Bungie had so much to show going into Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate. After a yr marred by shock layoffs, the delay of its upcoming shooter, Marathon, following poor participant suggestions throughout betas, and less-than-favorable views about Destiny’s monetization system, all eyes had been on the studio to see the place it could take its most beloved franchise subsequent. 2024’s Destiny 2 growth, The Final Shape, was one of many collection’ most profitable. It superbly and coherently tied up a decade’s price of story, culminating in a tense and thrilling battle towards the most important, baddest Big Bad that the universe had ever seen: The Witness.Naturally, following such a satisfying and full-circle conclusion, Destiny gamers had been involved about what a brand new saga would appear like. The seasonal content material that adopted The Final Shape was lacklustre at greatest, with main character deaths thrown in seemingly for the shock issue reasonably than meaningfully contributing to the narrative. As a consequence, participant numbers plummeted to among the lowest that Destiny 2 has ever seen. Bungie’s best-in-class narrative workforce appeared to be floundering, so once I jumped into The Edge of Fate, I used to be skeptical, to say the least. I needn’t have fearful. Well, not for the narrative side, anyway. From a gameplay perspective, there are plenty of regarding stumbles. The 14-mission marketing campaign is monotonous, at greatest. While Bungie has utterly reworked the armor and kit systems–more on that later–the greatest facets of it are locked behind the now-trademark Destiny 2 grind. With your energy stage reset and the weapons in your Vault successfully powerless, Bungie claimed this was to place everybody on a fair footing forward of the brand new saga, however in actuality it looks like years of labor and hundreds of hours of grinding for the most effective weapons was a pointless endeavour.The Edge of Fate’s setting, a planet known as Kepler, falls quick in nearly each manner, too. Pathways are too lengthy and convoluted, there are barely any fast-travel factors, and its bland palette of inexperienced, blue, yellow, and grey is barely even eye-catching–it definitely doesn’t rival the beautiful vistas of The Pale Heart or Europa. New mechanics that see you shapeshift, teleport, and manipulate the atmosphere are compelled upon you at each doable step, main them to develop into irritating and monotonous reasonably than fascinating new methods to traverse the world. Kepler is supposedly our first foray exterior of the Sol system, the place the remainder of Destiny has been set. I used to be anticipating stunning new environments, buildings to marvel at, and the alien-like feeling to be at its strongest right here. Instead, I’m confronted with grates and buildings that I’ve seen a thousand instances earlier than set amongst a bland and uninteresting rocky atmosphere. Oh, there are large, yellow, wart-like vegetation everywhere–does that rely for the alien checkbox?The Edge of Fate, most significantly, doesn’t choose up the place The Final Shape left off. The mediocre seasonal content material, though frankly very boring, is sort of important to observe if you wish to perceive what’s happening within the latest growth. This renders Bungie’s declare that The Edge of Fate is an ideal spot for newcomers to the franchise to select up Destiny 2 for the primary time totally unfaithful. It is much better now for brand spanking new gamers than it has been in a few years, nevertheless it nonetheless requires a small quantity of homework earlier than you may dive in. And I don’t need homework in my video video games.If you’ve managed to maintain up with the previous narrative content material, The Edge of Fate does handle to efficiently and intricately launch a brand new saga–one that sees you face unknown enemies, and unravels tales solely ever evenly hinted at prior to now. There’s a brand new antagonist to take care of, and a mysterious godlike alien collective known as The Nine, who’re one way or the other essentially the most terrifying beings within the universe now, claiming that they manufactured all previous occasions for a better goal. Lodi, who we’re launched to for the primary time in The Edge of Fate, serves as a vessel to remind you of historic occasions in addition to setting the tempo for ones but to come back. The first few hours of the primary marketing campaign are weak and fail to make an impression as varied characters infodump and also you’re compelled to make use of mechanics like Matterspark–which sees you flip right into a tiny ball–to traverse from one space to a different for no obvious cause. Those introductory hours of The Edge of Fate took me a strong day to get by means of as a result of I simply didn’t care.However, persevering by means of them gave