, do they sell it well.

In Its Final Form

For a quick refresher, this expansion emphasizes The Traveller, the moon-like object of power you see on the cover that gives us, the Guardians, the ability to regenerate life after multiple deaths, being probed by The Witness, a conglomerate entity of a race who wants to spread the Darkness, the big bad thing within them, and the expansion starts with us crashing into an open hole within the Traveller to stop the spread.

 

If it feels confusing to read then, do not worry because the expansion does a great job explaining it better using the cutscenes than my attempt above the opening cinematic is a recreation of Destiny 1’s entire opening with your Ghost companion finding you in the old European Dead Zone, only now corrupted by the Darkness towards the end, which is a neat touch.

The expansion introduces us to one of the most beautiful locales that this game has ever produced and it is made linear by Bungie’s choice. So as the story progresses, does the look of the location that you’ll be situated in during that point of the story, whilst also introducing the cast one-by-one into the story within the locations as well.

 

It’s quite a rollercoaster of emotions that keeps theming well from start to finish with a bombastic end that’s something to experience after finishing not only The Final Shape but even this game if you don’t want to touch it after this. It’s that great.

The Prism Balance

One of the new features within this expansion is the new subclass that blends the Light and Dark powers into one they call “Transcendence”, where it buffs your Guardians with both powers of each side that mix and match and break past the buffs that some bosses will have that’s also introduced with their own shields. It’s a neat concept in both gameplay form and in the lore aspect as well. And brings up a sort of new challenge in how to manage it for the biggest damage numbers for the final blow.

 

It’s a question that’s quite fascinating in terms of how the new powers bring into a fireteam as those who have more Stun powers like Hunters can be in the forefront of the team as the Warlocks do their kinds of stuff and Titans tank everything as they clear the fodders.

Bungle also makes the new Episode strikes much more unique, where a player with the Prismatic powers can help debuff the enemies so that everyone can have a go at it, and it’s basically them helping solidify that team aspect of it within this newfound power. Couple with some of the newer weaponry and you might have yourselves a mighty solid fireteam.   

So, About the Future

Now that the Final Shape dust has settled, we come towards the future of Destiny as they go on with their new Episodic style of season, where three episodes are released throughout the rest of the year and are playable in any order that players want. And does plays like a finisher quest after beating a main story campaign in a single-player game, with hidden stuff within that you can find inside the small nooks of a planet that the current episode is based on.

 

It does feel like an expansion of their Seasons format, with it now being more permanent for any person to hop into after finishing most of their expansions, or even old players who have missed the game and want to scratch that itch by joining in these Episode’s content.

It’s quick and easy to get into it, brings in all the old characters that you might know from the main campaign, and even gives more depth to the main story beat at times as well. Surely, this new format has been given some pretty good into making these feel interconnected with the main story, and it also does feel like Bungie is tying up loose ends to make the game feel whole when they start to shift away from it, much like how Destiny 1 is right now.

 

There’s also Bungie experimenting with a sort of Roguelite element within the new Traveller location that resets each day and gives the additional buffs and elements that make the game feel unique during each day that a player logs in and come with challenges that when completed will reward the player with a Exotic Engram, which are also repeatable and does remind older players of the old menus back in D1.

Really, I feel like they are using the last years of Destiny 2 to perhaps test up some features to be in their next title, Marathon, or even the fundamentals for the next Destiny. And it does look like a pretty good feature for player retention in the long run.

Verdict

 

Destiny 2 The Final Shape wraps up their current ongoing saga with a neat bow and a pretty good farewell to the old guard both lore-wise and maybe even with some of its fanbase as they usher in a new future for the game, with the course set in the right direction with this expansion. While it’s still quite unfriendly to the New Lights, jumping into this campaign straight away after the tutorial stuff isn’t a bad idea, really.

Just grab a bunch of friends don your favorite armor sets and weapons, and dive into the best that Destiny has ever been in years.

Played on PS4, Review copy provided by PlayStation Asia.