Destiny 2 Lightfall review: A disappointing start for the coming end

Lightfall is the penultimate expansion in the Light vs. Darkness Saga in Destiny 2. Ever since it was officially announced, there has been a lot of hype surrounding this expansion. Featuring significant plotline changes and many quality-of-life upgrades, this expansion was believed to herald the community into Destiny 3.

Personally, I think that the expansion has a lot of ups and downs, and I don’t know how to feel about it. From Neomuna to a brand new Darkness-based subclass, the new expansion brings several changes to the table, which can be a bit overwhelming at the beginning. However, you'll start getting used to it as you progress through the missions, explore new areas, and adapt to refined playstyles.

Calus invades Neomuna in search of the Veil

The Veil is an artifact that The Witness and The Vanguard have been searching for for some time now. Although Savathûn's Worm and, later on, Rasputin confirmed the location of this artifact, The Witness got to know about it when he touched the Traveler. This is the sole reason why he has sent Calus to Neptune to invade Neomuna while a part of the Black Fleet invades the Earth.

I won’t get into details about the overall storyline in Lightfall because many of you may not have completed the entire campaign yet, but it’s slightly disappointing to see how everything pans out.

I had several questions regarding the lore, especially during the Season of Plunder and the Season of the Seraph. Like many players worldwide, I thought that these questions would be answered in Lightfall, but sadly, they weren’t. Then again, knowing Bungie, major lore points are possibly tucked away in some weapon lore.

Neomuna is detailed, but there’s still no vertical gameplay (Image via Bungie)

Almost the entirety of the campaign takes place on Neomuna, barring the initial mission, during which you’ll be jumping from one spaceship to another to steal Cabal escape pods. Additionally, you'll be introduced to Strand when you arrive at this Golden Age City, but we’ll get to the new subclass later on in this article. In general, the story felt a bit bland and, most importantly, incomplete.

And in fly the Cloud Striders

What Guardians are to Earth, Cloud Striders are to Neomuna sans light. Throughout the campaign, I encountered two Cloud Striders, Nimbus and Rohan. It’s evident that these two individuals are strong, but the story tells us very little about them.

Moreover, back in the Beyond Light expansion, when we were introduced to Misraaks Kell and the House of Light, Misraaks had people with him. Although Neomuna is essentially a city, there are no people there. Not that it’s something mandatory, but seeing how the Neomuni (that’s what the city's people were referred to as by both Nimbus and Rohan) look, it would have certainly been a nice touch.

Strand

This is something that I was eagerly waiting for. It’s been a while since we’ve received a Darkness-based subclass, and I hoped Strand would be as powerful as Stasis. Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed.

One campaign mission, in particular, was designed to be a tutorial for Strand, which isn’t that bad of an idea. But unlike Stasis, which blended well with the storyline, Strand feels very forced. This subclass felt very strong during the campaign, but I found it to be weak when I began exploring the real world with it.

The expansion is called Lightfall, but the Light subclasses feel more robust than before, and Strand has to try quite hard to find a solid position within the subclass ranks. It seems like the developers intentionally made the subclass weak at launch to avoid the issues that they faced when Stasis went live.

The Strand Hunter super ability (Image via Bungie)

Don’t get me wrong, the Tangles, Threadlings, and Suspends are all fine. Even the Super abilities are good, and with the proper builds, the DPS output is certainly significant. But when it comes to cooldowns, that’s where the problem begins. The Grapple was being dubbed as a brand new traversal mechanic, but once you get to use it post-campaign, the cooldowns make it feel like another ability that you can only use every once in a while.

Yes, you can considerably reduce these cooldowns, but you still won’t have it when required. To put it into perspective, it’s like Spider-Man shoots a web line, swings with it, and must then wait for at least 25-30 seconds to shoot another web line. At most, it's a decent addition, but it's definitely not special.

Moreover, I felt there would be a lot of vertical gameplay once the Grapple was introduced because Bungie advertised it that way. Unfortunately, there's very little to no exciting aspect to grappling across the rooftops of Neomuna, barring a few region chests.

When you see a Tormentor, you run!

A Tormentor in Destiny 2 (Image via Bungie)

I feel I’ve talked enough about the downsides of Destiny 2 Lightfall. So, here are the good parts about the campaign. The Tormentor is a brand new enemy type that you'll come across in the latest expansion. The very first time I saw this enemy, it reminded me of Rhulk. In fact, it's more of a highly toned-down version of him. It doesn’t kick, but hits you with spinning disks of Void energy. And if you’re caught, it literally “drinks” your life force.

