Between the time that the original base Destiny launched and the launch of its first major expansion, The Taken King, the team at Bungie learned a lot. They learned the importance of storytelling, the importance of giving players something to strive towards, and finally the importance of stressing player engagement. Luckily, everything we loved about the original Destiny is on display here, and Bungie has been listening to what people want to see.
Destiny 2 launches with a slideshow of accomplishments that players achieved in the first game. I’m assuming they’re linked to your account, since I never finished Rise of Iron I didn’t see any slides relating to that expansion. Because of how much of the first game I played, seeing this as the intro to the sequel brought my emotional connection back in. I had bested all these milestones with my friends, and we had a ton of fun taking down Oryx. That’s why the opening mission of Destiny 2 is so heart wrenching. Destiny 2’s story begins with the Red Legion attacking the last city and the traveler. The protagonist, Ghaul, wants to take the light from the traveler and use it for himself. Players worked hard on their characters in the first game, and Destiny 2 takes it all away.
The first thing that immediately jumped out was the voice acting. Characters are charming and well-acted. Cayde-6 is clearly the highlight here, but Ikora, Zavala, and even some newcomers help bring the story to life. Mistakes of the first game pre-expansions are nonexistent, and what was learned during the time it took to build Destiny to where it ended was taken to heart. Players love to grind, but the characters and story are just as important.
It still amazes me how many people wrote Destiny off after the base game launched, but then ended up coming back to find a deep loot based grind fest that was just fun to play. The base philosophy of Destiny hasn’t changed with the sequel: grind, loot, repeat. And just as good as the feeling of finding that piece of loot you’re looking for, is the gunplay. This hasn’t changed since first game. The guns feel great to shoot. This is what kept bringing people back the first time around, and it’s a reason to stay again.
I’m also impressed by the amount of content that launched with Destiny 2. The first game (before The Taken King launched) felt empty, but Destiny 2 has a living world. Each of the planets has numerous missions to take on. Whether they are story missions, quick adventures, or public events, there’s enough to do on each world. Public events are brief missions that are scattered around each planet. They come and go so if you miss one, it’ll appear later. Each event has two different modes, the normal mode, and a heroic mode. Each type of public event has a different activator for heroic mode, and doesn’t explain how to do it. I found myself stumbling into public events at first that already had the heroic modifier on until I learned how to do them myself.
One thing that makes Destiny 2 so special is the camaraderie behind everyone’s actions. Not all of the public events were necessarily difficult, but if I was struggling, and someone was zipping by in a sparrow, they generally hopped off and gave me a hand. Destiny 2 is best played with a group of friends, known in-game as a fireteam. Journeying from planet to planet conquering public events, or even hopping into the crucible for PvP activities always seemed better with friends. Creating adventures with friends is the foundation of Destiny, and it is still apparent in the sequel.
Bungie has also been very transparent about what’s to come in Destiny 2. A new raid, weekly nightfalls, as well as the weekly resets, everything is planned and viewable on the Bungie site. I didn’t know what was to come for the first month or two of the first Destiny, so having this roadmap for Destiny 2 is great.
The biggest improvement made in Destiny 2 is the map interface. Each world’s map has everything that can be done on each planet displayed, and it’s a matter of pressing a button to hop between worlds. It’s never been easier to choose what you want to do, which can help immensely when you’re trying to jump between different public events or quests on different planets.
With what is still to come, a new raid, new crucible modes, Xur making his return, and new weekly flashpoints and nightfalls, there’s a lot to love in Destiny 2. What made people come back the first time will continue to bring people back again. The deep loot based grinding system combined with fresh, weekly updates show that Bungie is on the right path for another winner for the next few years with Destiny 2.
Destiny 2 is available now on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A PC version is slated for an October 24th release. This review is based on a copy provided by the publisher for that purpose.
