For over five years, Destiny 2 has stood at the top of its class. The game enters the penultimate year of its existence with a new extension, Lightfall, sold again at cost price. But really, is it really worth it?
A new year dawns on the world of Destiny 2, and once again Bungie returns to the charge with yet another expansion: Lightfall. But first of all, you should know that this new chapter in the futuristic adventures of our guardians appears once again at the price of a new game, count 50 € for this DLC and ten euros for each of its future four seasons . Once again, Bungie proves its obvious mastery of the service game system, with this third annual DLC in a row which introduces us to a new and inevitable part of the great story of Destiny 2. An obvious purchase for fans of the cooperative shooter , but whose content can leave frankly doubtful. Today we’re going to dive deep into Destiny 2: Lightfall, its campaign, its raid, and more generally its pros and cons, in an attempt to justify its relevance nearly 6 years after the game’s original release.
A campaign as short as average
To give you a brief overview of the content of Lightfall, know that this expansion includes a brand new cooperative campaign as part of the sequel to The Witch Queen, the latest DLC for Destiny 2. Once again, Bungie takes up the concept of a dozen missions following each other closely and presenting the player to a new explorable area, this time named Neomuna. These missions have two difficulty modes, a classic mode which should pose no difficulty for any Destiny 2 player and a Legendary mode which remains extremely affordable for a solo player with a relative mastery of his guardian. This new chapter in the long history of Destiny features the arrival of the Witness in the solar system and the invasion of his Shadow Legion from the planet of Neptune.
On the story side, nothing too incredible, our guardian is sent in search of some thing that could help defeat the big bad and must discover, analyze and study yet another unknown technology to achieve this. The dialogues are on the verge of laughable as the characters are unsympathetic and the concepts discussed incomprehensible and overlooked, but you should know that Destiny 2 has a habit of not asking you to understand everything, rather to go headlong into the heap to break of the villain. Unfortunately, these multiple developments of the scenario held together by different unpronounceable neologisms struggle to conceal an extremely short campaign which does not exceed 4 or 5 hours of play and which stops, it seems, in the middle of the game. plot.
So yes, Bungie has found a whole bunch of ways to hook you into the game, to prolong your experience, by forcing you to collect the eternal virtual currencies to unlock your Doctrines and your Light level, but we’re not going to say that repeating the Patrols on the surface of Neptune is a great cool for anyone. The seasonal content remains true to itself, with a new variation of the same mission every week. Destiny 2 addicts, of which I am one, will find their account there, while keeping in their mouths the bitter impression that Bungie still takes us a bit for nozzles. For what ? A boat scenario built on enemies and assets seen and reviewed (hello again Calus), a single addition to the bestiary, a planet deserted by its inhabitants and characters to whom it is impossible to become attached as they are unbearable, the list is long. Add to that a gulp of concepts overflown by the narration like the return of Neptune, the Cloud Ark or the Veil and you can almost confirm this impression.
But we still have to give back to Calus what belongs to Calus, the level design and the sets of Lightfall are once again of incredible quality, while its gameplay has retained its extremely enjoyable side. The addition of Doctrine Strand is also welcome to add some freshness to PVE builds, while the changes to the build systems and armor mods are extremely nice. In short, we have the feeling that the scenario of Lightfall and its duration does not arrive at the toe of the quality of its gameplay, where Witch Queen offered us an epic conclusion in the image of its story.
So of course, Bungie intends to develop the narrative arc of Lightfall thanks to its seasonal content throughout the year. This implies the purchase of the season pass for all interested parties, in addition to the price of the extension. Count 100 € for a year of content. Bungie, simply at the top of its game.
Despite high level cooperative content
But Destiny 2 is far, very far from being made to be played alone or only for its campaign. The cooperative content that is the essential Dark Nights, the Dungeons, and of course the Raids each represent in their own way the pinnacle of what Bungie has to offer on the PVE side. Although the lack of matchmaking still prevents access to these kinds of levels for all solo players and laymen of French-speaking Destiny Discords, they remain on the whole admirably built for co-op play. Although Lightfall only brings a new Dark Night and a Raid, the second is one of the best instances ever created in the game, second only to the everlasting Last Wish. Nightmare Origin’s mechanics are engaging and complex, coordination essential and the level design to die for. We can only blame him for a final boss that is a little too easy for the taste of the toughest veterans, and a duration that seems strangely shortened.
Like this extension which, we remind you, had been designated as the last chapter in the history of the game, and which will finally be followed by a new year of content for 2024. One could even assume that Bungie reportedly decided to cut Lightfall’s content in half to build Destiny 2’s final act, saving time and money in the process. Which could perhaps explain its transparent scenario, its Neomuna emptied of all human presence, its extremely short lifespan and its raid with only two bosses. A simple coincidence or out of the blue Bungie? We let you decide.