The Final Shape campaign is possibly the magnum opus of the franchise. It's obvious that the pacing of the story and gameplay were given an abundance of care, which elevates the entire experience. The story provides longtime fans massive payoffs, while also keeping players in intense anticipation for the true conclusion that will come with the raid. Lastly, the new additions of the Dread enemy faction and Prismatic subclass made playing through the campaign a delight. The only thing holding back this campaign is the story's climax, and that could very easily change with the true conclusion of the raid.
Destiny 2’s new expansion, The Final Shape, has finally released, and with it the story…er, well, sort of. The thing is, the campaign did come out, but the raid, and thus the ultimate ending, have not yet been released. The raid will be available Friday, June 7th.
Consequently, this review will cover just the base campaign, and it will also be spoiler-free (excepting some contextual spoilers). Since the raid isn’t out, the story is technically unfinished, which makes scoring the campaign difficult. We will likely update this review after the raid, or write a new review on the whole expansion. Thank you for allowing those few caveats, and now let’s talk about The Final Shape’s campaign and missions.
Pardon Our Pace
With live-service games, as we’ve seen in previous Destiny expansions, it can be hard to make a campaign or story feel streamlined. Usually, there are some grindy aspects, or fetch quests intertwined with the meaty cinematic missions. This also results in boring travel time while the character is familiarized with the new area.
I can happily report that The Final Shape’s campaign doesn’t have any of this. Each mission starts right after the last, and there aren’t any lame filler missions. It’s quite a change from Destiny’s usual format with campaigns; perhaps the devs finally realized that they can save the getting-to-know the new area for the past campaign activities. This new philosophy is slight, but it has a big effect by making all the story beats, gameplay, and exploration feel fresh and uninterrupted.
Small camps populate after missions. From there you can immediately start the next mission
Fated Destiny
Since we mentioned the story beats feeling well-paced, let’s go into detail about the story, and compare how it holds up to previous expansions. This is the section that will have the most possible contextual spoilers, so if you’re worried about those, then just skip to the next.
As far as plots go, the expansion follows a very tried-and-true structure. The beginning is more centered around delivering exposition and helping the player understand the setting. For a game whose lore is so vast and complicated, this introduction is balanced because it doesn’t set up the story to be overly complicated, but it also hints at enough deep lore to keep longtime fans happy.
The rising action, or the middle missions that create tension and drama, are well done and masterfully use characters’ backstories to frame the narrative. Some particular revelations that give more context to important past events in certain characters’ long lives are deeply impactful, and elaborate on their motivations. This is accompanied by a slight plot twist that invested players will have seen coming for a while, but will probably be more memorable to people who are here for the last expansion in the Light and Dark saga.
Elaboration on scenes from the past unearth truths about characters
The climax is possibly the worst part of the story, while the falling action — or the activities and quests after finishing the base campaign — are the best. The reason for this is that the climax is actually a faux conclusion, as many players might’ve suspected, since the raid (the real conclusion) will be releasing a few days after the base campaign. The raid will have its own story implications; this is the main reason that we can’t judge the expansion’s full story quite yet.
The best story beats are actually in the missions following the ending of the campaign. Again, people invested in the lore will have seen this specific point of major character progression coming for years, but that doesn’t mean the fan service doesn’t absolutely slap. Overall, it felt like Bungie was playing this story a little safe, and nothing happened that will shock the community to its core. It’s possible that they’re just keeping their cards close to their chest for the actual conclusion with the raid. Regardless, the campaign had a lot of payoffs for narratives that’ve been cooking for years, and many fans will be happy they’ve finally arrived.
Some of the best moments happen after the campaign ends
The Pew-Pews
Not everyone is a lore nerd, though, and there will be a large contingent of players that judge this campaign solely on its gameplay. Like the other parts of the expansion, it was above par and perhaps the best that Bungie has done so far for the franchise. The cornerstone of this ruling is of course the new subclass: Prismatic.
As far as giving players a power fantasy, this is the strongest we have ever felt in Destiny’s history. Most of the abilities that we’ve been using for years are now mixable, and can be paired to devastating effect in a single subclass. The implementation of this new mechanic throughout the missions felt perfect. The drip fed abilities made each new prismatic chest feel truly rewarding; we were actually giddy to see what new powers were unlocked each time.
The new Prismatic subclass is next level stuff
The new subclass might have stolen the show, but there are plenty of other aspects (no, not those aspects) that were instrumental in making the gameplay great, too. For example, consider the new enemy faction, The Dread. We haven’t received a wholly new faction since the scorn in Forsaken, and I might controversially add that the wait was worth it. The new enemies’ movements and powers were foreign and erratic, which made playing through the campaign on legendary difficulty equally challenging and fun.
Some things that are easy to overlook need to be noted too — like the level design and boss rooms. These are things that we simply take for granted when it comes to Bungie. The way that they effortlessly blend the enemies’ new abilities and characteristics in with their level design make each encounter different and keep guardians on their toes, which is difficult to do for a 12-hour campaign. Ultimately, Bungie did what they do best; the difference is that this time they surpassed even their usual high standards.
Per Audacia Ad Astra
You might be surprised if said that I haven’t even mentioned the best parts of the campaign yet: its art direction. The art and cutscenes are the best that Bungie has ever made for a story, period. Exploring the Pale Heart of the Traveler is akin to stumbling down the rabbit hole in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Each new area is full of breathtaking and emotional views, and turning a corner can leave you face to face with a disturbingly organic fixture that begs you to question reality.
The art is the best that Bungie has ever put in a game
The abstract setting is the perfect backdrop for the campaign’s amazingly cinematic cutscenes. The dark tones and mood juxtapose brilliantly with the vibrantly lighter color palettes. The animation and action in the cutscenes are not only wildly entertaining, but also have some heart-wrenching and glee-filled moments for the characters that we’ve come to intimately know over the past decade.
In an attempt to sum everything up, this campaign is possibly the magnum opus of the franchise. It’s obvious that the pacing of the story and gameplay were given an abundance of care, which elevates the entire experience. The story provides longtime fans massive payoffs, while also keeping players in intense anticipation for the true conclusion that will come with the raid. Lastly, the new additions of the Dread enemy faction and Prismatic subclass made playing through the campaign a delight.
The only thing holding back this campaign is the story’s climax, and as we noted, that could very easily change with the true conclusion of the raid. I will say that as a whole, this campaign is the best in the Destiny franchise, and hearkens back to Bungie’s golden age of campaigns in their Halo days.
