From its origins with the original Destiny up to the latest expansion of Destiny 2, the series has come a long way. Destiny 2 is currently built to be a continual experience that you put all of your time and effort into, rather than a game that you'll play for a few years before the next game in the series comes out.

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Destiny's gameplay is a well-known aspect of gaming now: a shooter-looter mixed with MMO mechanics. It's a dense experience for newcomers and can feel daunting to get into with so much content released in a seasonal pattern. It's a great time...if you can find the time to invest.

Updated March 5th, 2023, by Hilton Webster: With the highly anticipated Lightfall expansion finally released, players have been sharing their opinions on the latest expansion. From the outside, it can be hard to tell how worthwhile it is to jump into Destiny right now, and what to expect from the latest release.

Review

Destiny is a game that's difficult to review due to how it changes with each expansion and seasons, though Features Editor Eric Switzer reviewed The Witch Queen expansion on release, calling it "a new peak for Destiny 2". It was a major step forward for the series in terms of both gameplay and story cohesion.

I feel confident in saying this is the best piece of Destiny content Bungie has ever put out.

As Eric explains, The Witch Queen offers dramatic improvements to the Destiny formula. You can now craft your own weapons, campaign missions are unique in a way they never were before, and the story feels like one continuous thing now, rather than seasonal stories. It built upon all the aspects of Destiny 2 that came before and not only refined them, but paved the way for more great content to come.

However, feelings towards Lightfall aren't quite as pleasing at the moment. While yes, the new Darkness power of Strand is great fun to use, it's all a little underbaked and unexplained. In their latest feature on Lightfall with regards to Strand, Eric claims that he knows "more about the nature of this ability from the marketing for Lightfall than I do from actually playing the game".

This should have been the moment that Bungie pulls back the curtain and establishes the stakes, but instead we got a total waste of a campaign about nothing that goes nowhere.

Destiny 2 had built a firm story focused on its characters and evolving world, yet seems to have dropped it almost entirely with the initial release of Lightfall. Subsequent seasons have the potential to evolve it dramatically as was seen in Witch Queen, but it's currently off to a rough start. The abilities and content is great to play, though there's little plot motivation to drive you forward at the moment.

Time Expenditure

Destiny 2 is no small game. Built as an ever-growing live service game, there is no exact cut-off point for when to be completed. On one hand, you can pop in just for some matches or seasonal activities whenever you want, but to maximise your Power Level and actually follow along with the story, the game has to become a consistent hobby.

As the game is constantly ongoing, with content both being added and removed, it's next to impossible to put an exact number on how long it would take to beat every unique activity there is in the game. That said, our growing guide on the newly released Lightfall expansion is a good place to start.

Cost

Since its launch as New Light, Destiny 2 has been a free-to-play game with paid yearly expansions, premium season passes, and a paid currency. Listed below are the various platforms it can be found on and its expansions.

Each Season of Destiny also has a premium track which can be purchased for $10, or is included with the purchase of the latest expansion. It's important to note that Destiny 2 also supports cross save and cross play, but you will need to own the various expansions and season passes on the relevant platform as well to bring all your content with you.

It should also be kept in mind that although the game is fully free-to-play on almost every platform, it does require PS Plus to play on PlayStation consoles, so this is another price to be aware of.

What Players Are Saying

An incredible Evolving Experience If You Have The Time To Spare - Hilton Webster

Destiny 2 has some of the greatest gunplay out there, and a community that is more welcoming than many other FPS games. It also has a great story and depth of activities for you to spend your time in, but this is a double-edged sword. The game is hardly beginner friendly, and it's easy to feel like you're missing out by not constantly playing. If you can get over that though, you're in for a great ride.

A Solid Game Marred By Unfortunate Business Decisions - Joe Parlock

Destiny 2 is an incredible shooter, with sprawling worlds to explore, fantastic characters, and some of the best gunplay in any FPS. Unfortunately, it's hard to recommend it when it continues to remove large swathes of content. You can't play the original campaign or the first few DLCs anymore, making it feel incomplete.

A World I Want To Immerse Myself In But Always Bounce Off Of - Seth Parmer

Destiny 2, in many ways, is my dream game. The creators of Halo making an FPS MMO complete with Raids, cool gear, and a wide variety of weapons checks all the boxes for me. However, the overly cluttered and complicated UI and overall progression of the game keep me from sinking my teeth into it, and I always bounce off it after several hours. It's something I should love and probably would love if I took the time to learn all of its systems and how to navigate the menus, but that's just too big of an ask when there are loads of outstanding titles constantly releasing.

An Incredible Shooter That's Hostile To New Players - Charles Burgar

If you're looking for an FPS title with superb gunplay and an excellent endgame, you won't find a better game than Destiny 2. The issue is getting to that good content requires dozens of hours of grinding and buying over $100 worth of DLC. It might have the worst new-player experience I've ever seen in a live-service game, but the core gunplay and endgame content in Destiny 2 are the best in the business and worth experiencing.

What Players Are Saying About Lightfall

Worse For Consistent Players Than New Ones - Hilton Webster

At the minute, Lightfall feels a bit lacklustre. While it added some promising new gameplay mechanics and some truly dazzling new locales, it's hard to feel like the content within and surrounding them is really worth the price. For new players, it can all feel a little intense to jump into, but then that could be said for any aspect of Destiny 2. For players who have been keeping up, Lightfall will be even more of a disappointment, featuring a story that feels like a glorified set-up and a limited pool of content in its opening season.

Worth It For Veterans; Newcomers Beware - Andrew Scariati

Destiny 2 has long suffered from being an unwelcoming experience for those who don't keep up at least seasonally. Lightfall's story feels small and undeserving of the abstract cliffhanger that bookended the final campaign mission. Crafting weapons is still a fun gameplay loop that anyone can enjoy, so at least there's plenty of that. Plus, the welcome addition of Strand brings three new supers and subclasses with abilities that completely reshape Destiny 2 platforming.

Not Really, But It's Not All Bad - Charles Burgar

There's a narrative doing the rounds that Lightfall is the worst expansion in Destiny 2. It's not. The story is a complete disaster and deserves the criticism, but the rest of this expansion's offerings are quite enjoyable. Strand itself is a blast even if it's slightly weaker than Destiny's Light subclasses. Core mod changes have made buildcrafting more accessible than ever, the game's difficulty finally feels appropriate for our current power level, and Guardian Ranks help give New Lights some much-needed guidance.

Lightfall itself is difficult to recommend due to the bad campaign, but the systemic changes that launched this expansion are great and don't require DLC ownership. If you have some friends and just want to shoot some aliens, it's hard to top Destiny in its current state. If you were hoping for a proper sequel to The Witch Queen, you sadly won't find it here.

NEXT: Destiny 2 Has Brought Me Back At The Best And Worst Possible Time