After a decade of storytelling, the overarching saga introduced with the original launch of Destiny has reached its ending. With The Final plot, Bungie wraps up most of the lingering plotlines and questions, setting the stage for a new direction in future releases.
This final chapter is immensely satisfying, offering a stirring, heartfelt, and character-driven wrap-up that honors everything that came before.
While this expansion isn’t the best entry point for newcomers, it delivers a powerful payoff for players who have invested hours—if not thousands of hours—into this adventure.
Destiny 2: The Final Shape chapter transports Guardians into the mysterious interior of the massive spherical Traveler, featuring surreal and liminal environments that blur the line between reality and imagination.
In last ten years of impressive location design, this new destination stands out as the most unusual and artistically striking, with nods to familiar places interwoven with strange, organic shapes like giant hands and faces carved into rock.
The campaign is set up as a continuous journey from point A to B, with waypoints that serve as moments of anger and catharsis for the story’s main characters over the last ten years. This installment offers the most human and relatable storytelling the franchise has achieved to date.
Thanks to the thrilling and dangerous Dread faction of enemies and raid-like mechanics, the missions feature a satisfying mix of intense action and gunplay, asking for careful observation.
The story lands in a powerful blend of exhilaration and emotion by integrating the raid completion with one last action. The grand and epic storytelling strikes a balance between bombast and poetic sensibility, making this one of those rare moments when a game truly hits the mark.
The introduction of new prismatic subclasses and various other abilities makes this expansion the most mechanically difficult in the franchise’s history. High-level play now requires build-crafting and experimentation.
Despite efforts to make it easy, the plethora of currencies and intertwined progression systems has become overwhelmingly convoluted, even for veteran players. It’s challenging to imagine how newcomers could find the way and catch up.
But never mind, Bungie deserves credit for attempting to explain systems in-game and offering guidance on improvement. Alongside some impressive new exotics and legendary weapons that nearly feel like exotics, players have an extensive array of options to customize their playstyle. The sandbox is huge, offering number of unique ways to play.
Some new systems, like the Pathfinder system, are interesting but often too demanding, requiring playstyles that some players might not like.
However, many new public events, matchmade activities, and post-campaign missions are thoughtfully designed for extensive and enjoyable replay.
High-tier activities, including the new raid and certain gear chases, present significant challenges, providing a meaningful mountain for endgame players to climb for weeks to come.
Reminding players that one story’s end is just the beginning of another, Destiny 2: The Final chapter swiftly introduces its new episodic structure to replace seasons. The full potential of this new rollout extends beyond this review and will unfold in the coming months.
But it’s clear that there is a pleasing follow-through for those who complete the saga and are interested to continue, with new activities and rewards, including exotic class items, waiting to be pursued.
During these years, Destiny 2 has grown into a huge and complex game, packed with cooperative and competitive experiences, number of named characters and organizations, and an often-suppressing vernacular that takes time to master.
With The Final chapter, Bungie doesn’t shy away from this difficulty but finally provides a definitive ending. Now, largely free from past constraints, the path ahead is wide open for new adventures.
Also read: Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 Preview