It's been less than a year since Destiny 2’s launch, with highs and lows, but mostly lows. Players may have fallen off Destiny 2 faster than a Sparrow racing its way through…oh wait (I miss Sparrow Racing). It's this exact feeling, however, that Bungie is battering its player base with. For those who have come from Destiny and stuck around -- through gritted teeth -- and those who are newcomers to the IP, it's been like climbing a vertical mountain that's starting to invert itself on the way up. Slowly, Bungie has course corrected and it's filling in much of the gaps that should have been filled in to begin with. When an entire weapon selection is useless for much of the first year, something might be wrong, especially because it leads to one of the worst grievances of all -- not having fun.
The most significant aspect of Destiny 2’s campaign is that it has an actual campaign. After Destiny and Rise of Iron’s cookie-cutter missions, it’s nice to have something with more variety and substance than "bad guy over there, go kill it." That's not saying Destiny 2 strikes 2’s campaign is anything deep. Characters jump in and out of the campaign quickly as the story moves you from world-to-world. While the quick pacing keeps things moving, it never slows down enough to create any connections between the player and the world. Worst yet is the player’s Guardian who, in Destiny 2, is relegated to a silent protagonist. Ghost ends up speaking the entire time for the player and comes off as annoying. The current set up with the Ghost quickly becomes grating, and even more annoying when other characters point out your silence. This was purposefully done so that players can become invested in their Guardian, but in execution comes off as cartoonish.
The most immediate change is the environment. The Tower always seemed like an elusive thing; my Guardian didn’t feel close to those she was supposedly protecting. How is one supposed to feel like a hero when there really isn’t anyone worth saving? Heroes come in all shapes and sizes, whether fighting actual battles or just being that person someone looks up to, heroes aren’t made without those to protect. Although, it could be argued Guardians are more warriors…never mind, no need to go down that path. Needless to say, Guardians are now invested in the people they are protecting; they are going out into the world and fighting back whatever might threaten a community broken. It connects Guardians to something worth fighting for: relationship.
With 2018 in full swing, a solid first quarter down and plenty of games to keep anyone happy, Destiny 2 is likely not on the mind. Bungie has been straightening Destiny 2 out, though, and it finds itself on almost the exact same path that its predecessor took. This isn’t a bad path, but it leaves a a bland taste in the mouth. It’s medicine that can be swallowed with maybe some slight discomfort from past experiences. Destiny 2 will continue to course correct, and those improvements do help the game, but do they help it enough? That’s up for the player to decide, because making things work that should have been working all along isn’t a reason to come back.
While there no new classes, each of the three returning classes get a new subclass. Hunters get Arcstrider, Titans get Sentinel and Warlocks get Dawnblade. Each of the new subclasses is a joy to use and players can unlock their other Destiny 1 subclasses (Gunslinger, Striker and Voidwalker) and The Taken King subclasses (Nightstalker, Sunbreaker and Stormcaller) if the new ones aren't their cup of tea. Each returning class has been tweaked to make them more viable in Destiny 2, and both new and old are fun to play.
What is surprising is the antagonist, Gaul. Presented in trailers as a hulking brute, Gaul appeared to be a walking cliché. The end product is the complete opposite with Gaul having much more depth than anticipated. Gaul doesn’t get the amount of screen time he deserves, which is disappointing considering he’s the best part of the story.
From there, we got to try one of Destiny 2’s new strikes, The Inverted Spire. This mission took us to Nessus (one of the new worlds) to break into a Red Legion dig site and figure out what they’re up to. For the strike, Bungie unlocked a variety of different weapons for us to try out and there have been quite a few changes. Weapon classifications have been revamped to give players more options. The main slot now houses Kinetic Weapons, which include Auto Rifles, Pulse Rifles, Hand Cannons and Scout Rifles. The second slot now houses Energy Weapons. These are the Fusion Rifles, Handguns and, new to Destiny, Submachine Guns. Finally, in the third slot, we have Power Weapons,which are your Machine Guns, Rocket Launchers, Sniper Rifles and Grenade Launchers (also new to Destiny).
The Last City isn’t the only thing out there. One of my first memories of Destiny is one of the story missions, the name of which escapes me at the moment. In this particular mission, after activating some beacons, your Ghost makes the comment of things deeper out in the universe, things unseen and ancient. While this may have been a reference to Crota at the time or even Oryx, it still felt as if Bungie was hinting at a lot up its sleeve. When really digging into the Destiny Grimoire or even just playing the game, it’s obvious humans expanded across the stars at rapid pace. Destiny 2 is following in suit, with the three new locations Titan, Nessas and Io they couldn’t be digging the heels more into lore. These are spaces that will show off how humanity took control of their…Destiny. The Traveler brought with it the Golden Age and Destiny 2 seems to want to show just what that means.