Destiny 2: Beyond Light review in-progress

Editor’s Note: Our full verdict of Destiny 2: Beyond Light will be coming once we have tested the new raid upon its arrival in the coming days. For now, read on for our review-in-progress. 

Destiny 2: Beyond Light is the latest major expansion for Bungie’s acclaimed loot shooter. It aims to bring the story forward and take the franchise into a bold new narrative with warring factions that could give even the greatest sci-fi franchises a run for their money. 

Beyond Light reworks rather than rethinks the core Destiny experience. You’ll once again experience a loot shooter with a vast selection of open planets to explore. Upon them you’ll participate in a variety of standard missions, strikes and patrols either on your lonesome or with a fireteam of other Guardians. In the process you’ll earn gear for enhancing your character’s overall power and light level.

So far so familiar? Generally I’d agree. But after a week with Beyond Light I am pleased to confirm it appears to be fixing one of the franchise’s biggest flaws: its lacklustre and oftentimes nonsensical approach to narrative. Since the first Destiny rolled out, one common criticism has always been its nonsense story. To help newbies to the franchise, the cliff notes of the story so far is that you take the role of a Guardian – ancient warriors who protect the last remnants of humanity after a cataclysmic event that nearly rendered it extinct.

Guardians can blast through enemies with an arsenal of futuristic weapons, while also using special powers granted to them by a mysterious entity known as The Traveller. This strange being sacrificed itself during the great battle to save what was left of the human race. Beyond this initial foundation and a few standalone stories with each new expansion, the core narrative crux of Destiny remains featherlight.

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Narrative highlights have included dropping hints about the Guardian’s not being as good as first thought and expertly tugging at our heartstrings with one of the series most beloved characters biting the dust in spectacular fashion.

Beyond this, the story has remained enraptured by its own mythology, sacrificing cohesion as a consequence. Each new expansion follows the same tired cycle. A new big bad appears and threatens to destroy the galaxy, and it’s your job to take him down before restoring Destiny’s world to the status quo.

What’s kept it going instead has been its satisfying shooting and looting mechanics which offer a true incentive to keep playing on a regular basis, and fans have certainly stuck around. Beyond Light aims to fix these shortcomings by offering a narrative that expands on the overall lore and has a tangible impact on its world. It seems Destiny is finally going to start taking its universe more seriously.

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Beyond Light begins following the Season of Arrival’s conclusion. We’ll be light on spoilers where possible, but it hinted at the arrival of a new hostile force known as The Darkness. Details are still hazy, but it seems to be an evil form of The Traveller, capable of imbuing Guardians with powers that are far more sinister than anything we’ve seen before.

The campaign missions see a number of returning faces take the stage and revolves around how the Guardians and various other factions react to the new player on the scene. Specifically, it sees you team up with Variks, an alien villain from earlier in the story as he tries to stop Eris from “destroying his people” in her attempts to harness the darkness. This means the majority of Beyond Light pans out on Europa, one of Jupiter’s frozen moons.

Upon first glance the story follows the same format as past expansions, but throughout the missions it feels like there’s more weight to the proceedings. Each story interaction you have with the characters offers significantly more backstory than past campaigns and every character is better rounded, featuring a moral compass that is refreshingly ambiguous.

Even Eris, the main villain, feels partially justified given the events of her past. This depth means that for the first time since I reviewed the original Destiny, I felt a tinge of emotional connection with the main story. Segments with The Darkness, where the first game’s mysterious Exo Stranger, Eris Morn and The Drifter help teach you how to harness its power are particularly entertaining, especially as the final abilities you unlock are so much fun to use during the campaign.

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Beyond Light introduces Destiny’s first Darkness subclasses. Specifically it unlocks new “Stasis” abilities. These are new ice themed special attacks that focus on freezing and breaking enemies. On a Warlock, for example, it lets you summon a Stasis staff that shoots orbs of frozen energy at enemies and then enact attacks to crack them, causing huge damage in the process. The grenade ability is also awesome, letting you throw a snowball to freeze enemies or create wall barriers.

The impact of the story isn’t just reflected in the main campaign, it also trickles through to the endgame and multiplayer elements, with Destiny having cut access to several previous locations and quests from other seasons. This makes it the first new chapter to feel like the start of something epic and a new foundation for Destiny to build upon.

Sadly, there are some serious issues to contend with in the campaign. The biggest is the sheer amount of content Bungie has cut. Numerous raids, strikes, bits of kit, missions and exotics have all disappeared from the sandbox. Other key hubs and stores are also gone, including the Black Armory Forges.

The culling would be fine if there was enough new content to replace them, but as it stands, this feels very much like a reset that’ll be built on with the next two content drops in Beyond Light’s roadmap.

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This makes the endgame grind all the more difficult. Gear and weapons on offer have been diminished to the point that the selection feels incredibly limited. Crucible has enough maps to keep you entertained, but the new Stasis abilities feel overpowered, as do some of the new exotics and general gear, making it a lot less fun to play.

A lack of any significant new modes also feels a little harsh. You’ll be stuck with Rumble, Control, Clash and Elimination options, just like the last season. Gambit, my previous favourite mode has also been left untouched, making it feel like an afterthought. Such changes makes unlocking “legacy” gear and new modifiers for the Stasis classes, two of a select few endgame objectives worth pursuing, feel like a chore as well.

Legacy exotics from previous seasons can still be forged at a terminal in the Tower hub, if you have the necessary parts which unfortunately need to be collected by grinding the few missions and strikes still on offer repeatedly. Hopefully the Deep Stone Crypt raid, which is set to launch on November 21 will go some way towards fixing this, but until then the Beyond Light campaign feels a little too empty for my liking, even though it has set some amazing new foundations for the franchise.

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Destiny 2: Beyond Light early verdict

Destiny 2: Beyond Light is a pivotal release for the franchise that aims to take the narrative and universe in a bold, darker direction.

Beyond Light oozes potential and I can’t wait to see how Bungie develops the narrative it has started. But, by cutting so much legacy content and failing to replace it, the endgame feels shallow and is already starting to feel a little too repetitive for my liking. Bungie also has brought some balancing issues into the game’s PVP modes with the new Stasis subclasses which need addressing sooner rather than later.

Hopefully these two key issues will be addressed with fresh content drops and patches in the near future. If not, then Beyond Light’s long-term appeal will be severely diminished.

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