Destiny 2: The Final Shape Review (SPOILERS)

I wanted to take my time before writing this review as it’s a lot to process a 10 year journey with a franchise that has been near and dear to me and so many other like minded gamers. By now you’d have seen all the raving reviews for Destiny 2: The Final Shape, and I must say, I’ve never been more happy to see my doubts be not only challenged but eviscerated completely. The Final Shape is a masterpiece! Bungie has done the impossible in what proves to be their best narrative work probably ever!

The Final Shape is a masterpiece. It’s the best way I can describe it. The journey our Guardian’s have been on these last 10 years have seen their ups and downs to be sure. The one thing we were all hoping for in the end, at minimum, was a home run from the narrative department. And boy oh boy did they deliver! Personally, I cried twice during one of the cutscenes. Something I’ve only done a handful of times in my whole life. It’s quite rare for me, a grown man of almost 40 years, to be so moved by a story coming from a video game. One could argue that I should try more games! But I digress.

Cayde-6, voiced originally & mostly by Nathan Fillion, Is back once again thanks to a wish from Crow made with Riven, an Ahamkara Dragon. The whole dynamic of Cayde-6 & Prince Uldren, now Crow, is some of Bungie’s best storytelling. But I think it’s safe to say that in The Final Shape, how Cayde sacrifices his light to bring back our fallen Ghost was the chef’s kiss. “I make my own Fate”, he says. The quote “Guardian’s Make Their Own Fate” is a quote players who’ve been playing for any number of years will be quite familiar with. And with Cayde’s sacrifice, it just hit home in all the right ways.

But let’s back up just a tad. The entirety of the campaign is about us getting into the Traveler to pursue and defeat The Witness. And Bungie did something amazing here. It’s not often that Bungie will use the Raid as a campaign story extension but like The Taken King, they did so here. Once you beat the campaign, you essentially have dislodged The Witness’s grip on the Traveler. Then you go on to fight it in the Raid, but this is where Bungie did something entirely new! Upon the world’s first raid completion, a new 12 player mission showed up where we all banded together with Guardian’s and all the rest of the factions like Caitel, Savathun and more to defeat The Witness once and for all! It was simply incredible!

Then upon finally defeating The Witness for good, we are greeted with one of the best story cutscene’s ever. Our Ghost dies, the music queues, and the tears flow. But it’s short lived as Cayde-6 shows up to save the day one last time. There’s so much more to outline but I wanted to hit on the highlights.

I don’t want to leave out the rest of the story elements here though. Cayde-6 coming back was incredible, but he played his part just as well as the others. Zavalla in particular was great in this campaign. The community, myself included, did take small issue with the direction of Zavalla here as we kind of treaded this whole “mending old wounds from the past” motif with the Shadowkeep campaign. None the less, The Final Shape takes it a step further here with Zavalla losing his Ghost Targe. I might add: Keith David, Zavalla’s new  voice actor, has done an incredible job with the character. A fantastic choice given the extremely sad and unfortunate passing of Lance Reddick last year. May he rest in power.

*Photo Credit: Zowoki on YouTube / Lance Reddick / Bungie

As you will see across the internet, The Final Shape has been extremely well received by the Destiny community. And rightfully so. After being here since the beginning of the light and darkness saga in 2014, I can confidently say that this was a great book end.

*Photo Credit: Destiny 2 X account / Bungie

As we move forward with Destiny 2, Bungie has outlined it’s new seasonal model called Echoes. These episodes will be stand alone story slices with new activities and lore to discover in the wake of The Witness’s defeat. Bungie also teased something called “Frontiers”, presumably a new large expansion for Destiny 2 slated for sometime in 2025.

*Photo Credit: Bungie

I for one cannot wait to see what the future holds for the Destiny franchise! Will we see a Destiny 3? I sure hope so! Either way, I’ll continue my Warlock’s journey with a new found excitement into the sprawling world of Destiny!

Eye’s up Guardian!

- Brandon R.