Elevating the Game: Why Destiny 2’s Epic Finale Tops a Universe Full of Space Operas

THE RESURGENCE OF AN EPIC SAGA

For 10 years now, being an active Destiny player has been like riding a rollercoaster up and down wickedly steep hills and into deeply unforgiving valleys. A lot has been demanded of Guardians in terms of loyalty to what at times has felt like a dubious space opera. Destiny 2: The Final Shape is a testament to our devotion. It’s a giant exclamation mark on a franchise that has, with this latest expansion, come full circle by closing out a story that began seven years ago. In addition to tying up a large plot thread and adding new subclasses and weapons, the game gets a big shot in the arm in the form of a new enemy faction called the Dread. While the status of winning is a literal thing in Destiny, it’s not the exciting, thoughtful gameplay of the campaign missions and final showdown that really make it a victory.

UNVEILING A DECADE’S CULMINATION WITH THE FINAL SHAPE

Destiny 2 has continued to grow and expand, far beyond its initial dreams, into a living-service game that no one else comes close to matching in its complexity, depth, and breadth of life. The Final Shape is the latest and maybe greatest expansion for one of gaming’s great original saga franchises: a genre-defining exploration of fate and fate-making. And as such, it completes Destiny 2 in ways no other expansion or update has been able to do. The Final Shape is a bold move in a different direction, and perhaps the best Destiny game for anyone who wants a story that pays off the years of speculation and expectation that preceded and has driven it.

THE MENACE OF THE WITNESS AND THE DREAD FACTION

The Final Shape’s great success is that it really sells The Witness as an existential threat. And the new Dread faction just gives so much new variety to the battlespace to force us to change up how we’re fighting. What the new faction does to the lore and gameplay of Destiny 2 cannot be understated.

ARSENAL AND MAGIC: A NEW ERA FOR GUARDIANS

A new arsenal of weapons and the Prismatic subclass take centre stage. These changes bring a powerful shift in gameplay. Their game-changer status is well earned. These additions provide Guardians new ways of experiencing the world and the challenges they’ll face there. A Guardian deserves a robust toolkit of strategies for how to conduct combat encounters. A Guardian is an agent in the world. When the two are more closely aligned, the player experiences greater sense of agency. This is why Destiny 2’s Prismatic toolkit is such a welcome addition. It provides Guardians more strategic options for how they can become a force in the world. These tools show us the kind of game Destiny 2 will be in the future when a Guardian’s agency relies on strategy and customisation as much as raw brute force.

SALVATION’S EDGE: THE ULTIMATE TEST OF GUARDIAN RESOLVE

The raid itself – Salvation’s Edge – exemplifies Bungie’s desire to direct substantial resources towards producing premium content for its player base. Core players who would consider themselves hardcore can start to indulge a fantasy of being seen as connoisseurs, who flex their ability to navigate difficult mechanics and coordinate intricate team work. For these players, the raid is one of the most difficult yet satisfying experiences the franchise has produced so far, thus becoming a shining large red dot signalling what Destiny 2’s endgame content is truly capable of, and the kind of experience players can expect from the franchise going forward.

BEYOND THE CAMPAIGN: KEEPING THE FLAME ALIVE

After so much Post-Final Shape content — the episodic, returning ‘Echoes’ content and new Exotic Quests — it’s nearly impossible to turn off Destiny 2 and think you’ll be done. Whether it’s with endgame activities feeding into narrative content, or new narrative and seasonal openings giving players a reason to return to endgame activities, this is what a live game looks like. It’s a constant churning that Bungie has proven over the past couple of years it’s willing to devote itself to. It’s a model that benefits the Bungie team, certainly, but one that with this latest expansion, the studio clearly sees as a benefit for its community as well. With Destiny 2, they’re providing legions of players with reasons to keep jumping back into their shared universe.

UNDERSTANDING STATUS IN DESTINY 2

With Destiny 2, I’m using ‘status’ to mean the standing or condition of things – from the progress of individuals to the development of an expansion like The Final Shape. It captures the quality, reputation and significance of the elements of its universe. To consider the status of Destiny 2 via different focal points – its storytelling in The Final Shape, the introduction of challenging mechanics, the evolving experiences of its played and persistent universe – is to better appreciate how the gameworld has captured an audience. And the status of Destiny 2, it’s rise and fall, is the story of a resilient, innovative and unyielding community of Guardians.

From start to finish, this time, The Final Shape not only vindicated everything hardcore Destiny fans did to carve out their piece of its universe, but laid the foundation for earning Destiny 2 a foothold among the greats of multiplayer FPS shooter culture. As we peer into the future with newfound resolve and insight, by dint of our own strength, the saga of Destiny 2 – and the exciting tales yet to be told – continues, hardier and braver than ever before, as we begin yet another expedition among the stars.