Destiny 2: The Final Shape | Review

Initial release date: June 4, 2024

Mode: Multiplayer video game

License: proprietary license

Composers: Michael Salvatori, Paul McCartney, Skye Lewin, Michael Sechrist, Pieter Schlosser, Josh Mosser

Developer: Bungie Inc.

Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows

Publisher: Bungie Inc.

Spoilers Throughout!

Key Takeaways

• This is a review for Destiny 2: The Final Shape’s campaign only
• The Final Shape’s campaign is better than Lightfall’s
• 10 Years of Destiny 2. I can finally say I no longer have fun playing it’s campaigns
• I quit mid-way through the Iconoclasm mission “final” mission
• More puzzles and busy work in-game
• Prismatic Titan was fun and had synergy
• The Dread faction got old quickly
• New ways to upgrade weapons
• Keith David is now Zavala
• The Pale Heart sector was diverse with great artwork and design
• Thought the story arc would be more wild and epic for a finale
• The final mission wasn’t fun and terribly designed for solo players
• Campaign is about six hours in length
• Gunplay excellent
• Music excellent
• I hope Destiny 3 or whatever Bungie cooks up next brings back my passion for their games’ campaigns

Introduction

Destiny and myself go back to Destiny 1’s beta back in 2012. It’s been a long ten years with Destiny 2. Bungie fulfilled it’s long-term roadmap. Personally, I’m just glad it’s over since the past two expansions have done little for me.

Don’t get me wrong, the core gunplay mechanics feel will forever be top notch in every Destiny. For me at least, Destiny 2 has been a case of “too much” the past couple of years.

You can only keep adding, taking away and bringing back things the community wants till it’s tiresome. As for me I’m happy to be done with with Destiny 2 and hope Bungie goes away from it’s GAAS model all together. We know that ain’t happening 🤣

Presentation

Destiny 2: The Final Shape is the culmination of ten years of expansions, seasonal story updates and everything else for that matter. It was suppose to be the final battle to save The Traveler from the Darkness aka The Witness.

For the record I got midway through the “final” campaign mission Iconoclasm before deleting all data for Destiny 2. The Final Shape never felt like some big Avengers End Game expansion. Gameplay additions, music, content all seem to be decent.

I enjoyed my Prismatic Titan’s new abilities. Tried few new weapons that were fun. But the campaign itself wasn’t any better then say The Witch Queen of Foresaken.

Story

I wasn’t impressed with The Final Shape’s story overall. However, I did appreciate the gravity of Cayde-6’s return to fellow Guardians Zavala and Ikora Rey. Zavala is shown as a Awoken who loses everything again in Targe, his ghost.

The Witness is shown to be a enigmatic antagonist who’s fear is leading him into putting the universe into a stasis anomaly only he can control. The story overall wasn’t bombastic but individual character arcs were serviceable.

Gameplay

Destiny 2: The Final Shape’s campaign wasn’t designed with solo players in mind, like all past expansions. I did not appreciate the glyph matching puzzles while getting shot at and blown off my footing to my death over and over. Too many portals. Too many tight dark corridors.

I never played a Raid in any Destiny which got me wondering was the Final Shape designed like a Raid for solo players? Prismatic Titan Twilight Arsenal with Void Axes was fun to use.

Mini bosses were all just bullet sponges like past expansions. The Call which was a new strand based handgun was solid throughout my time in the campaign. I played hundreds of video games over the ten years and can say The Final Shape was doing too much in it’s campaign. Destiny 2 is a looter shooter not a puzzle maker.

Visuals | Graphics

The Traveler’s Pale Heart was beautiful to look at from a twisted artists-like perspective. Technically I wasn’t impressed with the Playstation 5 visual fidelity. Textures were washed out. CGI cutscenes were nice. I liked the designed of the new weapons and some of the campaign level withholding the fun gameplay design.

Sound | Music

At least one thing is a given with each new Destiny 2 expansion and that’s it’s music. I loved The Final Shape’s music and voice acting. They added David Keith from They Live to voice Zavala. I loved the musical score. That’s all I have. Have a great day – Jason