A Realm Reborn Review and first experiences with FFXIV

A year or two ago, I jumped into Final Fantasy XIV for the first time. As my first proper MMORPG experience outside of a small bit of World of Warcraft years back, there was a lot to soak in. Ultimately, whilst I enjoyed my time with it, I didn't make too much progress and ended up not playing too much. Returning just recently however, I played for much longer, not only breaking through and surpassing level 50, but also completing the main A Realm Reborn storyline introduced in the game's overhauled 2.0 version released way back in 2013. Whilst I'm still somewhat overwhelmed at the sheer amount of content, features and systems on offer, I'm much better entwined with how the game works, heightening my enjoyment and enticing me to play more going forward.

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For those curious, I picked the Gladiator class and have since graduated to the Paladin, where I'm learning the ways of the Tank role and all the associated systems and keybinds that go along with it.

I'm playing on console, which means at least for now, I'm using a controller but with such functionality baked in so well, it's honestly become one of the most astonishing aspects of this game. Of course, primarily I'm learning what abilities do, how to build Enmity, where to stand when fighting bosses, what order to apply defence buffs and attack enemies, and more, but simultaneously, I'm getting to grips with how well translated the MMO experience is on controller.

The core of this when it comes to combat or any kind of assigned action is within the Cross Hotbar - a curated hotbar designed for use with controllers. As is the case with all elements of the user interface, it's incredibly customisable with an array of options as to how it looks, where it's placed on your screen, and the amount of actions you can have access to at any time, as well as the order and keybinds they're assigned. This has meant much tweaking around in the settings to achieve a desired setup, but with such complex functionality, it's allowed me to tweak the game's menus and on-screen information to my liking. There's still a lot to understand, but this customisation has helped a lot!

Speaking about the Cross Hotbar specifically, I recently discovered options where you can have even more actions available on demand. For example, normally you have 16 actions accessible - 8 can be selected when holding down L2, and the other half accessible with R2. On top of this, you can also double tap either trigger for another two sets of 8, or hold down one then the other for yet another two sets. This means you have 48 possible actions available more or less anytime you'd like, and if you'd rather just swap to another page of assigned actions, it's as simple as holding R1, then picking one of the 8 options - with 8 pages of 16, that's 128 actions you can essentially rotate through, should you need them.

Furthermore, additional functionality for controllers comes via the touchpad that doubles up as a mouse cursor that can also be pressed to jump between specific on-screen elements quickly. You can enable a analog-stick-controlled mouse cursor if you'd like too.

Outside of those controller functions, there's also a metric ton of other options like being able to pin certain menus to your screen, resize pop-up boxes, close the text chat, turn the larger map menu transparent so you can navigate and still see the game screen at the same time, and so much more.

All in all, even if the game can get confusing with so much going on at times, it works almost flawlessly on controller with only a few minor gripes here and there. It's a very impressive translation of an MMO to a console experience and once I got into the flow of things, I found it fairly intuitive, and I've begun to settle into rhythms for both combat and general world and menu navigation.

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As I knew going in - and what has only been emphasised the more I've played - this game is huge. It's vast, with much to do, tons of items to learn about and understand, quests to complete, activities and bosses to best, and so much more. It's most definitely a longform game, and to alleviate the amount there is to do, I've been trying to take my time and not rush through anything.

To achieve that goal, my current plan has been to try and follow each of the game's post-launch patches, not only playing their respective story quests, but also any side and post-story content and activities before moving on to the next story beats. Right now, I'm still early on in the post-2.0/ARR space, on the quest for the Paladin's Relic weapon and completing other 2.0 dungeons and Trials.

Once I've run through all of that and completed any of the content from A Realm Reborn I'd like to check out, I'll then move on and continue with A Realm Awoken's (AKA patch 2.1) chain of quests and whatever else that release offers. Thanks to the various information online, such as the game's own patch notes and release pages, I'm able to track what was added in each release, letting me follow that more specifically, and see the game's offerings in the order they were released that should let me parse through what was added later or not.

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As for the actual content of A Realm Reborn, I'd heard in a few places that it wasn't as interesting as later expansions, but I actually enjoyed it quite a bit and thought the story was fairly engaging - even if I think some of it might've been a bit lost on me. There's something really enjoyable about playing new games like this where you understand them to have a deep history, or even a long-running series of expansions and releases after, and you're seeing the genesis of these characters and locations. You get to see where they start, and you know there's so much more to come. To know their names and origins, and to be the 'Warrior of Light' in many ways at the centre of this journey, it's gotten me more interested to know what's yet to come.

