Are the New Destiny 2 Features Too Little, Too Late?

Destiny 2 is in its 6th year now and is trying to keep the experience fresh with its recent reveal of new features and the announcement of a 2024 expansion called Destiny 2: The Final Shape. The annual Destiny 2 showcase event usually has a good amount to offer in the way of exciting editions, and this presentation was no different. 

The big announcement was Destiny 2: The Final Shape, a campaign addition that will be released in February of 2024. With this release will come the long-awaited conclusion to the Light and Darkness saga that has spurred us on for nearly a decade. There is also a new destination and tons of fun easter eggs for longtime fans. Along with this, we now have the new season called Season of The Witch, and it changes the Destiny 2 experience quite a bit. With these new additions comes a variety of quality of life and little add-ons to make the player experience all the better. The only question is, is it enough?

What’s New With Destiny 2?

The announcement of Destiny 2: The Final Shape is no doubt an important one, and it goes to show how the creative team at Bungie is far from running out of ideas. This climactic expansion will take us to the heart of the Traveler and finally confront the most dangerous foe we’ve faced yet in The Witness. It all feels appropriately climactic, and while we know there is plenty more to come, Bungie is doing a great job framing it as an Endgame of sorts. Along with this, Destiny 2 will now move into an episodic structure, providing more consistent content to hopefully retain its waning player base. 

With that endgame will come new abilities for our Guardians, including Supers, and brand-new weapons, including a Rocket Pistol and an Assault Rifle that heals you while you shoot. It will also bring back classic weapons all the way from the original Destiny, which is sure to be a treat for longtime fans.

The question is, are players going to still be here when it drops next spring? It’s a valid question because, over the years, the hardcore fanbase has been consistently sated, but recently, they haven’t, and there is also the problem of new players who want to jump in and see what all the fuss is about. The barrier for entry is simply absurd at this point in time, and while that doesn’t affect other multiplayer, story-based titles like Final Fantasy 14, it does with Destiny 2 because of how many mechanics are consistently introduced.

Is Destiny 2: Season of the Witch Going to be Worth It?

So, does The Season of The Witch do anything to alleviate the barrier for new players? Thankfully, the answer is a resounding yes. Not only does The Season of The Witch give us a ton of new story to sift through, but it also breaks down the aforementioned new player barrier. The most important of which is called Timeline Reflections.

These are mini missions that players can access through the Timeline feature in the Director. They serve to summarize the most important beats of Destiny 2′s story thus far. If you are jumping in, missing out on six years of content involving massive revelations, character deaths, and all manner of sci-fi insanity is a struggle, but with this feature, that overwhelming feeling should dissipate for many players.

Unfortunately, like everything in Destiny 2, Timeline Reflections are only being released in small bursts. With the newly released Season of the Witch, you get access to three of these missions, which include Cayde-6’s epic battle from Destiny 2: Forsaken, important moments from Destiny 2: Beyond Light, and the first sighting of the Lucent Hive from Destiny 2: Witch Queen. That’s well and good, but it leaves out so much more that the player needs to know before anything in the current storyline makes sense.

The Season of the Witch has more to give, though, as a reprised version of Crota’s raid is coming out on September 1st. With this comes a World First Race that will award the first team to beat it in the span of 48 hours. There is also the Exotic Mission Rotator, which allows you to do Exotic Missions that have been removed from the game and have long been considered some of the best missions in Destiny 2. 

This is a lot to digest, and for Destiny 2 players, more is always better. The question is, is all of this enough? With the current state of gaming, it’s almost impossible to go a month without some groundbreaking title being released. So, will this be enough to keep Destiny 2 fans happy? I think for hardcore fans, it will be great to continue the story, but the real benefit here comes for new players, who finally have the ability to catch up on this sprawling epic.