Destiny 2: The Final Shape, an ending the game deserved

10 years ago in a galaxy that you’re in right now, I purchased a game because the PS4 had nothing going for it. Literally nothing. Knack was….not great. That game was funnily enough, Destiny.

The adventure to get to The Final Shape was a rocky one and at times I didn’t think the end of the story would even happen. It was messy and disconnected. The narrative at times was predictable and boring, but somehow, we got there. Bungie did in fact deliver.

The story starts where the previous season left off, us finding our way to enter the traveller via the power of a Wish Dragon. It throws us right in and the first thing we see is a spacial corridor filled with geometry from different places our characters had visited. It was trippy and tense and after a ten minute adventure we reach the Pale Heart. The brand new destination.

A breath-taking environment of trees, plants and white crevasses of light slowly becoming corrupted with darkness and decay. We are immediately reminded of the stakes of our journey and what it means for the universe if we do succeed. We had lost contact with the Vanguard leaders, Ikora and Zavala (voiced by Keith David after the untimely passing of Lance Reddick), whilst entering the portal and we set out to find them.

Then the Dread show up. More on them later. We fight them off and then who should show up but one of the biggest selling points of the whole expansion, Cayde-6, who previously died during Forsaken. Cayde’s resurrection and his relationship with Crow was the main focal point of the story, other than the impending Armageddon.

The story worked so well between the two and it had a beautiful message of forgiveness and moving on with life. Which is surprising because this was the same company who made Lightfall a year earlier. The campaign was off to a very good start and then Zavala’s storyline kicked in with some of the most mind-blowing cutscenes in the games history. Every story beat was emotional and Keith David nailed the delivery perfectly. Bombshell after bombshell, incredible cutscene after the next and so on. The story was perfection and it didn’t stop at the campaign. It continued, into the raid.

One of the biggest raids Bungie have ever created and the hardest so far. It took the first team 18 hours to beat it, two hours longer than the previous hardest one. The most amazing part that will forever be a top 5 gaming moment for me, is that fireteam is immortalized in the game as the fireteam.

Upon world’s first’s completion, a 12 man activity unlocked for everyone. (This being the first 12 man activity ever). The grand finale to the story, with an Avengers level cutscene with everyone we’ve allied with all gathered to take the Witness down. I will remember my first playthrough of this mission, forever. Not only because it was very fun, but because it was when we took down the big bad. Not as a solo, as we had been for the vast majority of the 10 year story, but as a community. All 12 players working together to conclude this chapter and everyone got to experience it.

Let’s talk a little about the new enemy faction, the Dread. It’s been 6 years since Bungie last introduced a new enemy type, the last type being the Scorn. I must admit, it has given the game a breath of fresh air. After so many years the enemy types had become stale. Of course there were the odd shakes ups now and then, adding Wyverns to the hordes of Vex or Brigs to the fallen. The dread however added that threat back to the game that was very much needed. Whilst at times some of the tougher foes, the Subjugators, can feel a little over-tuned I believe it is a necessity for the evolution of the game as our characters get stronger. Power-creep is a serious thing.

Now, for the most hype-inducing aspect of the expansion (which is what got me to pre-order), Prismatic. This brand new subclass is an amalgamation of other subclasses to create an ability spamming, god-slaying power fantasy, the likes of which the game has never seen. I will never use any other subclass from now on. Unless a new one comes out. It definitely has some downsides as the build variety is a little dry a month into launch but the power you feel as you run down the hordes of enemies is enough to keep me using it.

Bungie themselves have said they plan to keep evolving Prismatic and currently Prismatic Titan has a very low usage rating, which they have acknowledged. I hope to see the ability to swap aspects from other subclasses out for different ones as the build variety would be limitless.

This expansion has shown me that Bungie, given the time and resources necessary, can deliver outstanding content. The Final Shape has validated my love for this franchise and this world they have built and with the recent tease of more content in 2025 I see no reason as to why I should stop now, especially since I enjoyed the first 10 years so much.

Here’s to another 10.