method to a narrative that’s really much better than I used to be anticipating, contemplating the truth that I wasn’t invested in Lodi, his previous, or something he needed to say about how totally different Dark Matter is to The Darkness. After a short time although, he turns into a genuinely fascinating character wrestling together with his personal confusion and inside battle, particularly contemplating his time-traveling historical past. He additionally supplies context and offers an sudden background to considered one of Destiny’s most recognizable and impactful characters, which moved me nearly to tears. Sure, at instances the references to established lore might bewilder or alienate new gamers resulting from there merely not being the time to completely clarify them, however for longstanding followers, they’re a welcome nod to Destiny’s historical past and assist to clarify precisely what Lodi has seen on his adventures up to now. Overall, Bungie’s narrative workforce continues to impress me, and I used to be shocked how invested I used to be within the new saga by the top of the primary marketing campaign’s story. As an apart, there may be nearly no level in finishing the marketing campaign’s Legendary issue now that Bungie has completed away with the thrilling, shiny chest with a assured new Exotic in it as a reward. Just get it completed on Brave and be completed with it–there are loads of different methods to energy grind now.The Edge of Fate is much from the worst growth that has been launched throughout Destiny 2’s tenure, however because the direct successor to 2024’s phenomenal The Final Shape, it falls shortThat energy grind has all the time been some extent of rivalry amongst Destiny gamers. Removing the facility grind disincentivized gamers from logging on weekly to finish the time-locked actions that might assure higher-power gear, however including an excessive amount of of an influence grind overwhelmed new gamers and made the system complicated and convoluted. While the whole gear and armor system has now been reworked, and the Portal has been launched to make it simpler to see which actions will promise high-level gear, I concern it’s nonetheless overwhelming and complicated for less-experienced gamers. The Portal solely has a small choice of actions on it, which means you continue to must navigate to the Director to seek out particular actions to finish. Having stated that, the clear labelling and new methods to establish how good your weapons or gear really are have confirmed very helpful up to now. The introduction of armor units, which give a bonus for sporting two or 4 gadgets from the identical set, is a welcome one, though the small handful of at present out there bonuses wants increasing all year long forward earlier than it’s price spending vital quantities of time searching down particular armor.One of the facets that Bungie centered on selling forward of The Edge of Fate’s launch was the brand new location skills. Exclusive to Kepler, three new skills are required to progress by means of the marketing campaign, traverse the planet, and unlock secrets and techniques and mysteries. Matterspark is the aforementioned orb-transforming potential that feels irritating as a result of sudden lack of a satisfying digicam perspective, whereas Mattermorph permits you to shift sure components on the planet to open up new paths, and the Relocator creates pathways by means of lasers or different impassable obstacles to mean you can teleport elsewhere. Occasionally, they’re utilized in a satisfying puzzle sequence in an effort to progress by means of the primary marketing campaign, however extra typically they interrupt the circulation of fight in a staccato method, forcing you to chorus from partaking with a boss whose protect should be introduced down through the use of these skills. The most irritating factor about these new skills is that they’re activated by particular nodes or objects that may typically be tough to find. I spent extra of my time in search of these areas out than I did fixing the precise puzzles, which means the complexity of them leaves so much to be desired. It looks like Bungie yelling, “Hey, look what I can do,” earlier than it thinks about whether or not it really must be doing that. It definitely just isn’t a great response to criticisms that Destiny 2 simply depends on its glorious gunplay to pull it by means of.Where Destiny 2 had retained my consideration in its former years had been its enemy design, however in recent times Bungie has begun to reuse enemy designs, or straight-up resurrect long-deceased foes for an additional probability to battle them in a barely totally different narrative setting. The enemies and executives on Kepler are usually not memorable. There’s a large Servitor guarded by numerous offended Shanks, there are a whole bunch of hundreds of Fallen