The Final Farewell? Bungie’s Lasting Legacy
I never thought I’d see the day when Destiny became like Elton John. But please, let me explain before you go thinking I’ve lost it: I do have a destination I’m going towards with this.
You see, as long as I can remember, Elton has been doing farewell tours, and each one was the last, until the next one, and then the next one.
The same seems to be happening with Destiny 2. I thought The Final Shape was the Final Shape, and that the story arc had reached an end, and I was okay with it. However, Bungie now seem to have checked the bank balance and thought they’d best squeeze a bit more blood out of that stone, and so here we are.
Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate is the new expansion that has been launched, and I’m back to see if the grind is still as real as it was. Come with me to Kepler, Guardians!
A Journey to Kepler, a Land of Deja Vu
Now, before we kick off with the story, I’ll share something that upset me when I booted the expansion. Our power level is now all the way back at 10. Yes, 10. When I last played it was 2000 and something, but apparently in the meantime I’ve gotten exponentially weaker. So, with our new and not improved Guardian ready to answer the call of adventure, I blasted off.
In Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate, we are sent to a planetoid called Kelper, deep in the Reef, following a mysterious signal. Aren’t they all? There is a forgotten human settlement and also new Fallen Houses, and in addition the Vex will be sticking a robotic wrench in the works. Kepler seems to be built around an Anomaly which can give our Guardian new powers, and basically it is down to us, as the only Guardian who ever does anything, to save the day.
You may get a feeling of deja vu from this story, and that is for a good reason – it’s pretty much the same story that every Destiny Expansion has used since the year dot.
Reused Assets and Boring Biomes
Removing my cynical head, I’ll move on to the presentation. Destiny 2 has never been a bad looking game, and this expansion does continue that trend, even if the world of Kepler is a little bit monochromatic and boring, not to put too fine a point on it.
The same lack of imagination extends to the enemies we will face: Fallen and Vex abound, but there are only two new enemies. One is the Fallen Corsair, which is basically a Vandal with a rocket pack, and the other is the Vex drones known as Kobolds. And that is your lot.
I’ve heard of reusing assets, but Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate takes it to a whole new level. Even the new weapons that are present and correct are pretty dull, and have been nothing but infusion fodder to upgrade the gear that I had in the Final Shape days. The new NPCs are nothing to write home about either, and while Ikora again takes the lead role, the rest are just so much background clutter.
Annoying Audio and a Flawed Mechanic
Thankfully, the sound is as good as always, even though we now have not only allies but enemies ringing us up for a bit of Facetime action. And while the message is playing, you can’t walk very quickly, so that is annoying as well. All in all, we’ve seen it all before Bungie. Must try harder.
So, how about the new mechanics that are sure to have shoehorned in? Well, there is a new mechanic, and it is a really annoying one. You see, we have suddenly gained the power to morph into a ball, a la Samus from Metroid, and this now forms about 90% of any puzzles that we come across. Basically, if we see a Matterspark (as the new ability is called) point, we need to turn into a ball, roll about and try to find a hole in the floor or on a wall to roll into. From there, it’s pretty much usually a case of powering up a generator by attacking it. Without a word of a lie, that is pretty much all there is to do.
A Frustrating Grind to the Endgame
This wouldn’t be so bad if the ball was controllable, but it has precisely two speeds: stop and full speed ahead, which makes navigating narrow wedges a nightmare. I’ve had to gently put the controller down and step away more times with this expansion than any other, as it is so frustrating. And believe me, I loved Destiny 2 back in the day.
The grind to try and get moving on the levels, shifting a tiny bit higher is certainly real, and by the end of the story I had hit the heady heights of 30 odd power. From there come the end game activities, which largely involves grinding the same Solo Ops event in the portal; basically Lost Sectors by another name. Grinding these for hours for the hope of gaining a couple of levels gets old really quickly, and honestly, Destiny 2 has lost its magic with this one. Even my son, who is a maniac for Destiny, hasn’t been bothered to finish the new campaign, and that pretty much says it all.
A New Low for the Destiny Franchise
So in all? Move over House of Wolves, for there’s a new worst Destiny expansion in town, and it goes by the name of Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate.
Important Links
Destiny 2’s The Edge of Fate Expansion Ushers in a New Era – https://www.thexboxhub.com/destiny-2s-the-edge-of-fate-expansion-ushers-in-a-new-era/
Buy The Edge of Fate – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/destiny-2-the-edge-of-fate/9P6K4CB7S400/0010
You’ll find it in the Year of Prophecy pack too – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/destiny-2-year-of-prophecy/9P9R14SD4CQM/0010