It's also really fun to know that the story was written sort of relating to the big narrative events that occurred at the end of the original FF14's lifecycle, with returning characters and more. Looking back into some of this, it's honestly super impressive how they wrapped up and shut down the original game before building on and referring to it further in the re-launched A Realm Reborn.

That's in part why I want to make sure I'm soaking the game up in a fairly chronological way - so I don't run through the entire story and then have tons of past content to play that all feels disjointed. Maybe that'll change the more I play, but taking my time and knocking things out slowly feels like probably the best way to experience the game, and even if I ignore a few things here and there, I'm hoping this will give me a decent grasp of the game's evolution over time. Of course, Dawntrail releases soon, but I know it's going to be a pretty extended amount of time before I get there, and I'm okay with that, especially when there's so much else I'm curious about.

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There's much I really like about Final Fantasy XIV so far, and it's a game that didn't take me long to see how people could essentially live in this world. It's been satisfying and almost kind of heart-warming when travelling to capitals of various cities in the game and seeing the numerous players stood there, whether AFKing, emoting with nearby players, or running from point-to-point as they go about their business. The world feels alive, and you very easily get the sense of this is a place where thousands of players go hang out with their friends, engage with the game's virtual economy, and more, and I've felt like I too really am an inhabitant of this world.

You can get deeper with it all when you consider the plethora of other systems ongoing too like housing, PVP, the Gold Saucer (!!), and so much more. For as overwhelming as it can be though, it's also been fairly easy to understand that in this world, maybe you don't need to do everything, and maybe it's more about just being yourself and doing whatever is most important to you at any given moment - whatever appeals to you, that's what you should do.

Sure, the story is important and ultimately the main thing everyone should probably do, but everything else is ancillary and optional in a lot of ways. Completionists will of course aim to do as much as they can, but that doesn't have to be you, and when there's so many expressive ways to play or exist in the world, it really is up to you how you play. Perhaps over time that might change, and I'll end up feeling a greater sense of FOMO, but after around 100 hours, it's not really felt like that just yet.

As for those social aspects I mentioned a moment ago, I've already had a few fun experiences, whether that be ending up in conversations with a player who was also new and at the same point in the story as me, or simply asking another nearby player where they got a really cool FF7 Cloud minion that was following them around (spoilers: it was a store purchase I'm going to find hard to resist buying myself, sorry Torgal).

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On the whole, Final Fantasy XIV is a game that's kind of blown me away. There's so much to talk about and I honestly could spend a while running through it all, but I think the biggest aspects that stand out to me are the social systems and overall translation of such a complex, keyboard-and-mouse-oriented game to console and controller. Whilst it may be better played with another control input, I've not felt at much of a disadvantage on controller, and it plays really well.

I've not been able to play FF14 as much since I finished ARR, but it's one I'm thinking about quite a lot still, checking in every couple of days or so. I've got the desire for this to be another game I continue to invest in over time, and so hopefully one day, I'll be caught up to the most recently released patches and expansion, and am able to give a much more overall view on it. For now though, it's been a big surprise, and honestly a blast to play. One of my favourite gaming experiences this year for sure.

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.

Existing as the last season as we know it before the game transitions into its Episodic model, Season of the Wish had the job of paving the way for The Final Shape, whilst effectively continuing on from the previous season, all on top of retaining waning player interest and combating the growing negativity towards Bungie who were hit with a number of layoffs prior to the season's release alongside. This was alongside a delay for the upcoming expansion. It was a tough time back at the launch of the season, and the future felt pretty unclear - in fact, in many ways, it still is. However, with its own seasonal content and in combination with the release of the free Into the Light update, sentiment is back to being on the increase - with solid playercounts to boot.

Speaking specifically about Season of the Wish, the setup for this season pays homage to long-running speculation and theories around the fifteenth wish. In the end, whilst the story doesn't quite hit any massive highs, there are some strong character backstories delved into alongside the core narrative that leads into The Final Shape pretty succinctly. The season alone doesn't really do much outside of the final cutscene, but it's not bad and only really second to the previous season when it comes to ranking.

