Destiny 2 The Final Shape review: A near-perfect end to a decade-long saga

Destiny 2 The Final Shape is the last expansion for the decade-long Light vs. Darkness saga. However, for Bungie, this was its last chance at redemption. The recent release followed a year-long trudge through a disappointing expansion, repetitive seasonal content, low concurrent player count, and a series of lay-offs that got a lot of outside attention.

However, what followed the roughest period in the game was something that broke records and created history for both Bungie and Destiny 2. Before I start talking about the expansion, note that The Final Shape is something that needed to cater to the old players, and showcase the conclusion of the 10-year-old journey, all in one stretch.

The second mission in Destiny 2 The Final Shape (Image via Bungie)

Hence, against all odds that came over the last 12 months, Bungie showed why it still holds the topmost position of having the best looter-shooter live-service title in the market. People will forget the disastrous timeline of Lightfall as we progress into a different saga in the game, and by all means, they should.

Bungie's underwhelming delivery in the last year made almost 90% of the players have ZERO expectations going into The Final Shape. I am not ashamed to admit I was one of this 90%. Then, Bungie did something unthinkable as the expansion launch date was coming closer, and held a live showcase on April 9, 2024.

There, alongside the mini-expansion called “Into the Light,” came the start of Bungie’s biggest comeback stories ever.

Destiny 2 The Final Shape: The best version of the game in 10 years

A perfect setup for The Final Shape

Before going into the major expansion, it is important to talk about Bungie's genius and how it pushed a mini-expansion just before The Final Shape’s release. “Into the Light,” the name of that mini-expansion, will be a forgotten chapter in the game’s history for many.

However, it is very important to note that 'Into the Light' had everything to do with the rising player count in April 2024, alongside player retention, and the rising pre-order sales for The Final Shape.

Into the Light roadmap in Destiny 2 (Image via Bungie)

Another aspect of this was a special showcase from Bungie that revealed the “Prismatic subclass” for the first time. The idea of mixing abilities from both Light and Dark, all while having new weapons, enemy factions, new open-world regions, and much more, sparked something in the “90%” that was extinguished long ago.

Lastly, Bungie topped all of these off with returning fan-favorite weapons such as The Mountaintop and The Recluse, re-issuing missions such as The Whisper and Zero Hour, and allowing hardcore players to participate in challenging boss fights to acquire a time-limited seal, Godslayer.

I made sure to get the seal going into a new expansion, even if it meant being awake for 24 hours. Following the community closely, I am 100% sure it was the same case for many other veterans as well.

Pantheon seal in Destiny 2 (Image via Bungie)

All Bungie needed now was a perfect launch to the expansion, which, unfortunately, did not happen.

A rough launch

The launch of The Final Shape underwent a massive struggle for players worldwide. After a 25-hour downtime and the initial queue for entering the servers, Bungie failed to keep the game stable as hoards of error codes started pouring in after almost 14 hours since release time.

Players did get a taste of what to expect from the story by seeing cutscenes and gameplay from the first few acts, after which it became unplayable. This led to many having outbursts on the game’s Steam page, as The Final Shape once had a “Mostly Positive” from almost 80% of the users.

Negative ratings on launch (Image via Steam DB)

I, for one, had no issues waiting until Bungie got the entire thing fixed. Having unstable servers is nothing new in Destiny 2, especially during season and expansion launch. However, it did hinder the Day 1 experience a bit, which is now a forgotten tale under the heavy weight of the expansion’s success.

A story and writing for the fans

Believe me or not, EVERYONE who plays Destiny 2 cares for the story, whether they are exclusive to PvP or PvE. This was proved when the underwhelming writing of last year’s Lightfall was reviewed very negatively by everyone who experienced it. The Final Shape, on the other hand, is the furthest thing from anything that was Lightfall.

The first mission in Destiny 2 The Final Shape campaign (Image via Bungie)

The Final Shape’s writing and pacing are meant to be experienced by those who have been on this decade-long journey with some of the in-game characters. Ikora, Cayde, Zavala, The Crow, Ghost, and everyone are fighting their last battle for the Traveler.

Hence, no one is here to tell you the history of the game, or the history of the characters. The Final Shape is a conclusive chapter of a story, assuming you know everything that happened in the past. And, it has been written exactly like that.

Zavala and Cayde-6 in Destiny 2 (Image via Bungie)

Long-time fans of the game were treated to easter eggs, interactions between main characters, and key lore entries hinting at the game’s future. For example, in Missions 3 and 4, Ikora and Zavala reunited with Cayde inside the Pale Heart after six years.

Both of them shared a warm hug with the former Hunter Vanguard that carried more weight than anything in recent years, something that will affect veterans more.

Cayde-6 and Ikora sharing a hug after reuniting (Image via Bungie)

The Final Shape’s campaign is also shaped more uniquely than any other in the past. Bungie doesn’t let the story conclude on Day 1. Instead, it kept the narrative locked behind the Raid that followed, alongside a special 12-player mission. Nobody played the final mission until five days into the expansion when the World’s First title for the Raid was achieved.

A Raid that broke players and records

Over the last six years, Last Wish from 2018 held the record of having the longest Raid race; it was also known for being Destiny 2’s best-ever Raid ever.

