Destiny 2: Shadowkeep releases unfinished and lacking any kind of grand finish or feeling of satisfaction through completion of its story campaign.

There is actually a lot going on with Destiny right now. New Light, Bungie’s Free-to-Play push launched simultaneous with Shadowkeep, as did server crossplay and a variety of in-game changes / updates to everything from how gear is managed to quality of life improvements, like a more organized and easy to navigate bounty / pursuit log, and a new game season has come to life this last week as well. It sounds like there is a ton to do . . . and for new players, there is. If you’ve never played Destiny 2 before, now is the time. But this review is meant to focus on Shadowkeep, and that’s what we’ll do. Don’t worry though, articles looking at New Light and Season of the Undying will be up soon here at Scuttle Gamez!

The Good:

The gameplay changes being made in Shadowkeep are good ones. We get armor 2.0, which is a drastic improvement over the system of before, and an overall restructuring of how upgrades are handled and obtained has the game feeling more dynamic and well planned.

(Check out our previous article on what’s new with Destiny 2 for more info about armor 2.0 and other gameplay changes!)

Destiny’s Gunplay is still snappy and fast paced. Gear is cool, I love the new Ritual Weapons in particular, and the Destiny Universe’s lore is top quality stuff, some of the best the video game industry has for the science fiction genre.

Even the story, which we’ll dive further into in a moment, has some really awesome moments that sent chills down my spine and got me wanting, needing, to know more about what is going on in the dark places of the moon. What evil lurks? What mad gods have we awoken now? The story is primed to go somewhere grand . . .  and then come to a shattering and disappointing halt. More on that in the bad.

The new Scarlet Keep Strike was a blast though, and I’m really looking forward to digging my teeth into the recently released Garden of Salvation Raid soon as well. Scoring in Nightfall Strikes has been updated to be more varied based on champion enemies slain, and best of all, they are now queue-able from the orbit menu, and at varying difficulties at that! It’s a good change, and one that I think brings Destiny 2 to a good place as far as competitive play is considered.

The Bad:

We mentioned that the story is primed, well, sadly, that’s all it is. Primed for greatness, but never paying off. Guardians will see a great DLC opening mission, brought quickly downhill by boring and grindy missions with little story, and see their adventure shockingly cut short with a horribly directionless ending. A big ‘see you next time!’ message practically flashed on screen for me upon completion of the DLC campaign.

 It’s that clear Bungie rushed out Shadowkeep from how it ended, and it’s a real shame that they did so. Yeah, it’s also clear that Bungie intends to continue the story over time and that we’ll get to where things start paying off eventually, but is that good enough? No, no it’s not.

Shadowkeep is a not a season. It’s not a small $10 DLC that was advertised as being strung out and incomplete, it’s supposed to be an expansion. EXPANSION! As in, a meaningful and significant addition to the game, and thus warranting a higher price to experience. As noted, it’s not that though. Shadowkeep is a frail and pale shadow of what is could have been.

But wait, this has all been about story. What about those Guardians for which story comes second, or third, or hell, it doesn’t even matter at all? Even then, this DLC comes short. There are a few new activities tied to Shadowkeep that will be worth chasing and grinding out, and the moon is a new map to explore I suppose. But, those activities, Nightmare Hunts and Strikes, are short lived and just don’t feel worth the $35 minimum price tag to take part in them.

The new Lunar Moon Map is very hit or miss. There are some really cool places to find, some fun secrets too, and I think that its Lost Sectors are great, but those moments of inspired map design are ultimately few and far between. The majority of the map is dull, barren, and well, it feels a bit like a Tangled Reef, from the Forsaken DLC, reskin. Fallen enemies – check. Some hive fighting fallen – done. Okay, cool, let’s throw in some random decrepit buildings and hive temples and call it a day folks. That’s how the moon feels right now; lacking in identity, and a step down from what has been previously delivered.

The Summary:

Destiny has always had a rough go when it comes to DLC launches and content. Destiny 2 in particular has seen a lot of criticism about its story missions and cost-to-content ratio. Year two of the game saw a ray of inspiration though in its full and immersive Forsaken DLC. Unfortunately, it is looking more and more like Forsaken was a fluke rather than the norm, as Shadowkeep falls flat for many of the same reasons past DLC had before it as well.

But that’s just Shadowkeep, perhaps Season of the Undying and New Light will make up for its failings. Stay tuned to Scuttle Gamez to find out! More articles coming soon!!