A veteran looter shooter Destiny 2 takes another swing at reinvention with The Edge of Fate blends bold story twists and experimental mechanics with a campaign and endgame that suffer from a feeling of being overstuffed, repetitious and inconsistent. This year’s finale may lead to more questions than momentum – but it is a brave mess.
A New Saga Begins, but the On-Ramp is Rough
The expansion does not present a straightforward transition from the prior arc. Similarly, it does not function as a standalone title to suit lapsed players. The start heavily relies on dense lore and fast exposition; an old foe is introduced as a new enemy, previously low-key powerful forces are ushered in as unseen masterminds, and there is no shortage of sci-fi jargon which often feels muddy. In the beginning it was not promising but Lodi, a strangely unbilled newcomer with a time-tainted mystery, helps give the story surprising spark – as does a long-overdue backstory for a long-serving character that has real weight.
Big Swings with Uneven Characters and Retcons
Dialogue may be unsteady, and some supporting characters feel like filler. There’s also that annoying trope of having the villain framed as behind everything that happened before, which reduces the stakes. Yet, the way the narrative is not afraid of the status quo, and Lodi’s quick importance to the ensemble makes it one of the more enjoyable Destiny tales in years.
Kepler’s Promise Fades in Familiar Terrain
Kepler is described to be somewhere on the edge of past resort haunts, yet its rocky cliffs, caves and recycled assets do little to sell that fantasy. The movement is restrained due to a no-sparrow rule and a collection of situational traversal powers—rolling through some vent as a light sphere; portal hopping and moving environmental objects, all hint at metroidvania principles without fully leveraging them. Although these instruments provide novelty to puzzles, they hamper exploration and backtracking and transform regular objectives into chores.
Puzzles That Intrigue, Then Overstay
As these cool new fervor powers are used in story missions, they can create breezy and satisfying moments. However, they’re so easy and reliant on temporary power nodes, and constantly scavenger-hunting, that they begin to feel like padding rather than a real solution to the problem. In battle, these systems often interrupt the action—having to gather a glowing ball while under fire to advance the levels of a boss is rather choppy and annoying as opposed to clever and cool, plus you do this whole thing quite often so it gets old quickly.
A Campaign That Struggles to Surprise in Play
The expansion uses familiar bosses and old-time enemy factions across 14 missions. You’ll see the occasional other newcomer such as a flying corsair or swarming robot bees. But they won’t significantly change how you tackle encounters. And you’ll often get the same side quests, which have you scanning mission spaces for a brief interval before giving you meagre rewards. These interruptions seem weak for a show with inventive set pieces.
The Desert Perpetual: Solid Invasion, Familiar Tones
In the six-player raid, expect the usual coordination and spectacle, plus a flexible order for the first three encounters and a striking final boss. Worlds often play with familiar rhythms—the rifling bullets ordered by nodes; plates organised to blow up and more. The new Contest mode is biased in a punishing direction while standard mode is the usual tough but fair character. This is a nice highlight of the expansion but overall is a mid-tier one and notably skips the new campaign powers.
Loadouts Reimagined, Loot Pool Underfed
Weapons and armor have undergone another significant overhaul, introducing a transparent tiering system to assist in drop assessment. Additionally, long-awaited set bonuses are finally encouraging players to swap their armor for more targeted builds. The problem is not all that appealing, as there are only few new armour sets available for launch, and just over thirty new weapons. Which is less than enough to make you think about changing your whole loadout.
Endgame Progression That Tests Patience
Once you complete the credits, the game will funnel you into playlists of older activities. These activities will ramp up in difficulty by tier and modifier for the chance at dropping slightly better equipment. It feels like players are stuck on a treadmill purely to prolong playtime for the sake of it, simply because high-end rewards are tied to repeated years-old content. This series, which is infamously known for developing “grind,” is becoming extremely punishing. It almost discourages trying to get top-tier items unless the time-investment is insane.
- The entry for Lodi is a bold story direction. The onboarding is uneven and there are some frustrating retcons.
- Kepler’s design is underwhelming, with its traversal powers providing momentary enjoyment for puzzles yet causing sluggish movement and combat.
- The missions in the campaign and the side quests utilize familiar enemies and recycled spaces.
- The Desert Perpetual raid is fun yet formulaic, introducing flexible routing but few new mechanics.
- Loadout systems can make it easier to chase weapon sets, but having not much loot and a tiring grind can be messy.
The Edge of Fate is an ambitious but inconsistent expansion: a story with big twists and a good new ally, tied to a limited setting, repetitive mission design and a raid that is good but mostly unsurprising. The new buildcrafting foundation looks promising, however, the shallow loot pool and tough endgame loop hurt long term engagement. The ideas on Kepler are clever and promises a good arc but even with fresh content the new chapter of Destiny needs tighter execution and a sturdier grind.