This year was a big one for anniversaries at Bungie, with the 30th anniversary of the company’s founding in July,Destiny’s seven-year anniversary as a franchise, and it being four years since the launch ofDestiny 2this September. November 10 is also the anniversary ofBeyond Light’s launch, and the beginning ofDestiny 2Year 4. After the ending of theShadowkeepcampaign and the Year 3 Seasons,Destiny 2players were eager to know what the next step for the Light and Darkness saga after Guardians would wielded Stasis and communed with the Darkness itself.
While there are a lot of good qualities aboutBeyond Lightas an expansion, it didn’t do as well as it could have. For starters, it came with a very controversial system of content removal, with Bungie making the so-calledDestinyContent Vault in order to reduceDestiny 2’s file size. This, combined with the imbalance of Stasis in PvP, led to many players being frustrated with the expansion despiteDestiny 2Year 4 being arguably the best the game has seen.
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Destiny 2: Beyond Light’s Flaws, and Year 4’s Pros
Beyond Lightwas conceived to be an expansion where players would get answers via the return of the Exo Stranger, Elsie Bray, as the campaign’s main NPC. The character was first introduced in the original game and played a mysterious role. While some answers were indeed provided with theBeyond Lightcampaign, manyDestiny 2playerswere ultimately disappointed that more were left unanswered. Furthermore, the new location for the expansion was the frozen planet of Europa, but it didn’t end up playing a big role aside from a few repeatable missions in the form of Empire Hunts and a Vanguard Strike.
Stasis was also in a bad shape when the expansion launched, and it quickly dominatedDestiny 2’s PvP meta in all game modes due to massive crowd control abilities. The oppressive status of Stasis has since changed, even though some abilities still reign supreme in the Crucible due to their ease of use and immense damage - namely, Shatterdive. Stasis is getting another pass soon with the30th Anniversary Pack sandbox patch, however, and this might finally make it more balanced.
Still,Beyond Lightalso came with one of the best Raids in the franchise, be it in terms of story, gameplay, or soundtrack. The Deep Stone Crypt Raid is one of the most well-made pieces of content Bungie has released, and that alone is enough to redeem some ofBeyond Light’s flaws. Year 4 was arguably the best year inDestiny 2’s history thanks to strong story arcs and build-up toThe Witch Queen’s launch, which all started with Season of the Hunt’s dire premise of Osiris becoming Lightless. Season of the Chosen, Season of the Splicer, and Season of the Lost followed, and the story got more intense at every turn.
Gameplay was also improved in significant ways inDestiny 2, thanks to a plethora of incredibly powerful guns and mods that changed the way the game is played. Mods like Particle Deconstruction and Breach and Clear were meta-defining and provided players with potent tools to shape their builds, to the point that someplayers one-phased The Corrupted boss on Grandmaster difficulty. Overall, the game is in the best spot it has ever been in years, and despite its issues,The Witch Queenand Year 5 seem to be just as intense as Year 4 - and could possibly be a better expansion thanBeyond Lightturned out.
Destiny 2is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
