Note: This is not a review of Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, the Year 3 expansion. Review of that segment of the game forthcoming.
After two years of the Destiny 2 development cycle under Activision, Bungie is clearly ready to move on.
With Destiny 2: New Light, the developer-publisher has a tight grip on the reins and is pointed in the direction of a new MMORPG future for the sci-fi looter-shooter. After playing the very first mission (and sacrificing an old, unused Titan in the process), the one thought that keeps popping into my head is that this is the way the game should have been introduced – not even just Destiny 2, but the entire Destiny franchise.
I don’t want to get too starry-eyed, here. The only reason Destiny 2 is as good as it is currently is a direct result of player feedback and endless iteration on Bungie’s side. I don’t think it benefits us to talk about what Bungie should have done back in 2014, given that hindsight is 20/20. But what is absolutely clear is that New Light is the introduction to Destiny that Bungie has always wanted. And for what it’s worth, it’s executed almost perfectly.
You wake up outside of the Cosmodrome, in Old Russia. It’s springtime; all the trees are blooming. Icemelt is running down the sides of the massive, rusting building that sits in front of you. “Guardian, Guardian? Eyes up, Guardian,” your Ghost intones. After a brief explanation of why you’re alive after so many years of peaceful death, your Ghost tells you to get a move-on – this is Fallen country.
It’s the same opening mission you completed in Destiny, but there are tweaks — chunks of Ghost’s dialogue have changed from the pseudo-cool technobabble into the more naturalistic speech that’s characterized our little drone friend for a while now; you start out with access to all of your subclass abilities across all three classes; you even get to take advantage of the new melee finisher right off the bat. But some things never change. Your first weapon is the Khvostov 7G, the classic auto-rifle from the first game. While it’s quickly replaced in the course of playing the game, just the fact that we get to hold onto a little piece of that history is really nice.
Once you’re back at the Tower, you’re hit with a deluge of options – quest lines and adventures and items to pick up and item quests to do and every vendor telling you their story and and and and — it can be a lot to take in. Luckily, most of the New Light “campaign” is completely optional. It gives you access to the parts of the game you want to play, while effectively ignoring the parts of the game you’d rather not touch. This simultaneous availability and unavailability makes it rather easy to just – as Bungie has said it’s wanted of new players – pick the game up and play it.
Interestingly, there are story implications (or at least, the possibility of such). New Light exists as the “free to play” side of Destiny 2, where anyone can pick the game up and take advantage of an extensive library of content without spending $40-$60 on campaigns. People who spend money, who are on the “premium” track, will have access to the story missions in Forsaken and Shadowkeep. In-game, in the context of the lore, this essentially means there are three different Guardian cohorts running around. Not every Guardian has to be “THE” Guardian. You can simply be a chill warrior of light here to hang out with buds and do some Gambit on the weekends.
New Light is a great introduction for new players to Destiny. There’s enough going on here that you won’t be tempted to spend money on the game for a good hot minute, if at all. That said, is the campaign worth it? You’ll have to wait for the Shadowkeep review to find out…
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