Destiny 2: The Final Shape – How’s it “Shaped up”?

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Fast Facts

A True Masterpiece to Wrap up the Saga

Having spent the best part of 2 months playing this The Final Shape, I’ve found it to be a truly satisfying end to the Light and Dark Saga. While it isn’t a straight cut-off point, it wraps up on a story that’s been building for 10 years. There are definitely a number of loose ends left for the newly named “Episodes” – which have replaced Seasons, and I’m excited to see where that takes us.

When it comes to the story, it was executed brilliantly. The narrative was wonderfully played out, the structure of the missions and story was fantastic, and the emersion was top-notch. I didn’t often find myself running around having to collect things or defeat enemies to progress into the next section of major story. It was fluid and left you wanting more after every mission.

World Building Wonders

The Pale Heart is the main focus for this expansion and answers a question we’ve all been asking for years – What’s inside the Traveller? The Pale Heart is formed up of Memories of those inside it. There are things we recognise from our own experiences (like the Destiny 1 Tower), and things we don’t (like the Witnesses Monolith Fortress). The perfect blend between known and unknown makes for the best environment Bungie have ever created. We find that the environment slowly progresses from light to dark as we progress through the campaign. This leaves many questions to be answered through dialogue, items and lore. And of course, it wouldn’t be a Destiny expansion without plenty of secrets, collectables and Exotics to find along the way!

Something for Everyone

Destiny has always been good at catering for both casual and hardcore players. From matchmade activities and Fireteam Finder, to low-man and solo endgame content with restricted lives. This faced one of it’s biggest challenges with The Final Shape in the form of defeating the witness. The (roughly) 8 hour main campaign concludes with some pretty big reveals and hurting the Witness in ways I hadn’t expected. However this was not to be the defeat of them. The Raid – Salvation’s Edge sees a team of 6 guardians go up against some really unique and challenging encounters, culminating in a fight with the Witness as the final boss.

Given that something like 95% of all Destiny 2 players have never completed a raid, it would be an unfair experience to have the Witness be defeated inside an activity that most people can’t access. This is where Excision comes in – the new 12 man activity (no doubt inspired by the glitched 12 man raids way back) where you’ll join forces with some familiar faces to showdown against the big bad once and for all! This activity not only has massive story and narrative implications, but also is matchmade and perfectly accessible to everyone who’s got the DLC. But of course, there is a non-matchmade Grandmaster variant for some extra special rewards and a challenge – I personally completed this with 8 other guardians rather than the total expected 12 (and yes, it has been soloed – GG’s Esoterickk).

Now of course there are plenty of other new bits for people to dive into – new strikes, new lost sectors, new enemies and new subclasses, but once you’ve completed the campaign (and please do that first for the best experience), I urge you to jump into the first Episode included with The Final Shape + Annual Pass: Echoes.

Echoes is a story that has occurred as a result of the aftermath of the Witnesses Demise, and we find ourselves heading to Nessus to chase some answers and help out an old friend. The Vex are running rampant and are up to no good. It’s down to us to get to the bottom of why and who is behind all of this!
Act 2 of Echoes is in full swing, and Act 3 can be expected in the coming weeks. Personally I am loving the story telling and the new activities!

Prismatic Fanatic

Prismatic is the new Guardian subclass introduced in The Final Shape. It sees our guardians able to blend the light and dark into one cocktail of awesomeness. Prismatic allows you to pick one of 5 supers, alongside a mix of grenade, melee and aspect combinations – allowing the build-crafting community to go WILD. It also sees our guardians gain access to a special energy bar (much like the super bar) that is filled by dealing light and dark damage to foes. Once filled, you can enter a state called “Transcendence”, where your guardian will gain a new grenade type for a limited time, as well as massively enhanced abilities. All this combined with weapon damage extending the state makes for a session of overwhelming destructive power. Gotta love it!

I’ve taken the liberty of showing my Prismatic Warlock. This gives you an idea of the kind of builds you can put together. Having the ability to turn my healing grenade into a Stasis turret, or my triple Strand melee into a teleporting Arc wave when I slide is absolutely bonkers. Normally I would pair it with the newest warlock solar super: Song of Flame. Each character class got one new light based super with The Final Shape and let me tell you, they’re BUSTED. Hunters got an Arc super, Titans got a Void one and Warlocks got the Solar Song of Flame (think Destiny 1 Sunsinger). These can all be included into Prismatic builds, so have fun!

Dreading the Dread

The Dread. Quite possibly the most loved and hated enemy faction simultaneously. The Character Design is very much that of the Tormentors from Lightfall, the Caretaker and Rhulk in the Vow of the Disciple raid from Witch Queen. They have harnessed the powers of Stasis and Strand. They can freeze you, suspend you, pull you around, supress you, rush you and then explode into a secondary enemy. Oh, and they can fly now. Needless to say they can be a massive challenge, but their development and design is incredible. They really make the Pale Heart feel all the more dangerous.

I could go on (and on and on)

Destiny 2: The Final Shape has easily surpassed my expectations and those of the community. It has been stated as the best expansion in Destiny history, and for good reason. The only flaw I’ve been able to find are the number of hidden requirements for unlocking the Khavostov Exotic gun, but it’s absolutely worth it in the end! This expansion is what everyone has been waiting for and was certainly worth the delayed release. All I can say is BUY IT, BUY IT NOW!

5 out of 5

5

You can buy Destiny 2: The Final Shape on Xbox, PC and PlayStation stores, or via Bungie’s Website