The true star of Season of the Wish is its headline activity - The Coil. There is also Riven's Lair - a condensed and shorter version of the Coil - but the full-length variant is where it's at, becoming arguably the game's best activity to-date, successfully building on those iterative roguelike elements further with an in-activity currency used to buy a rotating selection of buffs and bonuses. Complete with a bonus room available to those who achieve the highest scores and complete the full run of the activity, it not only showers you in rewards, but also features a solo option and a decent amount of variety to keep runs feeling fresh.

A notable quality of life feature I didn't see really any chatter on for Wish is how it includes a destination into part of the season's focus, going as far as not only updating its associated rewards, but also its activity too. Specifically, I'm referring to the Dreaming City which grants reputation gains for engaging with more or less any aspect of the locale, whether that be a public event, lost sector, material node, or Blind Well run. The updated rewards will of course even drop from the Shattered Throne dungeon too, meaning as a whole, Season of the Wish not only features an entirely new set of weapons and its own set of reprisals, but also an additional updated set, all of which the game is very keen to give out from nearly all of its sources. Taking this approach builds on the design that lets the season feel like it extends across the larger game, and revitalises some of that less played content in the process.

As for new content, there's also new Exotic mission, Starcrossed, that returns us to the Black Garden and explores Riven's past, whilst the new dungeon Warlord's Ruin pushes beyond the bounds of Destiny's existing environments, taking us to a castle overrun with all manner of Darkness-imbued enemies, and a unique boss of a kind we've not seen before. There's also a new weapon type - a rocket-assisted sidearm that has quickly become a fan favourite.

Taking a step back and looking at this season as a whole, it really is yet another one of the game's best to be completely honest. I don't think the story ends up amounting to a whole lot ultimately, but despite a very rocky start, the seasonal content in Year 6 has probably been some of the best and most consistent and innovative to-date. It's hard to predict if this will continue in Year 7, but with the reduced output of three Episodes a year instead of four Seasons a year, considering Bungie seem to be promising a similar amount, it's very possible we're looking at this kind of quality continuing.

Even with all this greatness however, the future and overall state of Bungie is still something that's still difficult to predict, and per previous reporting, it looks like much of how things shake out is reliant on the success of The Final Shape. Thanks to a pretty brilliant marketing cycle, solid player numbers leading up to launch and - what look like - strong pre-orders (sitting at number one on the PS Store for weeks now), things do look positive. All we can do is wait, but as for Year 6 overall, it's been one of the best when it comes to content, even if it lacks the same, consistent narrative quality of Year 4. For now, we look to The Final Shape, and after all the reveals, I'm very much ready to see how this 10-year saga comes to its conclusion, and how the game continues with its new Episodic model.

Bringing the story right back to plot threads much closer to home in terms of core story, Season of the Witch gets right into the beginning of the end for Year 6 of Destiny 2, presenting an intriguing set up and continual experimentation for seasonal activities that make it arguably the best season this year.

Narratively, we're right back at the heart of where it feels like the game's story should've been heading not long after the launch of the Witch Queen. Not only do Savathun and Eris Morn take centre stage as the focus here, it brings in several other key characters too, like Ikora, and features the much more full-on prescence of Xivu Arath, the Hive God of War. Combining this force of characters across the several weeks in an attempt to resurrect Savathun leads to fun overall story that stands as the Lightfall year's best.

Outside of this, the double dose of activities in this release are both brilliant in their own ways. On one hand, you've got the 3-player Savathun's Spire featuring a set of random encounters, and on the other, there's Altars of Summoning, a Prison of Elders/Archon's Forge-like activity that also features a variety of encounters, with customisable difficulty and a slew of differing mechanics. These are both delivered alongside the backbone of a tarot card system that grants one of many buffs to make weapons and abilities more potent. This deckbuilding aspect is fairly simple, yet shows further experimentation with systems and mechanics presented seamlessly in gameplay, and add a deeper level of season-specific customisation and effects into the core power fantasy of the game.

The season culminates with the Imbaru Engine, a puzzle-focused experience that really elevates the ways in which this season punches above its weight. It was impressive to see Bungie introduce something like this because it taps right into the secret aspects of Destiny, something the game has lacked for some time.

