Just so you do not think this review was written after a few hours of game: one month ago I visited Bungie in Seattle and played about two thirds of Destiny 2. I did not see anything but I got around 20 hours with impressions of that trip. After the game is released, I spent 30 hours completing the campaign and explored more things I could not do in Seattle. All in all, I’ve spent about 50-55 hours on Destiny 2 so far and I feel more than ready enough to say my final opinion about the game.
As Destiny 2 is built up, it’s almost impossible to say what you think about the game before you’ve played a few hours after the scrolling text has crossed the screen. That is when the game really shows what it is. This is something we know from the first game. For example, at the time of writing, the first Raid has not been released yet, and Guided Games is also not enabled. I mean, even though there are more than enough content to judge the game, even though new things like hidden treasures and previously undiscovered features will come in the coming weeks. With all this in mind, the big question is whether Destiny 2 is worth the money already now? The short answer is: no doubt!
Having a good, well-directed and interesting story part with nuanced and well-written characters is an important feature of many games. Adventures like Mass Effect, The Witcher, and Metal Gear Solid are all among our favorites just because of this. The first thing that struck me at the start of Destiny 2 was the production value around the story. Here we speak for hours of quality dialogue and the feeling that actually a story to tell this time is far more than one could say about the predecessor. It has actually gone so far that it’s a joke around the internet that the beta to Destiny 2 had a better story than the whole of the first game, and one could agree.
I’m thrown straight into the war as soon as the game starts. The Tower, which has as a job to protect the last people on earth, is under severe attack. Everything is burning, it’s raining and everything seems hopeless. It does not help very much that our allies, Ghost (played by Nolan North), sound extinguished and the feeling is infecting us. The tower, where we kicked a digital ball around for three years of our real life, must be abandoned. It’s all designed to make it personal and it works. This is a great start.
I immediately find out that it is Dominus Ghaul who is behind the attack, but just as I’m ready to take him, he throws my character into the abyss. It is as far as we survive, but as I walk through the streets of the city, the journey begins to build and avenge. The goal of the game’s history mode is, of course, to stop Ghaul for all its worth and the journey towards this feels extremely well-liked. Both the characters and the world are well developed and have a traditional tale with a clear beginning, middle and end. These are three points that were totally absent in the first game.
Here we are served a quality story that contains many interesting twists, varied missions and tons of action. Guilders like the charismatic Cayde-6 (played by Nathan Fillion) are always nice to meet again, but we also meet some new faces. The most prominent of these is probably Hawthorne, which ensures that the evacuation of the city takes place as smoothly as possible. The change between characters is well done and always reflects the current situation in a meaningful way. The Vanguard trio (Cayde-6, Ikora, and Zavalla) must all through the phase where they feel they have lost the “light” and question whether they are at all times guardians. It is about rebuilding what is lost, but at the same time find out who you are after you have nothing left. I storked me through the ten hours I played before the screenplay came, and it was a certain form of satisfaction at the end.
Should I find something to complain about is that the supporters do not get enough space, but this is a drop in the ocean. On each planet you meet a new person who is considered the signature person for that destination. On Earth (Earth, European Dead Zone), it’s gentleman-a Devrim Key, a moody sniper who prefers to sit in his church tower to take out aliens. We will not add more time to the characters we met at Nessus, Io and Titan, but it is fair to say that they felt a little underdeveloped. With that said, I really expect to get to know them better in future updates and extensions. Then time will show if I’m disappointed or not.
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As you constantly feel like finding new things, it takes a lot of time to find out what’s really new to Destiny 2. If you played Destiny, you’ll immediately feel at home because Bungie’s amazing sense of arms, animation pride and interesting world are impeccable . The three different classes one can play that has not changed but rather updated from what we remember from the first game. Warlock, Titan and Hunter are all back, and with a new subclass for each of these, there are even more ways to play. The different subclasses are Sentinel (Titan), Dawnblade (Warlock) and Arcstrider (Hunter), each of which changes the traditional role in interesting ways (you can read more about how this works.) Bungie has also given us a simpler way to unlock these classes makes the menus easier and remove many of the choices that had little or no impact on the game. Now you select a subcategory before selecting features that personalize your character. This is definitely a much easier and better way to solve it and it also encourages easy switching between features that in turn make it more varied.