and Vex that I’ve encountered numerous instances earlier than, and I can’t even bear in mind the title of the boss that I confronted within the story’s last encounter. There are a few new enemies, together with the Corsair who annoyingly dive bomb and launch rockets at you, in addition to a swarm of smaller Vex enemies who disintegrate into in search of Arc projectiles upon dying, however there’s so little time spent dealing with them that they’re not impactful. I managed nothing greater than a passing, “Huh, new enemy,” earlier than shifting previous them. They’re not akin to the introduction of enemies just like the Tormentors from 2023’s Lightfall, who bodily seize you and carry you, helpless, into the air.If you mainline the marketing campaign’s story and get that finished–which takes round 10 hours or so–a first look on the map exhibits plentiful facet quests to get on with afterwards. It provides the phantasm that there’s loads of content material to be loved once you’re completed with the primary narrative, however that might be an inaccurate impression. What appears to be a plethora of fascinating facet quests quickly unfolds to point out its true colors–a collection of uninteresting fetch quests the place you’ll be despatched to scan an atmosphere or gather an merchandise earlier than listening to some radio chatter about what you’re taking a look at.Some of the extra fascinating content material to finish after the marketing campaign is the growth’s six-player raid, this time round known as The Desert Perpetual. You’ll face off towards Maya Sundaresh’s Vex, the identical ones you’ve been pummeling with bullets all through the marketing campaign. The Desert Perpetual permits you to select the encounters you wish to full, making it the primary ever non-linear raid Bungie has ever created. There are plenty of acquainted mechanics, together with capturing issues in a selected order, timing jumps between your fireteam completely, and leaping by means of hoops to deposit gadgets to increase a timer. There are 4 bosses, every of which presents simply the correct amount of problem for a strong workforce of gamers. If you’ve been taking part in Destiny for some time, you’ll battle however nonetheless discover The Desert Perpetual a good expertise. The Nine-adjacent environments are a welcome nod to the way forward for this new saga, however they nonetheless reuse property and visuals that we’ve seen across the Sol system in years passed by. It’s a shock, though a welcome one, that you simply’re not compelled to make use of any of the brand new location-specific skills that had been necessary all through the marketing campaign. Still, it’s a enjoyable raid–not the most effective Bungie has created however definitely not the worst–which looks like a typical theme all through The Edge of Fate.Gallery The less-fun post-campaign content material comes within the type of seasonal, weekly, or day by day challenges that insist you have to get a “B” grade or above in particular Portal activities–but finishing these necessities doesn’t appear to progress the problem in some situations, or in others the directions are so obscure that it’s not possible to make certain which exercise Bungie desires you to finish. With Power ranges reset, it’s right down to the Portal to let you know how you can grind again as much as the utmost power, and oftentimes that resembles repeating numerous Crucible matches in a row or repeating story content material from 2021. The hamster wheel of the Destiny grind does look like again, and whether or not that’s for higher or worse relies upon by yourself playstyle. I’ve bought greater than 2,500 hours in Destiny 2 on Steam alone, and that’s not counting different platforms or its predecessor, so at this level I’m bored to tears of repeating content material that I’ve already been compelled to repeat in lots of historic seasons. I’ve nonetheless bought lingering unhealthy recollections from Season of the Haunted, the place I needed a god roll Calus Mini-Tool so badly that I spent the equal of a full-time job’s hours taking part in the identical exercise every week till I bought one. I can’t get sucked into that routine once more. My therapist stated so.Overall, The Edge of Fate is much from the worst growth that has been launched throughout Destiny 2’s tenure, however because the direct successor to 2024’s phenomenal The Final Shape, it falls quick. It reuses previous property, fails to impress with its new environments and mechanics, and the primary story appears to cease simply because it’s about to get fascinating. Of course, that’ll be fleshed out by means of the yr’s updates and seasonal content material, however with a definite lack of something thrilling to do now, I concern I’m on the point of one other involuntary Destiny 2 hiatus.
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