Violette Finnis

Updated on August 5, 2024, by Anastasia Maillot: The Final Shape has been out for some time now, as has the first Episode, Echoes. With all this new content, three new seals have been added into the mix: Intrepid, Iconoclast, and Transcendent. The general theme in Destiny 2 has been to bring back challenge into the game, and two of these new seals align with that philosophy perfectly, with Iconoclast being one of the toughest seals to complete thanks to the innate complexity of Salvation's Edge. With The Final Shape, older seasonal Triumph seals have also been retired, instead making way for Episode triumph seals. Here's how these three new seals have rattled the ranking of all the existing o

Crucible remains mostly intact outside of quality-of-life improvements. Bringing the player count back up to 6v6 was the right move and the lower time-to-kill vastly improves the experience. The significant multiplayer addition in Forsaken lies with Gambit, a new mode that blends PvE and PvP elements. The 4v4 mode tasks players with killing AI-controlled enemies and collecting and banking motes of light. After accumulating 75 motes, a Primeval enemy appears and the first team to defeat their Primeval wins. Of course, it’s not that simple thanks to the PvP elements. Players can spend motes to summon Blockers on the enemy’s map. Collect enough motes and a player can invade the enemy’s map for a short period.

Into the Light is the free update that was released in April 2024 for Destiny 2 , to help bridge the delay gap between the final season of Lightfall and The Final Shape. It introduces Onslaught, a new horde mode PVE activity, as well as a whole host of revamped, returning favorite weapons for players in the form of the BRAVE arse

Microtransactions were a considerable problem in Destiny 2 exotics 2 with end-game items like Sparrows, ships and shaders tied to the game’s version of Loot Boxes. While not as invasive in Destiny 2: Forsaken, it still feels like large amounts of items are held hostage behind the system. Ships, Sparrows, weapon ornaments and shaders are found in the wild, but many remain tied to Eververse. Considering Destiny 2's costs add upwards of $140 at this point, it's annoying that the microtransactions remain (the abysmal Curse of Osiris and Warmind DLCs are required to play Forsaken).

Unfortunately, there’s almost no way to earn these items through gameplay. Random tiers on the Battle Pass (we’ll get to that) drop Engrams that contain some of this gear. Other than that, players need to rely on two currencies:

Yes, despite all the worldwide controversy surrounding loot boxes, Destiny 2 still uses them. Called Bright Engrams, these boxes are purchased from the Eververse store. They spill out a random selection of items that players have no control over. There are also Nostalgic Engrams that contain cosmetic items from Year 2. If you really want to spend real-world money on microtransactions, it’s best to directly purchase what you want from Eververse.

What shines are the two new locations players visit throughout the journey. The Tangled Shore presents as a lawless chunk of rocks held together by anchors. The area presents plenty of variety with Skorn, Fallen and Cabal vying for dominance. As a playground to wander about and complete bounties, the Tangled Shore provides more exciting encounters than the majority of Destiny 2’s worlds. More impressive is the Dreaming City, the ultimate end-game location built for Guardians looking for a real challenge. Filled with powerful enemies, bounties and activities, the Dreaming City aims to prepare players for the upcoming raid, The Last Wish.

There’s no justification for this other than Bungie thinking they can get away with it and they most certainly will. When Forsaken launches in September, Destiny fans will have been waiting for about a year for the game to finally become what it should have been in the first place. If Forsaken turns out to be as good as it looks, then Bungie deserves to be rewarded for it. There’s no excuse for all the scumminess surrounding it, though, especially when there are similar games like Monster Hunter World, Warframe and Rainbow Six: Siege that are all enjoying massive success without dipping into any exploitative business practices.

What New Light doesn’t provide is mostly story content and endgame activities. To access this, you’ll need to purchase the expansions and Annual/Season Pass content separately. You can nab Forsaken now for $24.99, and Shadowkeep for $34.99.

Now that guardians have to directly pay for this content too, how exactly is there any justification whatsoever for keeping the Eververse around? As it currently stands: there isn’t. The Eververse now exists for the sole purpose of extracting extra money from eager players. This isn’t a free to play game like Fortnite. It’s a $60 premium AAA experience game. That price goes up to ~$170 for those who bought Destiny 2, its individual expansions, and who will buy both the $40 Forsaken and Bungie’s $30 Annual Pass. No matter how one slices it, that same old scumminess is still very present.