BY SCUTTLE GAMEZ

Hey All,

This is going to be a different sort of review than normal. It’s not even a review, more my overall thoughts on Destiny 2 and Bungie moving forward, and how they handled Season of the Undying.

If you’re interested in more strict reviews on the topic, check out my Video Game Review section of the site to find the Destiny 2 content we’ve posted, or go on and search for it below in the search bar.

Thanks!

I enjoy Destiny 2 overall. I did not play it much during year one, but with the Forsaken expansion in year two I was hooked. I played through all the previous seasons, enjoyed all the cool lore, and dove deep into the sweaty trigger trigger-fingered PvP Bungie is known for.

Year three saw Bungie separate from its parent company Activision. Shortly after this was announced, Bungie went on to make what I considered to be a highly unprofessional series of videos blaming Activision for the mistakes of the past and how things would be different with them gone.

That was the start of my concern.

Flash forward to October. Shadowkeep launched, Season of the Undying released . . . .

All is well . . . right? I mean, after all, this was supposed to be a new age for Bungie, one free of the looming overlord that was Activation.

Shadowkeep ended up being less than half the length of Forsaken, for the same price I might add. The story is 100% unresolved by the end of the campaign as well. And as for Season of the Undying, well, it was just lame. Bungie drip-fed us activities pulled from mechanics we’ve already seen, and the big end boss turned out to be a re-skin of the same boss we had been fighting for weeks.

Okay, so Bungie wants to shift from a completed expansion style of storytelling to something with more monetization over the long run. Fine. I prefer the single-packaged experience, but this is how games are now and I can get onboard.

Focusing only on Season of the Undying paints an even worse picture of post-Activision Bungie though. I just don’t feel any passion, no creative spark, and no drive coming from what they are releasing. This feels cookie cutter, and worse, boring.

Where did the studio that came out with the Last Word and Thorn quests, and the Dreaming City go? This can’t be the same group, can it?

At first I was thinking that a Bungie free of control was just being lazy, or greedy, or both. Then I talked with a friend of mine in the tech industry.

He says that what might be going on is that the company is struggling to match what they came out with before not because they don’t want to do so, but rather because they’re now devoid of the resources and management of Activision. Hell, the folks at Bungie might not even have all that much experience managing projects on their own. It’s been decades since the company made anything free of publisher oversight. Maybe they just need some time to find their feet, and more importantly, to hire better leads.

I’m okay with giving Bungie time to get good. What I am not fine with is that Bungie is upping their monetization of the game at the same time. In effect, I pay for more, get less, and am expected to hope they figure themselves out . . . while shelling out for them to do so.

I don’t want this to turn into too much of a rant, so I’ll wrap up.

Bungie is less than they were, they might get to where we want them, but it’s going to cost us to take that ride alongside them. Warframe is looking more appealing by the day.

UPDATE – 2024!

It’s been a few years since this article went live, and boy, we’ve seen some big ups and downs with Bungie. They went from going solo to being bought by Sony, layoffs, hit-and-miss expansions, and most recently, a shake-up to their content roadmap for the foreseeable future.

It’s been a few months since I played the latest expansion and season so I’m not going into too much depth here. All I can say is that Bungie feels both better and worse than it had before.

Overall, they seem more open to taking risks and changing up the gameplay loop, focusing on new mechanics and forms of play.

*This feels like a Sony decision, as the company has taken a stronger position within Bungie’s leadership staff.*

The biggest change by far is that big story expansions are out. The future are what Bungie has dupped ‘Episodes.’

An Episode is essentially a segment for a season story cut with a time gate. You progress through a small segment of the season, usually being introduced to new mechanics with each, new gear, and end with finally fighting the big bad and a few weeks to a month of having all the season content available to run.

I can see value in this format. I can also understand the complaints players have.

In either case, I fell off with the Echoes Season mid-way through. The story was not gripping me. That said, the next season set to go live this October is one hinted at being vampire-themed.

I’m a sucker, pun intended, for vampires. So, damn you Bungie, you’ve gone and roped me back in.

See you there, Guardians.