On Feb. 28, Bungie released its seventh expansion for the long-running looter shooter “Destiny 2,” titled “Lightfall.” With soaring player count numbers from Xbox to Steam, “Lightfall” seems to have reinvigorated interest in a video game franchise many considered dead. With a new cinematic campaign, a new location on Neptune to explore, a new raid and a new subclass called Strand, “Lightfall” has a lot of content to offer to the fanbase that already knows and loves it. However, the narrative shortcomings and the steep mountain of pre-existing content make it hard for new players to enjoy the game as much as day-one players.

For the Fans

As a fan of Destiny almost since its inception, I’ve watched the franchise redefine itself since Bungie split from its then-publisher, Activision. Last year’s expansion, “The Witch Queen,” reinvented how Destiny’s story was thought to be told, with memorable missions, hard but fair difficulty adjustments and more. Not only that, but the different kinds of seasonal content, especially that of the “Season of the Seraph,” spelled good things for this addition to Destiny’s story. “Lightfall” had a lot to live up to upon release, but sadly, it doesn’t quite reach the heights that “The Witch Queen” set for the franchise.

Some plot threads seem to go nowhere and there were far too many things that went unexplained that the story didn’t seem to make time for. Regardless, the campaign itself I found to be a fun dive back into the content Bungie has been refining for almost nine years. The new Strand subclass is very exciting and has a ton of fun new abilities for me to play around with, my favorite of which was the new grappling hook.

The only other thing I found hard to get into was the new location, Neomuna, which is as vast and visually interesting as it is barren. With “Lightfall” being the penultimate expansion in the franchise’s Light and Darkness saga, it’s a shame that Bungie fumbled so hard in giving fans a story they desperately want to care about.

Wait and See

There is still hope, however. With Bungie’s new seasonal content model, there is a chance that the story can be salvaged by seasons coming ahead. Previous seasons in the year’s content model created new, exciting opportunities for fans to engage in Destiny story content far beyond the release date of the most recent expansion. It’s unfortunate still that the quality content fans deserve to be getting is restricted behind more paywalls than necessary. This is a practice that is becoming far more common in today’s game development culture, but as the industry leans into more expansive projects, it’s clear to see why the cost of enjoying a game has also increased.

If you’re a pre-existing fan of the franchise, “Lightfall” is an expansion that you don’t want to miss regardless of its faults. If you’re just starting this behemoth of an experience that is “Destiny 2,” it’s worth playing other cheaper expansions before laying down money for “Lightfall.”

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@thezachus