DESTINY 2: SHADOWKEEP
There might not be a hairy lycanthrope waiting to chew on our jugular, but we can still feel a bad (and kinda sad) moon rising. Bungie’s latest expansion to its space shooter sequel tells a downbeat, often creepy tale. Returning to the lunar patrol zone we explored in the original game, the latest chapter in your Guardian’s adventure feels like a recooked entry.
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep ushers in a new era for the MMO blaster. For the first time, Bungie’s sequel is now free-to-play. Almost all of the base game’s year-one content is available to play absolutely gratis, including all launch missions, strikes, raids, and the always-ace PvP Crucible duels. Yes, you’ll have to fork out £30 to access the new Shadowkeep campaign, the new raid, and the rather underwhelming arena-based Vex Offensive. Yet for casual (and stingy) shooter fans, the now-free FPS colossus is a damn near irresistible package.
That’s not to say the new story missions are worth the price of admission. They’re really not. Returning to the Moon and all the same locations Destiny 1 Guardians have already rinsed – oh goody, the Hellmouth! – your Titan, Warlock, or Hunter is tasked with helping the gloomy Eris Morn with destroying a big paranormal pyramid thingie. The resulting campaign barely features any new areas, and – worse – almost every single boss you have to take on has been used in a previous mission. Unless you’ve been utterly gagging to fight Phogoth again, the sense of a shameless recycling job is hard to shake. New Guardians might enjoy facing them for the first time, and some experienced Guardians may find retracing past battles pleasingly nostalgic, but for us, it’s like jumping into a DeLorean where the flux capacitor microwaves our genitals every 90 seconds.
RAID MAN
Thankfully, the new raid fares much better. Called Garden Of Salvation, it smartly takes several shooty cues from
Gambit mode and its addictive mote hunts. Not only is it one of Destiny 2’s most imaginative quests, it’s arguably the best since the original Destiny’s Vault Of Glass. Praise doesn’t get much higher.
Shadowkeep also introduces a number of small but effective quality-of-life improvements to the overall UI. The Director’s quest menu has been noticeably decluttered and the Eververse cosmetic items shop gets its own menu tab that’s accessible at any time, while armour now has six different traits affecting stats to give you even more nuanced control over how your intergalactic warrior handles in the field.
Best of all? Your space magician can use a series of
“THE NEW STORY MISSIONS ARE REALLY NOT WORTH THE PRICE OF ADMISSION.”