Destiny 2: Beyond Light, is the brand new Destiny 2 experience and compared to our original Destiny 2 review quite some time ago. Destiny 2: Beyond Light takes the story we know so far from the Red War, Curse of Osiris, and Warmind then removes it entirely from the game which Bungie stated would return at some point in time.
The story as most know at the end of the Red War the Traveler awakens and bursting forth from it comes a wave of light that echoes throughout the solar system. But in doing so it awakens the Traveler’s ancient enemy, The Darkness.
It has been several years since this has occurred and as Destiny has taken to telling its story through the means of a season pass we have had stop-gap stories in between to help us piece together the narrative so far.
In Destiny 2 Shadowkeep we learn that a Darkness ship rests within our Moon overlooking earth from the previous battle with the Traveler too which we are invited into its sanctum and it tells us, that the Darkness is our salvation.
In Destiny 2: Beyond Light the story kicks off with the events of the last season removing the main planets from the game’s area selection but giving us access to Europa one of Saturn’s moons that is comprised of ice. It’s here where our story begins.
If you’re familiar with Destiny and its roster of characters we are greeted by a distress call from a person on Europa. We find out that the individual in question is Variks, prior warden to the Prison of Elders, and the reason why Cayde-6 died in Destiny 2 Forsaken.
As we arrive to rescue him we learn that the Darkness has gifted its powers to a Fallen house that makes its home on Europa known as House Salvation and from there they now plan to use these powers to destroy the Traveler back on earth. As we head off to confront the Fallen leader known as Eramis Kell of Darkness. We are stopped in our tracks by her overwhelming power and are forced to retreat back to Variks and its here.
The Darkness reaches out its hand to gift us its powers as well, when doing so we are greeted by an old friend from the first campaign in Destiny the Exo-Stranger. Who serves as a means to guide us through Beyond Light and teach us how to wield the powers of Darkness for good.
The story is at its core one of the most unique and diverse stories from all of Destiny campaigns and DLC’s giving more narrative focus on humanity’s enemies and several origin stories. The Vex and Fallen come front and center as we learn more about what happened to them, where they came from, the truth behind Clovis Bray, and even the Exo-Stranger.
We also are gifted with a chance to get a better glimpse at what the Darkness is and how it differs from the Traveler and the gift of light.
A lot of fine narrative points are brought to light in Destiny 2: Beyond Light but besides the narrative, it also focuses on updating the mechanics. Europa adds the first dynamic weather which can actively affect gameplay.
Snowstorms will kick-up from time to time, and even affect the mobility of the player’s Sparrow so traversing can become difficult at times. This also affects how the players see the world around them as a blizzard rages on we are faced with restrictive visibility unable to see where we are going.
This dynamic weather can play directly into our enemies’ hands as now small-world bosses appear every so often traversing the areas and are stronger than most enemies. Their mechanical roars echo through snowstorms illuminated only by the lights on the machines. These enemies mixed with the dynamic weather of Europa create a sense of unease for newer players or lower-level players.
But the biggest change so far is the new addition of the abilities called Stasis or in short, the powers of darkness used by the Fallen and now our Guardian to fight back the evil on Europa that seeks to destroy the Traveler.
Where the abilities we’ve used so far from the original Destiny and even to the Red War we’ve only been able to pick certain pre-set classes from Void, Arc, or Solar. But Stasis gives us complete control over how we want these abilities to be used allowing us the ability to customize and completely master our own unique way of fighting with these powers.
Given, in a PVP setting people are angry about the ability to slow and stop other players which I say after playing competitive games for years, get a good scrub.
Destiny 2: Beyond Light takes a lot of what we’ve known from playing it over the years and revamps it, refreshes it, and brings more life into the gameplay creating more of an MMO Experience, but also challenging players to push themselves further. Each season plays higher ranked experiences such as lost sectors, and story-related missions all with unique rewards, such as exotic weapons and armor.
Being able to customize your new abilities fully as well as expanding on the deep-running lore of Destiny makes Beyond Light a whole new Destiny experience that anyone who’s ever played Destiny would want to try out.
I absolutely love Destiny 2: Beyond Light and highly recommend if you’re a player who’s been playing since the original game launched and hasn’t touched the series in a while. This is the expansion you’ve been waiting for to get back in.
An autistic gamer with opinions on games who also enjoys making dumb videos on the internet!