Destiny 2 is slowly arriving at its end, in a period for live-service games of deep transition. Today it is absolutely difficult to build up a product capable of making players return after a long period of time, giving them the last DLC or new experiences. Even the most revolutionary products, such as Helldivers 2, have demonstrated that a little error is sufficient to kill your entire success. A name which remains always at the top of this kind of productions is, without a doubt, Destiny. The creature of Bungie, despite all the problems and crises it faced in the few years behind us, continues to develop its narrative and lore, adding new co-op activities and showing players the return of iconic Esotics and Characters. The introduction to the last chapter of the war between Light and Dark, Into the Light is its name, is a wonderful preparation season whose narrative work mixes together nostalgic elements and new grounds granted by The Witness. Now, I know that the new PVE modes haven't been the most appreciated by the public, turning them into the only flaw I have noticed inside Into The Light, but I am not the kind of player which focuses on grinding and obtaining the best a period of contents could offer so it didn't affect my experience in a so deep way. I would prefer to highlight a return to the discovery of emergent narrative, with singular missions on every planet and new secrets whose Easter eggs reminded me of the most emotional and captivating moments of the first game of this universe. We are observing a new bond between real life expectations, theories, discoveries and community interaction with the events lived inside the game. If Destiny maintains this same philosophy also with The Final Shape, we will experience the best ending a videogame has offered in a long time.
Destiny 2 Into the Light is the return to that kind of interaction with the entire universe created by Bungie we have tried inside the first project. Secrets, Esotics, Theories and In-Game Events and communitarian cutscenes. All elements of a strong uprising of a waited ending, with even the less interesting activities as secondary things if put side by side with the enormous expectations set for The Final Shape.
Gameplay: 5
Game Design: 5
Technical Feature: 5
Narrative: 4
Protagonists: 5
Villains: 3,5
Multiplayer: 4
Score and Music: 5
Artistic Feature: 5
Atmosphere: 4
Emotional Impact: 4,5
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
Destiny 2 Into the Light is the return to that kind of interaction with the entire universe created by Bungie we have tried inside the first project. Secrets, Esotics, Theories and In-Game Events and communitarian cutscenes. All elements of a strong uprising of a waited ending, with even the less interesting activities as secondary things if put side by side with the enormous expectations set for The Final Shape.
Gameplay: 5
Game Design: 5
Technical Feature: 5
Narrative: 4
Protagonists: 5
Villains: 3,5
Multiplayer: 4
Score and Music: 5
Artistic Feature: 5
Atmosphere: 4
Emotional Impact: 4,5
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
It was pretty good. Pantheon was a good raid challenge, and the horde mode was a very welcomed addition.
Filling the extended gap created by The Final Shape's delay, Destiny 2: Into the Light presents an array of content to bridge the remainder of Season of the Wish into the launch of the upcoming expansion. Granting the requests of many players, this free update finally introduces a true horde mode activity, returns two of the game's best Exotic missions, reprises 12 of the greatest weapons in Destiny 2's history, adds a limited-time raid boss rush, and more.
Onslaught is the main focus, with 10-wave and 50-wave variants - the latter of which has a Legend difficulty option - and takes place across two PVP arenas and the Mothyards patrol zone from the Cosmodrome. Complete with purchasable defences that can each be upgraded, various mechanics, bonus objectives, and boss fights, Onslaught quickly climbs its way to one of the game's stronger activities that feels easily replayable. The concept is fairly simple, but it's also nice to have something that's not mechanically complex, yet still challenging and rewarding all the same.
The draw to keep running this activity is the re-introduction of 12 iconic weapons in Destiny 2's past, many of which have been long requested to return. In their updated versions, not only do they come with a new Into the Light themed paintjob and Origin Trait, they also have some of the beefiest perk combinations to-date. Combined with what Final Shape is bringing, it's feels like quite a bit of power creep, but that also feels right for this particular moment in time.
