Greetings Guardians ! First off, I just want to get this out of the way, this is in no way an attack or anything like that. It’s simply a review I made, with the hope that someone at Bungie might see it and use it as insight into how players experience the game. If you are from and Bungie reading this, the end part is specifically for you (Final Thoughts) :) I’ll also be upfront and say that I used AI to help with grammar, general structure, and a few spots where I couldn’t quite articulate what I meant. Other than that, everything here is my own words, my own thoughts, and my genuine perspective on the game. - I’d call myself a Casual Veteran of Destiny 2. I played a bit of Destiny back on Xbox 360, and I’ve got just under 800 hours in Destiny 2 on Steam but that’s spread across the entire lifecycle of the game. I’ve never been a hardcore raider. I’ve dipped in and out over the years. Played a season, stopped for a while, came back to see what’s new. I hit max PvP rank once, years ago, but I’ve never been competitive long-term. I’m not a die-hard loyalist. I’m not a hater either. If the game’s good, I’ll play it. If it’s not, I’ll play something else. That’s why I feel like I can give a fairly unbiased take. My motivation for this review, especially given the current “hate train,” is to provide feedback that Bungie can actually use to see what works and what doesn’t. Why I Came Back: I skipped most of Lightfall. I played the intro, didn’t enjoy it, and didn’t buy the expansion. So when Renegades dropped and the trailer was pure Star Wars vibes it pulled me back in. I like Star Wars, Not a mega fan, but enough that the crossover energy felt like it could fit Destiny’s sci-fi tone. The intro mission? Honestly solid. There were subtle nods everywhere. The Cabal “stormtrooper” hitting his head walking through a blast door in the cinematic genuinely made me laugh. It showed awareness. It felt like nerds made this for other nerds. There was even a moment that clearly mirrored the Luke and Leia elevated platform shootout scene, no railings, enemy above. It made me feel like the devs were one of us, and knew what they were doing. Nerd culture is quite the thing. Unfortunately, that feeling didn’t last. The Campaign: Mid Is Being Generous. After the intro, you’re hit with the DLC and season pass price. It’s not cheap. I hesitated, played a bit more of the free stuff, and eventually bought it because the intro slapped (slang for good). The campaign overall? Pretty mid. It honestly feels like all the energy went into the intro and the final mission. Everything in between is mostly repurposed Lawless Frontier content dressed up as story missions. Is that the worst thing ever? No. It’s a decent way to teach the mode but it doesn’t feel genuine. It feels optimized. Like someone in a meeting said, “How do we maximize asset reuse?”. That “made by nerds for nerds” feeling quickly shifted into “corporate efficiency mode.” And that’s where the trust starts slipping. The High Points: (Because There Are Some) The final mission actually slapped. The Halo-style warthog run section? Sick. That was genuinely fun and honestly deserves to be expanded into its own mode. Imagine that energy but in space. Halo Reach’s Long Night of Solace-style space battles? That would go f***ing hard. And then, that lightsaber moment. When you first get it? That felt amazing. You’re slicing through enemies, feeling overpowered, pure power fantasy. For about a minute, Destiny hits that dopamine perfectly. Pure Wizard But then it fades. You keep the lightsaber, and it’s still cool, but it never quite feels as strong as that first mission. It’s like they intentionally juice it up to sell the fantasy, then dial it back immediately. That’s kind of the theme of this expansion: Hook you with something awesome. Then reveal the rest is kind of stale. The Biggest Issue: Communication (Or Lack Of It) Bungie is terrible at explaining things in-game. And I’m not talking about one mission, I mean the whole game. I genuinely spent as much time alt-tabbed Googling what to do as I did playing. There’s a post-campaign quest where you have to complete a “priority mission” to unlock factions. Mine wouldn’t complete. I assumed it was bugged (there are a lot of bugs). Turns out you have to complete it on the lower difficulty. I was level 415 at that point. Why would I go back and run it on 200 difficulty? There’s no indication you need to. It feels like a bugged parameter that was never fixed. That moment summed up the expansion for me. During the intro I thought: “They really care.” By the end I was thinking: “They really don’t.” Bugs, Polish, and Lack of Care I ran into: Soft locks, falling through maps, misaligned geometry, the extraction ship randomly killing me, objectives not triggering, and that’s just a few I can think of off the top of my head. It really doesn’t feel like the game was play-tested or even played at all for that matter. The only way things like this get left in is if they are missed, and the missed ALOT. I don’t know how big the team is, or what internal pressures they’re under. But the end product just feels bad. It might seem petty, but tiny little issues like that add up quickly and leaves a really permanent sour taste in your mouth very quickly. And at this price? That’s just not acceptable. Boss Design: The Real Low Point. Boss design is where this expansion really falls apart. Nearly every boss follows the same template: Shoot boss, Boss goes immune, Kill loads of adds, Repeat. Meanwhile the boss has infinite ammo and constant projectile spam. Yes it’s dodgeable but that doesn’t make it fun. Add spam. Stun spam. Knockback spam. Spam spam and insta-kill mechanics. It’s just an endurance exercise and that's not what anyone wants, you think gamers have stamina ? lol. The lightsaber mission boss is a perfect example. Interesting idea, kill one faction for energy, switch factions for light orbs but in practice it’s just endless adds while the boss fires nonstop. There’s a difference between difficult and tedious. By the end of the campaign I was dreading them because they were boring slug fests. When you died, it never really felt like it was because of a mistake you could learn from, it was more just cheap, frustrating crap. If your boss fight feels like the bad ending in Half-Life 1, the one you’re not supposed to win, you’ve made a bad boss. You’re meant to challenge player skill, not exhaust them with unfair mechanics. Parkour/Jumping puzzles: Look, just don’t. I’m not saying these kinds of segments are bad, but the ones you made are. Please understand that, as they stand, you just don’t have the talent to make them work. Leave them out unless you genuinely put in the effort, or hire someone who can do them properly. In their current state, they just come across as arrogant. Final Thoughts: Destiny 2 still has moments of brilliance. The intro showed passion. The final mission showed potential. The lightsaber fantasy shows they still understand what feels cool. But everything in between feels corporate, rushed, and undercared-for. As a casual veteran who dips in and out, I don’t feel angry, I just feel disappointed. But perhaps that dad logic is something I’ve grown into over the years as a gamer. I’ve been with Bungie since Halo CE, and it saddens me to know that Bungie is no longer with me, at least not in spirit. I understand that most of what Bungie is now isn’t the old team that made those great games, but they’ve been entrusted to carry that torch and continue the legacy, and what they’re doing with it is nothing short of disgraceful and that needs to be said. Strong people build, weak people destroy. I’ve seen that firsthand while deployed to Mali. There’s still nothing quite like Destiny when it’s firing on all cylinders. But right now, it feels like a studio clocking in and clocking out; not a studio inspired. And at this price point, that’s hard to justify. There is still time to fix all that. Motivation comes in the most strange of places. I might not know the new Bungie to well, but I have hope for you. Bungie today may not be the ones who built the legacy and foundation, but you’ve been entrusted with it. I hope they rise to that responsibility, because what they’ve inherited deserves better. And you have the opportunity to define what Bungie stands for next; don't let it be this. Thank you for reading. -Djongo