Destiny 2’snewest expansionLightfallhas arrived with an action-packed campaign storyline. This year’s campaign missions take the guardian to the planet of Neptune, into a city known as Neomuna, where Calus and the Witness have arrived for reasons the players must discover.
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After the release ofWitch Queenlast year and the tremendous praise thatDestiny 2received for its incredible campaign focused on Savathunand her Throne World, expectations forLightfall’scampaign were high. So, after Year 5 ofDestiny 2, how didtheLightfallcampaignlive up to the game’s previous legacy? Here’s where the campaign manages to shine and innovate, and where it sadly falls short.
Warning! Destiny 2: Lightfall campaign spoilers ahead!
8Best: Neomuna As A Location
Although Neomuna as a location isn’t as massive as something like Europa, there’s no question about the fact that this new area is absolutely gorgeous and filled with incredible details. It’s unlike any otherDestiny 2location, which makes it particularly magical for players to discover both during the campaign missions and on patrol.
With Neomuna comes all of its rich lore of course, which changes a lot of what players used to know about humanity’s history within theDestiny 2universe. This technologically advanced place is almost a direct opposite to the Last City in shambles guardians are very familiar with, which is why it made such a nice backdrop to the campaign and a true joy to walk through.
7Worst: Weak Writing And Characters
TheLightfallcampaign features mainly Osiris and the Cloud Striders as the main characters the player interacts with. Nimbus and Rohan are the locals that the guardians will first come across as they touch down on Neomuna, but sadly, their characters remain shallow throughout the campaign despite how much potential they held.
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Due to this, noteworthy moments such as Rohan’s sacrifice don’t feel quite as heavy to players who have had barely any time to get to know the Cloud Striders—and Nimbus almost seems to brush off this event despite Rohan’s importance to him as a mentor figure. It’s events like these that could have given the plot and its characters more weight, especially in a situation as dire as an open war on Neomuna against the Shadow Legion.
6Best: Tormentors Pose A Real Challenge
Tormentors were the highly anticipated new addition to the game. These are challenging enemies that slowly lumber around when they spawn with scythe-like weapons, but will suddenly rush or jump at the player with top speed to suppress them or grab them. They have two weak spots on their shoulders that players must shoot before damaging them—and even after this, Tormentors are very spongy, taking critical damage only to their chest.
Destiny 2could always use more challenge, especially after a year where power creep ran rampant andmost endgame PVEfelt trivialized. As such, the Tormentors are a cool and terrifying addition, both in terms of lore and gameplay, even though at times they feel like bullet sponges that players must simply dance around.
5Worst: A Rushed And Superficial Storyline
Not only wereLightfall’scharacters weak, but the entire storyline of the campaign has also already received a lot of criticism for being too shallow compared toWitch Queen. The missions were quite rushed, and the introduction of certain new aspects like the Veil was skimmed over quite hastily, ultimately left as loose ends at the end of the story. This alone isn’t terrible, but it makes the end of the campaign feel somewhat unrewarding and confusing.
The last stand against Calus is a nice challenge, but it also feels somewhat anticlimactic. This enemy has been in the making for a while now, and comparedto Savathun’sboss fight, Calus is almost a walk in the park, even on Legendary difficulty. While it’s understandable that the campaign is fast-paced due to open war, it could have benefited from slower moments and missions that were more cerebral to balance out the neverending horde killing.
4Best: Abundance Of Cutscenes
Cutscenes, on the other hand, came in what felt like a nice abundance inLightfall. Even if some of the dialogue felt awkward or out of place for something as serious as the war against the Shadow Legion, there’s no denying Bungie excels in the epicness of delivering stories visually.
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Better yet, hearing the guardian finally speak more than just a few lines was easily something a lot of players had waited for, and to actually see it happen was incredibly satisfying. It gives the guardian a bit more personality and agency, especially during the scene when a final stand must be prepared against Calus and his Shadow Legion.
3Worst: Lack Of Mission Variety
As already briefly mentioned in a previous part, the missions inLightfallare packed with the action of fighting against Calus' Shadow Legion. While it’s to be expected and Bungie heavily teased the nature ofLightfallwell beforehand, it feels like the missions aren’t as unique from one another as how they were during theWitch Queencampaign.
Managing a horse of Cabalor Vex enemiesalong with Tormentors does feel cool, but when every mission is roughly the same without much mystery or slowness, or attention to mechanics, it can make the whole gameplay feel like a slog. And that’s definitely howLightfall’scampaign begins to feel towards the end, even with Strand on the player’s side.
2Best: Introduction Of Strand
Speaking of Strand,the newest green subclass added toDestiny 2was perhaps the most exciting part ofLightfall’scampaign. This unique power encourages a different, quicker pace of gameplay with tons of mobility, which will feel like a breath of fresh air for many players.
The introduction of Strand early in the campaign, where interacting with a node of Strand allows the player access to a “full” loadout of Strand, is a highlight moment. Using the grappling hook to move around, as well as the new ultimates, is a true treat—though comes to an end far too soon especially early on in missions, where players likely would prefer to play around with Strand for longer periods. Nevertheless, the actual moment that players begin to wield Strand was well designed.
1Worst: Use Of Strand In Missions
The tough part about Strand is its cooldowns later on in missions where players are practically forced to use it. Without all the aspects and fragments, andafter a year of being used to ability spam thanks to 3.0 subclasses, being forced on Strand against spongy enemies was definitely a low point in theLightfallcampaign. There were several moments when it made the mission more difficult (likely, as intended) rather than enjoyable and fluid.
The second last mission is a great example of it, as Osiris sends the guardian(s) into a Vex network to train their abilities. The final boss in this area drags along for a while if players don’t utilize their Strand abilities wisely and have good weapons at hand, a real change of pace after being able to use Strand on low cooldown during previous missions.
Destiny 2: Lightfallis available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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