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Destiny 2 comes 3 years since Destiny launched on the previous generation of consoles, and what is now current gen. Since then, there have been a few expansions and raids added, giving a better overall experience and adding to the created universe.
This sequel picks up a year after the events of the prior game. Things start with the Cabal Red Legion, who are headed by Military Emperor Dominus Ghaul attacking the Vanguard Tower, also attaching a device to the Traveller which, in turn, takes away the guardians’ light. On top of that, he has in tow a sun-destroying vessel which, when fired, makes the systems sun explode, the effect destroying everything in its path and the local system (that last bit reminding me of the first Star Trek reboot movie).
So after having your light removed, you somehow have to get it back by heading out to a shard of the traveller that has fallen to Earth. Then get the Vanguard leaders – Zavalla, Ikora and Cayde 6 – back together as they have decided to go to other planets in the system for various reasons. Once that part of the mission is done, your next task is to destroy the ship which is firing at the sun and finally take out Ghaul – all in a days work for a Guardian!
The gameplay remains pretty much unchanged from the first game. You have four planets which unlock at certain points in the story. Once they are all available, you can head to any one of them, select a drop point and essentially do what you want. Main story-based missions, on the other hand, are on-point, taking you from A-B to get the job done. These culminate in a boss battle or arena-type setting where you have to fend off enemies for a set amount of time while your ghost hacks into a console.
This time around, Bungie have removed the grimoire cards which you had to access via their website. In Destiny 2, you’ll be presented with plenty of cutscenes and information in-game. The storytelling is much like many other sci-fi based games – bad guys doing bad things and taking something away from you, only for you to get it back and get even. It does feel like they are saying “don’t take gifts for granted” and you have the whole mortality thing under the surface, as without the light, if a guardian is killed they, cannot be resurrected by their ghost.
Once you get through the 10-12 hour campaign, you’ll unlock the patrols on each planet. Just like the previous game, you’re given an objective and have to complete it which is usually find something, turn something on or kill a higher powered enemy. On top of patrols, there are various missions available on each planet which flesh out the main story. You don’t have to do these immediately, but I found them to be a fun distraction and a great way to explore. Additionally, once you finish the main story, you can take extra missions from key characters, As an example, on Titan you speak to the Sloane, who will give you a few back-to-back missions where you are turning more power on for the station she’s holding. Once again, these missions do take you to various places around the locale and are enjoyable to play through, as they have more depth than the patrols.
Finally, on each of the planets, you have the public events. This time, they show up on the map, where you and other guardians in the vicinity can take on an open mission like stopping a mining rig, take out a drop of something like a tank and so on. Each of these events can be upgraded to ‘heroic’ by meeting certain criteria, standing inside a certain circle in four areas for a set amount of time, or killing certain enemies. Upgrading to heroic can earn you better loot drops to upgrade your equipment for end of game activities.
Once again, you have the Co-op Strikes, also accessible after you have finished the main campaign. These take you through environments which have already been visited and have new enemy placements (and increased numbers) alongside a halfway point boss and final boss which are different to what you will have already encountered. To play these, the game will do the matchmaking and find two other players to join you to fight through it.
Multiplayer side of things sees less options available than the previous game, multiplayer games in general actually. On Destiny 2 you only get two options to start with and 3 after you finish the campaign. The options are Quickplay & Competitive Play, each option rotates the game types available like capture dropped emblems by fallen guardians to score, team deathmatch, controlling certain map points and so on. The two options literally just differentiate whether you are wanting to play for fun or be competitive where teamwork has to come into play. It works fine but I feel they should have had dedicated sections for different game types like they did with the original game.
I do like the modes where you collect dropped emblems and control capture points (objective based) but don’t really bother or enjoy old school deathmatch. The third mode which unlocks once your light level is higher and you have finished the main campaign is Trials of the Nine, here there is no matchmaking, you have to put a 4 man team together yourself and go up against another team (joining a clan certainly helps with this), you get higher rewards with this mode and a new social space. I do enjoy the multiplayer on the Destiny games as the community isn’t as toxic as the Call of Duty community, you don’t get abusive messages from players if you aren’t as good as others.
Retro at heart and lover of all things ’80s, especially the computers, the music and the awesome movies and TV shows! Crazy huge retro gaming collection spanning the ’80s and ’90s with hundreds of tapes, discs and carts for various machines on top of a 600+ strong Steam library that is ever-growing. No I am not a serial hoarder, just a dedicated retro gamer!