Destiny 2 The Edge of Fate pre-Raid review: A rocky but promising start to a new saga

Destiny 2 has officially taken one step into its new saga of story. While there has been a change in the release model for expansions and seasons, some players are still excited about what the good old world of Guardians has in store. With an overwhelmingly positive response from the community for The Final Shape, it was time for Bungie to reset and start anew.

Both in terms of the core game system and the all-important lore, it is now the dawn of a new era for Guardians, one that will be taken forward for the next years.

Following the footsteps of The Final Shape, Bungie’s task to outdo itself was near impossible, especially with something as fresh and unfamiliar as The Edge of Fate. None of us veterans knew what we were in for, let alone the new players, with most of us being skeptical.

As I have completed my first playthrough of The Edge of Fate campaign solo, in Legendary difficulty, alongside almost every side quest and power grind, it is safe to say that I have opinions.

The road to the new saga has been pretty bumpy in several places, but it kept me hooked with the new tale that has been one of Destiny 2’s best campaigns ever. That makes the experience even weirder, as the delightful narrative lacked other stronger pillars to hold the expansion together.

While I am happy that the story got the best start a new saga could have had, the forced gameplay mechanics and a hideous open world left a sour taste in my mouth.

So, how exactly is The Edge of Fate? That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? Is it worth your time? Is it worth returning to the complex world of Destiny? Let’s talk about it.

Disclaimer: At the time of writing this article, the raid is not out yet, so we have yet to see all the pieces of the puzzle. This is just an early impression.

Destiny 2 The Edge of Fate: A great narrative held back by mediocre gameplay

The best narrative a new saga can ask for

Let’s talk about the positives first. Several of us Guardians have been thoroughly invested in the Destiny 2 lore ever since the game’s launch, so it is only natural for us to care heavily for what Bungie puts out for the new saga.

The Edge of Fate is a solid start in terms of narrative. It presents the game’s longest story campaign in history, and honestly, I have no complaints. Without going too much into spoilers, let’s say that there were hardly any fillers throughout the 14 fairly long missions, each of which paced the story well. There wasn’t a time I was bored and didn’t care about a character’s line or a mission.

Destiny 2 laser path in campaign (Image via Bungie)

Every step we took in the Kepler had a solid impact on our next, which ultimately led to one of the best finale cutscenes in a campaign ever. While The Edge of Fate is nothing like The Final Shape or The Witch Queen, it would be unfair of us to compare a new saga’s campaign to an established one.

I can be confident here and say that anyone who has been following Destiny 2’s story will only have good things to say about The Edge of Fate’s narrative, myself included.

Gouge mission boss fight in Destiny 2 (Image via Bungie)

The Edge of Fate narrative gets a massive thumbs up from me.

Power grind and portal feel fresh

The power grind and the new portal system are some of the primary features of this expansion. Since every player has been brought down to 10 power level, farming for higher power until the soft cap feels familiar, but with a fresh twist. I like the portal system, as it gives me the choice to go completely solo, meaning that it doesn’t even have matchmaking on.

I also like the fact that these solo missions have been tailor-made for one player, and not just a random past mission thrown in with lowered difficulty — devoid of any changes.

Destiny 2 Portal screen (Image via Bungie)

Additionally, I can choose to farm for gear pieces with my clanmates or with strangers. I can modify the difficulty to drop even higher power gear from the activity, and the best part is, I can do it as many times as I want. This is where the grind feels “fresh,” as I do not have to load up the same old Strikes from the Destination map or the Vanguard node.

Although I do question Bungie’s decision to take away a meta farm that allowed players to quickly power up. Regardless, I will take the current variation of activities that reset daily over the old grind within the same activities any day.

Solo Ops screen in Destiny 2 (Image via Bungie)

The portal and the new power grind get a thumbs up from me.

A hideous open world that could easily have been avoided

Kepler's open world map in Destiny 2 (Image via Bungie)

Now, on to the negatives. One of the primary features I look forward to in a new Destiny expansion is the open world that will come along with all the other content. There haven’t been many Destiny open worlds in the past that made me not want to explore. In fact, I usually go out of my way to find the better parts of a patrol region, just because I love exploring in video games.

Kepler, however, has little to no redeeming qualities as an open world, and it makes me irate. It is ugly on the outside, and the closed cave systems covering almost 80% of the entire region aren’t doing anything better.

Kepler's open world in Destiny 2 (Image via Bungie)

Sure, the open world is big and covers a lot of area, so you can expect tons of secrets, collectibles, and explorable regions. But will you enjoy the exploration? I highly doubt it.

Beyond Light’s Europa had the beautiful snowy terrains with ice caves and a deep Exobray facility.

The Witch Queen’s domain had a variety, with a swamp on one side and pretty architecture with bright crimson grasses on the other.

Despite Lightfall’s disastrous launch, the expansion presented one of the best open-world areas in the form of a new Cyberpunk-themed region.

And lastly, The Final Shape gave us a whole new world to explore inside the traveler, with three completely different regions with depth.

But, when it comes to The Edge of Fate, it’s just a rocky cave, a corrupted yellow cave, with even more caves, and sometimes occasional open areas that are severely lacking any inspiration. One can only hope Renegades get things right, and Destiny 2 becomes more fun in the open-world exploration department.

Just one of many cave systems in Destiny 2's Kepler (Image via Bungie)

Kepler's open world gets a strong thumbs down from me.

Matterspark and the other open world upgrades are…ok at best

Destiny 2 Matterspark in the open world (Image via Bungie)

Matterspark, Mattermorph, and Relocator are a part of the Kepler open world that will help you traverse through different corners. It is one of those features that will feel annoying during the campaign, but will soon turn into “whatever, I guess it’s fine” when you’re exploring Kepler.

This obviously has to do with the fact that you cannot use your vehicle in Kepler, and the only mode of transport is being a ball.

In any case, Bungie’s obsession with introducing a campaign mechanic and then forcing players to use it throughout the game doesn’t seem to end. At the very least, using Matterspark didn’t feel as bad as using Strand in Lightfall.

Matterspark in Destiny 2 campaign (Image via Bungie)

But it would have been nice if I could have continued blazing through enemies using my weapons, and not gotten interrupted by a Matterspark mechanic.

Matterspark gets a small thumbs down.

Seeing how we are yet to get the Raid in this expansion, and the fact that we didn’t fully experience all the content The Edge of Fate has to offer, it would be unfair to put a score in this review. As it stands, Destiny 2’s new expansion has a great start to its story, with a fairly decent grinding system that will keep players engaged for more seasons and expansions to come.

However, the open world is a huge letdown, which I won’t be going back to once I am done exploring all the secrets and finishing all the side quests.

Note that this article is a review-in-progress, and we'll update it once The Desert Perpetual and all other content releases after the contest mode.

Reviewed on: PC (Steam)

Release Date: July 15, 2025

Publishers/Developers: Bungie

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About the author

Soumyadeep is a Journalist on Esports & Gaming at Sportskeeda, specializing in Destiny 2 and Gacha games. He holds a diploma in Computer Science and is also keen on game development. He enjoys spending his free time learning new languages and digging into MMORPGs, manga, and light novels.

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Edited by Soumyadeep Banerjee