A Space Opera Done Right: Destiny 2 Review
- Ben Stembridge
- Sep 13, 2017
- 6 min read
Howdy folks, and thanks for your patience. Over the past week, myself and many other members of Game Chop’s staff sat down with Bungie’s Destiny 2. Sequel to the contentious space adventure that debuted in 2013, we, and everyone else in the world, were hard at work beating up aliens, saving the human race, and beaming across the heavens. We took our time getting this review ready to go for obvious reasons. The biggest reason being that everyone has eyes on this game.
The original Destiny was ultimately, in some ways, not that good. I know it. You know it. We all know it. It established itself as a first-person shooter set in space with a lot of exposition but virtually no narrative significance whatsoever. Bungie (Halo) designed it as an online multiplayer adventure with a relaxed approach to story. Because flying around like a magic astronaut shooting the living hell of out alien monsters is fun even without a story, right? Wrong. The team behind Halo, one of the most beloved video game stories of all time, focused solely on meaningless and brief background knowledge that didn’t even present itself naturally (if I hear another grimoire joke, I swear to god).
Aside from that big issue, Destiny the first also had a fragmented style in regards to content. No story but so many missions and quests to dive into - all without a certain direction laid out before players. Linking up with friends to kill monsters, raid spaceships, and earn loot was fun, but for what purpose? With those bits about the original game out of the way, let’s start off by saying that Destiny 2 is one the finer pivots we ever played. The guys and gals at Bungie listened to us, and most importantly, acted on the cavalcade of feedback they were given. Let’s begin.
For those of thee that liveth under a pileth of rocksth, Destiny is a large scale action adventure game that allows multiple players to go on interplanetary quests in story missions or other incursions in search of bad guys to slay or loot chests to pillage. The series takes place in the distant future, after humanity was raised to a new Golden Age by a mysterious, god-like machine being called the Traveler (magic ball in the sky). Shortly after the Traveler terraformed a majority of the Sol System and beyond, a calamity known as the Collapse brought humanity to near-extinction, and nearly killed the Traveler. Now the remnant of humanity lives underneath the dormant shell of the Traveler in the Last City on Earth. Destiny 2 picks up shortly after a number of your first adventures as a Guardian, the magic knights that travel the system in defense of the Last City’s people.
Players step into their own personal pair of space boots as the role of these customizable heroes that come in three different classes and varieties. Titans, Hunters, and Warlocks have a wide spread of awesome abilities such as “supers,” powerful energy weapons gifted to them by the Traveler. The strong titans can materialize a shield, Captain America style, while Hunters can whip out a lance made of pure electricity. These powers of course are secondary, as all three classes can equip any number of guns to take against the infamous alien enemies of the Earth.
Speaking of which, let’s discuss the opposition in Destiny 2, because they mean a lot more than the first time around. The beginning of the game starts off with the militant alien race, the Cabal invading the Last City. The Cabal’s Red Legion is led by a refreshingly complicated and multi-sided villain named Dominus Ghaul. Ghaul is here not to just mindlessly try and kill Guardians and hatch dastardly and trite schemes. Rather, he’s here to steal or claim the Traveler’s “Light” because he believes he is destined for it . . . I know! He represents a change in Destiny’s narrative mentality in regards to villains (more so than Oryx did in the original expansion The Taken King). It also represents a change in enemy gameplay, which is reflected across all enemy factions. The four-armed scavengers The Fallen have new digs, just as the hive-minded Vex beings are up to no good, but with more context.
Furthermore, during this discussion of plot, Destiny 2 also introduces actual stakes. With the Last City occupied and the Traveler captured by Ghaul, player’s lose their own Light at the beginning of the game. Then comes an interesting, albeit brief quest to reclaim it and get back in the saddle to collect your scattered comrades. Comrades who, this time around, are consistently interesting and multifaceted. There’s Titan Commander Zvala - stoic and proud as ever - in direct contrast to everyone’s favorite NPC/cool guy, Cayde-6, actor Nathan Fillion’s robotic, video game spirit animal. While the stakes for the Last City have never been higher, the journey to get back is more fulfilling than any Destiny narrative hereto.
Shifting from story to gameplay and the game’s utility, let’s talk about how damn fun Destiny is. Say what you will about the original, but it has always been enjoyable and even fulfilling to a degree. Destiny 2 makes good on players’ already positive opinions on the game’s style and gameplay systems. It embraces its own gaming cultural inventions, such as the Fireteam, and optimizes them. Everyone’s favorite feature, Strikes shine as they embody the best of Destiny 1’s gameplay, matched with the new caveats of Destiny 2’s environments, narratives, and utilities. Players also have access to “adventures” which can be found on every map and offer a number of cool missions that stand free from the primary story. All in all, Bungie took your criticism in strides and did what they could to change it.
Weapons are just as varied and interesting, but also include some new features. Weapon and gear have new modifications that act as consumables - if you’ve got a mod that increases the accuracy of shots fired from the hip, then slap that sucker on a scout rifle. Weapon slots are also different - rather than being split into primary and secondary weapons, the first to slots are reserved for kinetic weapons and energy weapons respectively. That means a Guardian can equip two auto rifles at once, so long as one is energy based and the other is kinetic. A cool new shift that makes a bigger difference than one might think! Heavy weapons now include the lovable fusion rifles, new grenade launchers, and kick ass swords.
Locations in Destiny 2 have now changed to include some unexplored planets and moons, including Titan, Nessus, and Io. All very pretty, and all very explorable. The developers now litter each location with a number searchable areas that sometimes don’t show on the map. You can find weapons, gear, and in-game currency so long as you look hard enough! This was featured in Destiny 1, but without this level of attention. Narratively, the game explores background of the various locations post and pre-collapse, giving players some much-needed insight into the way things were before every single human colony looked like trash.
Destiny 2 also returns with the Crucible, the game’s Player v. Player outlet. The game is just as sharp as the first, with new modes and gear to win. It also helps players level up their power level, which is different from their game level. That system to distinguish the two still takes some time to learn, but is much more simplified. Face off against fellow Titans, Hunters, and Warlocks in competitions for glory, but mostly a ton of loot. We spent some time with the Crucible, and can tell you that players will find it challenging, but very fun.
Whew! That was a lot to cover! Did I miss anything? We’re really super very very pleased to say that Destiny 2 is a solid game. So many of us wanted it to be so, but there has never been a guarantee. It really warms our hearts that Bungie listened to their player base, and acted on what they heard (which was a lot). The game has a solid narrative, and plenty of fun missions to complete with your own Fireteam. We highly recommend this game to lovers of first-person shooters, online multiplayers, casual space operas, and crushing alien monsters with hammer made out of the frickin’ sun. It’s not perfect, but it’s the gaming experience players want, done right. Go get ‘em, Guardians.
Ben Stembridge, Editor-in-Chief
Ben leads the reviews and news coverage for Game Chop. He also offers opinions on games and the industry, covering a wide range of genres and platforms. Ben especially enjoys discussions on game narratives, design styles, and independent titles.
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