Returning to the Whisper and Zero Hour missions as part of Into the Light recently has gotten me thinking about how I don't think all the Exotic mission design quite hits that same quality bar of level design, mystery, and challenge. Imbaru Engine plays with your expectations and lets Destiny breathe as more than just a shooter, and something that lets you spend more time in its environments, figuring out puzzles in a way that feels fitting for what to expect from the character who built the space. These aspects are most often usually seen in raids and dungeons, and while Imbaru Engine is a much more puzzle-focused experience, for a bonus activity on top of the other two activities, it's a neat addition and tied a bow on the season rather nicely.

Much like Season of the Deep though, this release is yet again let down by an unexciting set of weapons. It somewhat rectifies this with the Crota's End Raid reprisal, but it's disappointing the core seasonal rewards are once again lacking quality. Their visual designs are nice though!

Overall, whilst Witch doesn't feature the best activity of the year, I think the complete package makes it not only the best of the year, but arguably one of the best we've seen. It's pulling from the best parts of Destiny's story, presenting activities that are fun, experimental, and replayable, and still managing to tuck a few secrets away that lead to one of the year's most memorable reveals that set the stage for the following season perfectly.

Before its launch, I was pretty bullish with my theories and speculation as to the quality of Season of the Deep. Following Lightfall's launch, it was generally assumed that Lightfall was ostensibly filler, and with all the information provided, I had come to - what I believed to be - an airtight theory that this season would begin to right the wrongs and set the game up for a strong Final Shape reveal that would be preceded by two strong seasonal releases. In hindsight, I don't think I was entirely wrong, however I was speaking more in regards to the narrative which still ultimately took a bit to get going.

When it comes to theming, activity design, and overall cohesion, Season of the Deep actually does a lot right. Whilst Salvage was a vastly lacking 6-player arena activity, Deep Dives was the game's first real attempt at incorporating roguelite mechanics, design that would continue into the following two seasons. In its first attempt, Deep Dives are some of the game's strongest content to-date, with a fun, secret Exotic mission baked in as well. This is on top of a brilliant dungeon in Ghosts of the Deep which has some of the game's best environments.

All of this contains new underwater gameplay too which, whilst simplistic, isan interesting angle that shows Bungie experimenting. Much of the community seemed opposed to it, and whilst there's some fair criticism, this is one of the only times the game's core movement and traversal has been shaken up. I think its inclusion in the dungeon is worth the experimentation too, since it flips Destiny's usual power fantasy on its head. Usually, I'd see this as a negative, but it's a temporary inclusion here that doesn't outstay its welcome. Whilst Ghosts of the Deep from a solo perspective runs into the same issues as other dungeons, it's otherwise probably one of my favourites in the game, and I was in genuine awe at the environments on a first run.

In terms of core seasonal content, there's also the introduction of Fishing. Again, it's relatively simplistic, but good to see Bungie trying yet another new idea. Even if there's not much to it and I'm not sure it quite gels with the kind of game Destiny is, it does build a little on the MMO aspects, and adds to the various ways in which Season of the Deep breathes new life into the core gameplay loops and activity design we've experienced prior to this. I'm not sure how far they could take fishing were they to invest into it further, but it's a funny distraction that aligned nicely with the seasonal theme.

I don't think Season of the Deep is mind-blowing, but it's certainly a well-needed shakeup for what is typically expected from seasonal content. Introducing passive effects you can choose from in each Deep Dive encounter to help you combat the increasing difficulty really goes a long way in just making the experience of that particular activity a little bit different from the norm.

Even if the season's conclusion leads nicely into the following release with some big reveals and solid character development alongside it, it still took several weeks to get there. It's definitely a step up from Season of Defiance though, and great to see Bungie exploring new ideas.

Launching alongside the Year 6 expansion, Lightfall, Season of Defiance is where some of the core game's story continues, meaning it had a pretty uphill battle to steer the narrative in a positive direction. Whilst its core content offerings are solid - with a particularly decent Exotic mission - it's ultimately underwhelming, especially from a story perspective where it makes some odd choices that feel out of left field and hollow in their execution. It's almost as disappointing as Lightfall in its writing, yet it managed to at least remain more compelling and relevant due the state of the world set up at the end of the previous year.

