‘Destiny 2: Lightfall’ Review: Destiny at Its Best—Most of the Time

Strand is actually so good and so enjoyable to make use of, it kind of makes the older subclasses really feel a bit missing by comparability. Even if you happen to swap out the Grapple for one of the different two grenade choices—one spawns little creatures known as threadlings, my infants, and the different is a crowd-control possibility that catches enemies in a glowy inexperienced internet—you’re nonetheless going to be having such a superb time you would possibly neglect the different courses even exist for some time. Granted that’s kind of been the case for any new subclass Destiny 2 has launched in the previous, however this one feels completely different, since you’re not simply given just a few tweaked mechanics, you’re given a bunch of brand-new mechanics and a brand new strategy to traverse the worlds of Destiny 2. 

Cloudy With a Chance of Darkness

Let’s speak about Rohan and Nimbus, the Cloudstriders, the protectors of Neomuna. There are all the time two of them, and so they solely stay for 10 years, a consequence of the heavy nano-augmentation they bear once they volunteer to turn out to be Cloudstriders. We spend the most time with Nimbus, the youthful counterpart to grim and grizzled Rohan, and each minute of it’s a blast. 

Destiny 2 has no scarcity of grizzled, stoic males and haunted, traumatized ladies. Nimbus is a breath of recent air, as a result of they’re none of these items. They’re shiny, bubbly, and nonbinary. They’re endearing and enthusiastic, with a way of youthful (and delightfully immature) humor that we simply don’t get sufficient of in Destiny 2. Voiced by sequence newcomer Marin Miller, Nimbus is the beating coronary heart of the Lightfall marketing campaign. 

Too usually we solely get the narrowest slices of story growth for Destiny 2’s supporting solid. But that’s one of the issues Lightfall excels at. We get lots of time with Nimbus. Over the course of the marketing campaign, we begin to understand that Nimbus’ exuberance isn’t just a few protection mechanism or immaturity. It’s a selection. 

In the face of cosmic horrors, Nimbus protects that youthful enthusiasm from the simple cynicism that comes with grief and loss. They have 10 years to stay, and so they’re going to stay each final one to the fullest. It’s a nuanced and compassionate efficiency, and even when issues get extra severe and grounded in the post-campaign story, it is nonetheless refreshing. I can’t wait to see extra Nimbus in the seasons to come back. 

A Few Loose Ends

Despite the whole lot I liked about Lightfall, ending up the marketing campaign felt like a reduction. By the finish, it felt like I’d carried out the similar missions just a few occasions over. Go shield the factor, get to the factor earlier than the unhealthy man. The most fascinating parts of Lightfall are sadly not the issues we spend the most time exploring. 

What is the Veil (past a justification to ship us to Neptune?) How did Neomuna get there? What’s the take care of Strand? What does the Witness actually need? Spending time with Nimbus and exploring the new Strand powers was tremendous enjoyable, however each time I completed a mission I felt myself trying off at the horizon the place the actual combat was taking place, wishing I used to be there as an alternative. 

Thankfully, after you end the marketing campaign in Lightfall you do get to go take part in that larger combat, and that is what the Season of Defiance is constructed round. Queen Mara of the Space Elves (oops, I imply the Awoken) wants your assist to free prisoners from the (in all probability well-manicured) arms of the Witness, and these missions are a blast. They’re thrilling, difficult, sort of spooky. Awesome. It’s like if you happen to needed to play by means of the Dreaming City earlier than you ever touched the storyline for Forsaken. No matter how good the Season of Defiance and Lightfall tales are, there’s an urgency hole between them which makes for some awkward pacing.