An element that makes them stand out more is their limited edition 'holofoil' variants that can only be acquired before the release of The Final Shape. These come with a unique aesthetic via an ornament and two perks in each column to choose from, giving you a greater chance of getting a perfect roll, but also potentially reducing the number of weapons you need to keep for the perk combos you'd like, if you get super lucky of course.
Whilst the limited time aspect of these is something that's been debated, especially with such rarity, there was a direct path to each of these, just not a guaranteed god roll. Of course, the FOMO kicks in if you wanted a god roll, meaning you had to grind before the release of The Final Shape.
Whilst the FOMO could be considered a negative, I'd argue the bigger issue is that Bungie doesn't often do this kind of thing. Sure, the limited time and rare nature of them is something that artificially extends playtime, but I've long said rare items like this are healthy for the game. The rarity and unique look is what made them sought after, and rewards like it help you stand out from the crowd. You have this in other ways with certain rewards from high-end content, with gear such as Adept weapons and Raid Exotics, but there's long been space for rare and low drop rate items, and this is arguably one of the best implementations yet.
Personally, I didn't have the time to get a god roll of each - something that will no doubt bother me in the short term - but I'm hopeful we'll see more of this in the future, so that there's chances to get newly released weapons in a rare and limited-time variant. I hope Bungie isn't afraid to continue this, even if there's some pushback.
Alongside Onslaught, Into the Light features Pantheon, a boss-rush activity where you face off against a slew of raid bosses to earn unique emblems and host of raid gear, including Adept weapons and Exotics. With four tiers, each lengthier than the last and culminating in a fight against a different Raid boss, there's a high difficulty ceiling to the top end of this activity that poses a solid challenge for experienced players. Much like the rare variants of the Brave weapons, this is an activity that's important for Destiny to include, and whilst it's going away with the launch of The Final Shape, more high-end content like this is good, and part of what makes Destiny special.
The last few key features of this update are the returning The Whisper and Zero Hour Exotic missions - back with craftable versions of their associated Exotics and reworked secrets - as well as three new PVP maps.
In terms of the Exotic missions, they're honestly some of the best content in the game's history, combining Destiny's best elements to create a memorable and challenging mission. Having them back in the game with updated rewards and secrets is great for preservation, but also fun to have new reasons to return to this content.
As for the PVP maps, this has been a long awaited addition, and hopefully will set a new cadence for PVP content releases. Taking place across the three most recently released locations, these maps bring new life to the player versus player sandbox, and seem to have been met by a good response from that community. To me, it's just been nice having new arenas to fight in, and I hope this is part of a continuing PVP focus from Bungie.
Beyond these headlines, there's not much else to discuss in regards to Into the Light outside of a neat chain of side quests where you search for the robo-dog Archie across the game's various destinations, as well as a few other rewards you can earn via Onslaught and related triumphs.
Ultimately, as a free update it's brilliant and has done a great job at revitalising the game and getting people excited for the upcoming expansion. Playercounts have spiked and remained consistent, pre-orders for the expansion appear strong, and sentiment is in a much more positive place, setting The Final Shape up for a solid launch. As we reach its release, it's all up to this expansion to deliver, and we'll see on June 4th how it all pans out. I'm confident, albeit cautiously optimistic as ever with anything Destiny related, but there's hope and that's something there was very much a lack of following Lightfall's launch.
It all comes down to this, and very soon, we'll finally be able to play this long-awaited expansion. Just like the Paul McCartney song said - hope for the future.
Onslaught is the main focus, with 10-wave and 50-wave variants - the latter of which has a Legend difficulty option - and takes place across two PVP arenas and the Mothyards patrol zone from the Cosmodrome. Complete with purchasable defences that can each be upgraded, various mechanics, bonus objectives, and boss fights, Onslaught quickly climbs its way to one of the game's stronger activities that feels easily replayable. The concept is fairly simple, but it's also nice to have something that's not mechanically complex, yet still challenging and rewarding all the same.
