‘Destiny 2: Forsaken’ is the first major expansion to ‘Destiny 2’, which has had a lukewarm response by its fan base for its first year of content, including the main game and two DLCs. A lot of players saw this as Bungie’s chance to bring players back into the game and fix many of the issues that were wrong with ‘Destiny 2’ at launch. Included in the expansion is a whole new storyline, locations to explore, and a host of new end-game activities for players to acquire their much-needed loot.
Let’s take a look at the storyline first. For the first time in a while Bungie has made some brave decisions about where the story goes, and for the span of 7-10 hours (roughly what it takes to complete the main story) I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next and what surprises were around each corner. Something that was missing from ‘Destiny 2’ and the subsequent DLCs, which is ever-present this time around, is the pacing within the story. I won’t spoil what happens, but there is a very satisfactory end to the story arc.
Gameplay wise, there is not much change from the initial mechanics within the original game. ‘Destiny 2’ is still one of the best controlling FPSs on the market, which is what you would expect from the creators of ‘Halo’. There are a few additional mechanics that are introduced in the expansion which change things up a bit and keep it interesting, but if you’ve played either of the ‘Destiny’ games before then you should already know what to expect when it comes to the gameplay loop.
The visuals are breath-taking in motion, as well as during cutscenes. The places you explore feel alive and there are so many secrets to find hidden in the world, which is a testament to Bungie’s level design. There aren’t any noticeable frame drops during gameplay, but obviously, you’ll be getting much better performance on PC over console, with the PC equivalent boasting 60FPS.
There is a lot more to look forward to with Bungie having a roadmap of end-game activities for players to participate in to get the best rewards and most powerful gear, which will span over the next coming months until they release more content for the game. For the first time in a while, it feels like there is so much for the players to do in ‘Destiny 2’. My only criticism is that it took a year for ‘Destiny 2’ to feel like a complete package, which is a shame as it may well have lost some of its fan base because of this.
If you are waiting for a good time to jump back into ‘Destiny 2’ then there has never been a better moment to do it, as there is so much new content to complete from the original game, the DLCs, and this latest expansion. I hope that Bungie has learnt from its mistakes in the initial game release and will continue to create amazing content for the players during ‘Forsaken’ and after.
★★★★☆
Hannah Read