The structure itself is similar to its predecessor, but some changes and improvements have been added. A small but very important detail is that you can now study the map while on a planet and can see some information on it. This allows you to get a far better overview and see how things are connected in the world. In addition to history assignments, there is much else that can be done in each area as well. Areas like Lost Sectors are, of course, a little hard to find, but they always contain a form of boss that gives you a reward in the end.
There are many taxis and other secrets in every area. On each planet there is also something new called Adventures (adventure). These can almost be considered as page assignments with stories that develop the world and its inhabitants. The support players we mentioned earlier also have some assignments for you that you must complete. All in all, there is a lot of content both in the story itself and on the side of it. The adventures are also a rule long and elaborate. For those who really want to get into background stories and explore the planets there are many opportunities for this. The four capitals; Earth, Io, Nessus and Titan are all beautiful to look at, and distinctly distinguish themselves from each other. It’s easy to dream away and just walk around to enjoy the view … all the way you get killed by a hive sticking your sword in your back.
The grading system is virtually unchanged. You rise in degrees (relatively slowly) collecting new equipment and new weapons. Later in the game, one must be on a certain level to participate, and things like Nightfall, Trials of the Nine and the Upcoming Raids, it is important to spend a lot of time doing the best. At the front of the weapon there are mostly the groups that have changed. All weapons that in theory can kill with a shot; shotgun, grenade launcher, rocket launcher and the like are now categorized as Power Weapons. At first glance, it may seem a bit slight, but ammunition often drops to make it no problem, and it’s actually an improvement in multiplayer (PvP) where it gives an increased focus on normal weapons.
Some of the other new features are not so obvious with the first one. How to customize your grade has been improved with adjustments on different parts of the equipment, and it’s a brand new system that allows you to modify both weapons and equipment. Now you can change what kind of damage your weapon will do (Void, Solar, Arc) at any time.
Once the story is over and the adventures have been taken care of, it is of course other activities to take place. Strikes are one of these activities. These intense quests force you and two friends to shoot everything that moves while moving you between quests, and eventually ending with an epic “boss fight”. The strings in Destiny 2 have a far more dynamic and well-liked feeling than they had in the first game. It now consists in a lesser extent of chaotic shooting by enemies, although there are still some examples of this as well.
If you would rather meet human opponents you should go to Crucible, which has received a few big updates. At the time of writing there are two different modes you can play with eight players on each side; Quick Play and Competitive. The latter obviously has more focus on cooperation, so I recommend exploring this with friends rather than going into the war alone. Another improvement in my eyes is that the pace is lowered and the balance feels far better than before. I have the chance to have the opportunity to react as soon as someone shoots on me, rather than dying on the spot before I know at all what has happened.
Although this sounds massive, we’ll see exactly how big Destiny 2 is in the coming weeks as more secret locations and other things are found. Contentally, the game is good already now, with both an interesting story, adventure and multiplayer. Bungie has surpassed himself this time and delivered a complete game packed with content. I feel almost overwhelmed every time I look at the map. The visual and gameplay are fantastic, the music and sound image constantly impresses and Destiny 2 offers more to do on release than the predecessor ever did, maybe even if you include the extensions.
Whether you spent many hours collecting all the weapons and making your life hard for the Raid bosses, or you were extremely disappointed with the first game, Destiny 2 is a great game. At times, you may feel the same before you meet the same type of enemies with the same three classes and the characters in the story could have a little more exposure, but after 50 hours of Destiny 2 so far, there is little doubt that This will be going on in the coming months and years. I had great expectations in advance, which can often lead to big disappointments, but in this case, Bungie has delivered everything I could hope for.