In terms of what's new on the activity front, another slew of Battlegrounds doesn't bring anything super exciting to the game, though they feature a good number of new environments across Cabal ships and Pyramid structures. There's also a pretty unique angle on an Arthurian legend in the form of a new Exotic weapon and mission, with its own challenging encounters and unlockable secrets and items. The secrets here in fact build up and point towards a more curious narrative the game seems to have been working on setting up for post-Final Shape, though there's still nothing sizeable of note that stands out in it all.

It's one of the game's weaker seasonal releases no doubt, and together with Lightfall, left the game feeling in a rather weakened state. There were some neat quality of life changes to how seasons and their rewards are dished out, but they're only amongst a small amount of impactful good this seasonal release has, making the wait for what was to come all the more difficult.

Existing as the last season as we know it before the game transitions into its Episodic model, Season of the Wish had the job of paving the way for The Final Shape, whilst effectively continuing on from the previous season, all on top of retaining waning player interest and combating the growing negativity towards Bungie who were hit with a number of layoffs prior to the season's release alongside. This was alongside a delay for the upcoming expansion. It was a tough time back at the launch of the season, and the future felt pretty unclear - in fact, in many ways, it still is. However, with its own seasonal content and in combination with the release of the free Into the Light update, sentiment is back to being on the increase - with solid playercounts to boot.

Speaking specifically about Season of the Wish, the setup for this season pays homage to long-running speculation and theories around the fifteenth wish. In the end, whilst the story doesn't quite hit any massive highs, there are some strong character backstories delved into alongside the core narrative that leads into The Final Shape pretty succinctly. The season alone doesn't really do much outside of the final cutscene, but it's not bad and only really second to the previous season when it comes to ranking.

The true star of Season of the Wish is its headline activity - The Coil. There is also Riven's Lair - a condensed and shorter version of the Coil - but the full-length variant is where it's at, becoming arguably the game's best activity to-date, successfully building on those iterative roguelike elements further with an in-activity currency used to buy a rotating selection of buffs and bonuses. Complete with a bonus room available to those who achieve the highest scores and complete the full run of the activity, it not only showers you in rewards, but also features a solo option and a decent amount of variety to keep runs feeling fresh.

A notable quality of life feature I didn't see really any chatter on for Wish is how it includes a destination into part of the season's focus, going as far as not only updating its associated rewards, but also its activity too. Specifically, I'm referring to the Dreaming City which grants reputation gains for engaging with more or less any aspect of the locale, whether that be a public event, lost sector, material node, or Blind Well run. The updated rewards will of course even drop from the Shattered Throne dungeon too, meaning as a whole, Season of the Wish not only features an entirely new set of weapons and its own set of reprisals, but also an additional updated set, all of which the game is very keen to give out from nearly all of its sources. Taking this approach builds on the design that lets the season feel like it extends across the larger game, and revitalises some of that less played content in the process.

As for new content, there's also new Exotic mission, Starcrossed, that returns us to the Black Garden and explores Riven's past, whilst the new dungeon Warlord's Ruin pushes beyond the bounds of Destiny's existing environments, taking us to a castle overrun with all manner of Darkness-imbued enemies, and a unique boss of a kind we've not seen before. There's also a new weapon type - a rocket-assisted sidearm that has quickly become a fan favourite.

Taking a step back and looking at this season as a whole, it really is yet another one of the game's best to be completely honest. I don't think the story ends up amounting to a whole lot ultimately, but despite a very rocky start, the seasonal content in Year 6 has probably been some of the best and most consistent and innovative to-date. It's hard to predict if this will continue in Year 7, but with the reduced output of three Episodes a year instead of four Seasons a year, considering Bungie seem to be promising a similar amount, it's very possible we're looking at this kind of quality continuing.

Even with all this greatness however, the future and overall state of Bungie is still something that's still difficult to predict, and per previous reporting, it looks like much of how things shake out is reliant on the success of The Final Shape. Thanks to a pretty brilliant marketing cycle, solid player numbers leading up to launch and - what look like - strong pre-orders (sitting at number one on the PS Store for weeks now), things do look positive. All we can do is wait, but as for Year 6 overall, it's been one of the best when it comes to content, even if it lacks the same, consistent narrative quality of Year 4. For now, we look to The Final Shape, and after all the reveals, I'm very much ready to see how this 10-year saga comes to its conclusion, and how the game continues with its new Episodic model.

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.