I like how Bungie added precise damage spots to this enemy. You cannot run and gun while these guys are on the field. I cannot wait to see what these enemies feel like in high-level activities. With the Root of Nightmares Raid coming up, I’m sure a Tormentor or two will be hiding on The Witness’ terraformed ship.

Regular rank-and-file enemies in Destiny 2 Lightfall (Image via Bungie)

Apart from these creatures of the Darkness, most of the other enemies are the regular rank-and-files that I keep coming across in other activities. They feel beefier than before, but that’s good because it adds to the challenge.

Loadouts and a new Mod Manager

I like how they took the mod dependency away from Ada-1. You won’t have to wait for ages for that one combat-style mod that turns your build into an enemy-crushing steam roller. From the very beginning, you'll have all mods unlocked.

Although I agree that it’s slightly different than the system available before this, and it might not be the same in terms of overall power output, it’s an excellent way to go about the entire build crafting aspect. Destiny 2 veterans might feel that the process is too simplified, but then again, I feel that this system of build crafting is essential, keeping in mind the new players who’ve only recently started playing the game.

The loadout manager in Destiny 2 Lightfall (Image via Bungie)

The previous build crafting system was sound because it gave players more control over every build aspect. However, it generally took some time to get the hang of the entire system, and you had to wait for weeks or even months at a stretch to get your hands on that one mod that could make or break your build.

I’m happy that the elemental armor affinities have been removed. I can now use one piece of high-stat gear for almost all my builds. The new mod manager screen makes life much easier when it comes to sharing builds.

Next up, we finally have a new loadout system. I won’t be alt-tabbing into DIM anymore, nor will I leave my fire team on the Dreadnaught before heading into orbit to change my build right before the Golgoroth encounter. The very fact that you can swap your armor and weapons on the fly without having to leave the activity is an element that I think most players greatly appreciate.

Audio, video, and everything else

The Pouka Pond at the Hall of Heroes in Neomuna (Image via Bungie)

As always, Bungie has outdone itself when it comes to the visuals in Destiny 2 Lightfall. The same goes for the audio as well. I was mesmerized by both these aspects while I was running around Neomuna, failing miserably at being Spider-Man.

The neon-themed city comes to life because of the music, and the ambiance of impending doom goes hand in hand with the expansion title. There’s not much to discuss here because it’s totally on point.

Interestingly, the 'Journey' tab in the Director replaces the 'Triumphs' tab. It looks cleaner than before, and I certainly like how it’s arranged. But the only thing that concerns me now is the Guardian Rank and Commendations systems.

The Guardian Rank system is meant to be a measure of the experience that a Guardian has, which in essence, is a good thing. However, I've been playing Destiny 2 religiously since Season of Arrivals, and I’m at Rank 6, and someone who’s started in the Season of Plunder is also at Rank 6.

I’m not saying that they aren’t a good player or should be ranked lower. All I’m trying to say is that I’m slightly confused because if it’s supposed to be a measure of experience, how is it that a person who started playing two seasons ago is as experienced as someone who’s been playing this game for over two years now?

These are all the commendations available in Destiny 2 Lightfall (Image via Bungie)

Regarding the commendation system, I understand that Bungie wants to be fair and combat toxicity. Nevertheless, at this point, everyone is just spamming whatever commendation they can to complete two challenges associated with the Guardian Ranks. I feel like this beats the purpose.

In conclusion

Overall, I won’t say Destiny 2 Lightfall is a decent expansion. The story pales in comparison to the Witch Queen and even Beyond Light. Strand was more of a disappointment. While the campaign didn’t live up to the expectations of most players, the Season of Defiance is an entirely different story.

It feels like Bungie has invested more time in Season of Defiance than the campaign itself. They finally got Devrim Kay to leave that crumbling church after all these years! Additionally, the Defiant Battlegrounds mode feels very good in terms of playability.

Since Destiny 2 is a live service game, many changes will likely arrive in the upcoming days and that’s something that I'm sure of. Although Strand does feel a bit weak right now, some Fragments are still locked. When these Fragments go live after the raid race ends, I think there’s a chance that the subclass will feel more powerful than it is right now.