The draw to keep running this activity is the re-introduction of 12 iconic weapons in Destiny 2's past, many of which have been long requested to return. In their updated versions, not only do they come with a new Into the Light themed paintjob and Origin Trait, they also have some of the beefiest perk combinations to-date. Combined with what Final Shape is bringing, it's feels like quite a bit of power creep, but that also feels right for this particular moment in time.
An element that makes them stand out more is their limited edition 'holofoil' variants that can only be acquired before the release of The Final Shape. These come with a unique aesthetic via an ornament and two perks in each column to choose from, giving you a greater chance of getting a perfect roll, but also potentially reducing the number of weapons you need to keep for the perk combos you'd like, if you get super lucky of course.
Whilst the limited time aspect of these is something that's been debated, especially with such rarity, there was a direct path to each of these, just not a guaranteed god roll. Of course, the FOMO kicks in if you wanted a god roll, meaning you had to grind before the release of The Final Shape.
Whilst the FOMO could be considered a negative, I'd argue the bigger issue is that Bungie doesn't often do this kind of thing. Sure, the limited time and rare nature of them is something that artificially extends playtime, but I've long said rare items like this are healthy for the game. The rarity and unique look is what made them sought after, and rewards like it help you stand out from the crowd. You have this in other ways with certain rewards from high-end content, with gear such as Adept weapons and Raid Exotics, but there's long been space for rare and low drop rate items, and this is arguably one of the best implementations yet.
Personally, I didn't have the time to get a god roll of each - something that will no doubt bother me in the short term - but I'm hopeful we'll see more of this in the future, so that there's chances to get newly released weapons in a rare and limited-time variant. I hope Bungie isn't afraid to continue this, even if there's some pushback.
Alongside Onslaught, Into the Light features Pantheon, a boss-rush activity where you face off against a slew of raid bosses to earn unique emblems and host of raid gear, including Adept weapons and Exotics. With four tiers, each lengthier than the last and culminating in a fight against a different Raid boss, there's a high difficulty ceiling to the top end of this activity that poses a solid challenge for experienced players. Much like the rare variants of the Brave weapons, this is an activity that's important for Destiny to include, and whilst it's going away with the launch of The Final Shape, more high-end content like this is good, and part of what makes Destiny special.
The last few key features of this update are the returning The Whisper and Zero Hour Exotic missions - back with craftable versions of their associated Exotics and reworked secrets - as well as three new PVP maps.
In terms of the Exotic missions, they're honestly some of the best content in the game's history, combining Destiny's best elements to create a memorable and challenging mission. Having them back in the game with updated rewards and secrets is great for preservation, but also fun to have new reasons to return to this content.
As for the PVP maps, this has been a long awaited addition, and hopefully will set a new cadence for PVP content releases. Taking place across the three most recently released locations, these maps bring new life to the player versus player sandbox, and seem to have been met by a good response from that community. To me, it's just been nice having new arenas to fight in, and I hope this is part of a continuing PVP focus from Bungie.
Beyond these headlines, there's not much else to discuss in regards to Into the Light outside of a neat chain of side quests where you search for the robo-dog Archie across the game's various destinations, as well as a few other rewards you can earn via Onslaught and related triumphs.
Ultimately, as a free update it's brilliant and has done a great job at revitalising the game and getting people excited for the upcoming expansion. Playercounts have spiked and remained consistent, pre-orders for the expansion appear strong, and sentiment is in a much more positive place, setting The Final Shape up for a solid launch. As we reach its release, it's all up to this expansion to deliver, and we'll see on June 4th how it all pans out. I'm confident, albeit cautiously optimistic as ever with anything Destiny related, but there's hope and that's something there was very much a lack of following Lightfall's launch.
It all comes down to this, and very soon, we'll finally be able to play this long-awaited expansion. Just like the Paul McCartney song said - hope for the future.