Bungie, however, managed to surpass Last Wish in all departments with the new Salvation’s Edge Raid. The company hyped it up by putting a direct sequel to the story campaign inside the Raid, and made it one of the most challenging activities this community has ever seen. If Last Wish took 18 hours and 48 minutes to finish, Salvation’s Edge took over 19 hours for the first team to beat.

To make things more exciting, the Raid’s World’s First completion wasn’t the end of The Final Shape campaign. It merely unlocked the most-awaited activity of the entire expansion, the 12-player Excision. But, let’s talk about the Raid more.

The first three encounters were fairly simple, where all players must participate in bouncing buffs from one plate to another, pick up shards, and deposit them in an altar. One encounter follows a boss fight with this mechanic, while the other two require players just to do plate encounters to proceed.

The first encounter altar in Destiny 2 Salvation's Edge (Image via Bungie)

The real challenge came after these three encounters, where a white room consisting of an entire fireteam’s statues and shapes on the wall became a living nightmare for many. From the first team to reach this white room, until the team that solved it, the Raid race broadcast saw eight hours of live footage of all players trying to decipher the puzzle.

My fireteam completing the fourth encounter in Destiny 2 (Image via Bungie)

Having a Raid this challenging and memorable within an expansion is always a blessing for the community. Being an active player and seeing history being made with a Raid is always a special feeling. Salvation’s Edge will undoubtedly go down as the best Raid Bungie ever created in Destiny history.

The only issue I have with the Raid is Herald of Finality, the first boss design. While the entire fight is designed to be similar to that of Rhulk or Nezarec, the Powercreep manages to make the battle nothing short of a Dungeon boss where multiple players repeatedly strike with a Heavy Sword weapon until phased.

Herald of Finality boss in Destiny 2 (Image via Bungie)

The Witness, however, follows a simpler mechanic with the most challenging stationary boss fight design. It acts like any other stationary boss in the game, where six players will move to a specific spot to damage the entity.

However, everyone needs to keep an eye on its attacks and dodge in the middle of the DPS phase. If not, it is very easy to run out of revive tokens by the end of the first phase.

The Witness final boss of the Salvation's Edge Raid in Destiny 2 (Image via Bungie)

Overall, I didn’t think Bungie could surpass Last Wish in terms of difficulty and duration. But I was proven wrong once again.

Overall content density and open world

After completing the campaign, things were just getting started for me in the expansion. The whole open world in the Pale Heart opened up, with multiple quests, Exotics, collectibles, puzzles, and much more. The best thing about all of it is I can do it at my own pace, seeing how the entirety of the open world is a solo instance for every player.

Pale Heart in Destiny 2 The Final Shape (Image via Bungie)

Regardless, being a veteran, my instinct kicked in, leading me to start completing every triumph tied to the destination. This took me at least 12 hours to complete 10% of the whole planet.

One of the puzzles for Prismatic Fragment (Image via Bungie)

I was overwhelmed by the amount of stuff available in post-campaign, and that is a good thing. Collecting Fragments for Prismatic by doing puzzles; completing mini-Dungeons for Collectibles that lead to Exotic weapons; general Collectibles that tie in with other Collectibles; and much more stuff that makes an open world lively even if I am wandering all alone.

Vision of the Traveler in Destiny 2 (Image via Bungie)

Players will be returning to the Pale Heart to farm weapons and complete a few remaining objectives even if they are in the middle of seasonal chores. This open world is here to stay relevant even after two Episodes.

Mixing both Light and Dark

Prismatic is one of the highlights in The Final Shape expansion, as it paved the way for hundreds of builds across all three classes. Perhaps having a Stasis Turret alongside an Arc Soul, all while having Devour and Restoration buffs active, wasn’t the plan when I saw the subclass in action for the first time. However, Prismatic goes the extra level and makes sure the game doesn’t let you die no matter the circumstances.

Prismatic Warlock screen in Destiny 2 (Image via Bungie)

If you are still hung up on the Well of Radiance Nerf, you should try Prismatic and experience the amount of build crafting available currently.

Imagine this:

You are playing as Warlock and you have a Bleak Watcher Turret on the field.
Now, what if, you can also have an Arc soul active at the same time, with each kill via the Arc Soul giving you Devour?
Your weapon kills drop Orbs, which gives you an elemental buff due to Prismatic Fragment.
You get the Grenade ability back in seconds due to the active Devour buff.
Hence, you can have 100% uptime of Stasis turret and Arc Soul at all times.

Arc Soul and Stasis Turret at the same time in Destiny 2 (Image via Bungie)

This is just scratching the surface, as everything I just explained is a single build for one class.

In Conclusion

Destiny 2 The Final Shape is the best version of the franchise in the last 10 years. If a player has been playing Destiny for 10 years, they were asking for an update that would resemble The Final Shape in all departments. It provides a very complete experience from the story missions, to the open-world activities, the following Raid, post-campaign tasks, and everything that leads to an emotional conclusion to the saga.

The final cutscene at the end of Destiny 2 Excision (Image via Bungie)

The Final Shape isn’t going away from the players’ minds any time soon. Being the closing chapter of a decade-long saga, it had to hit all the right spots of the players who stayed loyal to the game for such a long time. As everyone likes to say, “God, I love a cornered Bungie.”