Destiny 2 Review – What The Original Should Have Been

Destiny has come a long way from it’s original release in 2014, settling into arguably one of the most divisive games in the industry. I remember playing the original beta and thought this would end up becoming one of the best games I’d ever get to play. Although we all know how the mixed reception of the game had been received upon release. Destiny was never considered a “bad game” by any means necessary, but just ultimately a game that failed to live up to it’s potential. Four DLCs and many updates later, Destiny had managed to get many of its player-base back and has turned into a worldwide phenomenon. Bungie made it clear they were listening to what we had to say and assured us that the sequel would right all those wrongs. Destiny 2 has been out for just about one week, and in many ways, it truly is a step forward, even if that is not the huge step we were expecting.

Let’s get one thing straight, like the original Destiny, the sequel is not a bad game either. In fact, it’s a hell of a fun time. The positives absolutely outweigh the negatives when it comes to the changes added. The most obvious improvement to Destiny 2 is its structure to storytelling. The sequel plays out more like an adventure, as we travel from planet to planet in order to save our comrades. The narrative is much more focused throughout the entire campaign, being complemented by some impressive and epic cutscenes (Cayde unsurprisingly ends up stealing the show). It’s still a shame though that our character remains silent, which gives us less of an emotional connection to the story. The actual plot doesn’t do anything original, but it also seems like it was never their intention to tell a groundbreaking narrative. The characters, the world, and the story are merely a backdrop for players to go in guns blazing. We have this beautiful playground, and while we may not understand what playground is, it doesn’t change the fact that we are having a great time and we want to keep playing.

With graphics and controls, it’s no secret that the team at Bungie are masters in game design. Destiny 2 is a gorgeous game in every way possible. Essos is without a doubt my favorite area due to it’s lush and colorful environments. As much as Destiny gets criticized, no one can argue that Bungie is lazy in regards to production value. This is a near completely polished experience, where I rarely ever encountered any bugs or glitches. I only had one instance that I can remember where the framerate dropped due to chaos, but overall Destiny 2 runs as smoothly as the first one did.

Destiny 2’s approach to exploration does push the series in a better direction. Each new planet that is introduced starts off with a lengthy main mission, and then once completed, the area becomes a semi-open world with Adventures (side missions), Lost Sectors, and Public Events to keep players busy. While each Adventure typically consists of going somewhere to kill bad guys, many of them have some well-written dialogue, especially from Ghost (once again voiced by Nolan North), to add in some much needed context. Halfway through the campaign, I started to feel less motivated to continue on with all the side content. However, once I reached Level 20, I started to realize just how important all of it will actually become. More on that later.

Combat in Destiny 2 has not changed much from it’s predecessor, nor should it have. If there’s a single aspect that kept players loyal to the original game, it was the near perfect gunplay. Combat still consists of getting those satisfying headshots to build up the Super-Charge bar. Once a Super is fully recharged, it’s time to wreak havoc. The new three new subclasses added to the mix are the Hunter’s Arcstrider, the Titan’s Sentinel, and the Warlock’s Sunblade. Each new subclass is fun in their own right, but I personally preferred the Arcstrider since it turns me into a speedy and badass warrior. Destiny has always succeeded in making players feel powerful.

There is an option later to recover the original subclasses from the first game. As fun as these new subclasses can be, somethings feels off about not introducing a whole new Class since this is supposed to be a full fledged sequel.

This leads me to the game’s most glaring fault: Destiny 2 ultimately feels like Destiny 1.5. Make no mistake, Destiny 2 is still a complete package from start to finish, and Bungie did take a step-forward in world-building and storytelling. They made full strides in correcting the majority of the mistakes from the original, but did not take the time to take new risks and give us something completely new. For loyal fans, this is just more Destiny, and they will be content with that. For a game that’s supposed to be a sequel though, there is only one new enemy type, which are the war beasts, who even still rarely make appearances aside from the beginning and end of the game.

The entire game is still fighting the exact same enemies and factions, which doesn’t add any new surprises. Some of the “new” enemies are essentially different versions of the existing enemies with slight variations. For example, the Cabal now have the Phalanx enemies, which are the same as the defensive Cabals, but this time have a bigger shield. With each new combat encounter, I didn’t have to think on my toes as I knew how to defeat each enemy already. Adding to that, the bosses are just giant versions of those enemies as well. Hopefully the upcoming raid and new strikes fix these issues.

After all of that, let’s get to what makes Destiny 2…well Destiny: reaching Level 20. Reaching Level 20 is where the true “Destiny experience” begins. Like the first game, Destiny 2’s campaign is only the beginning, as this will continue to be an ongoing experience. The side content that at once started to become obsolete, ended up being completely addictive. The one thing that everyone hated on Destiny for was how grindy it felt. Since this is supposed to an MMO style shooter, there should still be some sort of grind. Thankfully, the grind in Destiny 2 is less tedious, resulting in more rewards being earned for almost everything you do. This is thanks in part to every activity having a purpose to it. There is always something to upgrade or add to, which usually always ends up leading to a legendary or exotic weapon. Exotic and Legendary weapons are in a bigger abundance this time around, as you won’t need to play for almost 20 years to get that first exotic item like in the first.

It’s a much more accessible experience for new players to come in and join the fun. The reputation system each NPC had in the first game felt way too long, as I’d play for hours and hours before any progress was made. In Destiny 2, many activities will reward progress for more than one reputation, motivating me to continue on. Completing a patrol could give me progress for certain Milestones, but would also give me tokens I can use to build up the reputation for certain NPCs. All of this productivity in my character will continue to keep me playing as I get closer to that Power Level of 300. There’s so much to talk about with the game’s endgame content that I won’t be able to put it all in one paragraph, but just know it’s a hefty amount of Destiny included at initial release. We may need to do a separate post just to discuss all the ways a player could reach 300. Just know that the journey to those higher Power Levels are well worth the time.

I can point out some questionable design choices I noticed, such as the sparrow vehicle not being unlocked until Level 20 or weapon/armor shaders becoming consumables. While these never took away from the experience, it’s still a matter of “Why though?”

As stated before, Destiny 2 is not a bad game, just a bit underwhelming. That may be due to the hype surrounding it. Destiny 2, at it’s core, is what the original should have been. Disappointing does not mean low quality, and unfortunately those two don’t get distinguished apart sometimes. Hopefully Destiny 3 (come on, we know it’s gonna happen) will give us the true sequel we’ve been asking for. We’re only a week into Destiny 2, and this is only scratching the surface on what’s to come. This series may not fully lived up to it’s potential yet, and that’s completely fine. I am happy with that we have been given. I’m still having fun, I’m still addicted, and I’m ready to see what this series can achieve in this 10 Year Plan that Bungie has let us know about.

For more information on Destiny 2, check out the official website. A digital copy of the game was provided by Activision for the purpose of review and other content.