Destiny 2: Shadowkeep Review (PC)

What better time to start playing Destiny 2 than Halloween. Shadowkeep, the first post-Activision expansion released by Bungie, does a very good job of creating the eerie atmosphere that I felt the first time landed on the Moon in Destiny 1.

It's hard to talk about the Shadowkeep expansion without mentioning the important overhauls to the game that came with it. In fact, all the free improvements made to the game completely overshadow an underwhelming story.

Switching to a free-to-play business model forced Bungie to rework entire gameplay mechanics and change how many aspects of the game work. The most important change is the removal of the level system, which was replaced with the new Seasonal Reward Track, also known as battle pass.

It's a surprisingly well-implemented system that encourages players actively pursue progress, as just about everything that you do now in Destiny 2 will count towards your battle pass progression. Each time you “level up,” you unlock worthwhile rewards. Not to mention that the progression curve is quite accessible, so you won't have to play more when you reach closer to the end of the battle pass.

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The battle pass system is complemented by a seasonal artifact that levels up as you get more experience. The higher the level of the seasonal artifact, the more Power bonuses you get. Moreover, the seasonal artifact unlocks seasonal mods that are mandatory for some activities like taking out Champions on higher levels of difficulty of the reworked Nightfall strike.

Another important addition to Destiny 2 is the so-called Armor 2.0 system, which basically removes the randomness of the perks that armors usually came with, in previous iterations of the game. Each armor now has a randomized number o points that can be assigned to different stats. Speaking of stats, the amount has been almost doubled, as Bungie added Strength, Discipline, and Intellect from the original game.

To add another layer of customization, mods are now permanent, which means that you can now remove them from an armor that you want to replace. There's also an energy system that lets you slot a mod into armor as long as you have enough energy stored. The new systems open up new opportunities for theorycrafters, something that wasn't possible before Shadowkeep.

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But all these gameplay changes, along with some much-needed visual improvements are available to all players for free. The only things that you'll be getting by purchasing Shadowkeep are the option to play through the expansion's story-based missions and some exotic quests, as well as access the new raid, and the Vex Offensive seasonal event. Also, there's a premium track of the battle pass which becomes available once you acquire the Shadowkeep pass.

Story-wise, Shadowkeep is quite disappointing. Although every time Bungie teases a new expansion I get excited, the studio fails to deliver every single time. Shadowkeep is no exception, so don't get your hopes too high when it comes to the narrative if you plan to buy the expansion.

Apart from the fact that the main story is on the short side, it's just as generic as many of the previous ones. Eris Morn, an ex-guardian who lost her ghost. She's a rather strange Hunter who usually works for Ikora and somehow disturbed a mysterious force beneath the surface of the Moon.

If you've played Destiny 1, you'll probably recognize some of the locations on the “new” Moon. Yes, Bungie has decided that we should return on the Moon for the next chapter in the Destiny 2 saga. Veterans will most likely feel familiar, but everything has been changed enough that it feels like a new map now. Also, the vibe is rather spooky and eerie rather than simply mysterious.

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Shadowkeep's story is told throughout six main missions that happen on the moon. All of them require players to hunt down “Nightmares,” throwbacks bosses from Destiny universe created by the evil force beneath the Moon. Some missions are gated behind various activities that you are forced to perform to be able to progress the story. You'll have to complete a certain amount of patrols or other activities on the Moon to “cleanse” the essences these “Nightmare” drop, which will then let Eris Morn assemble a new armor set that will allow you access to the strange pyramid beneath the Moon.

Even though Bungie explained that this is just the beginning of a much larger story arc that will continue throughout the season, it's still too thin to justify the launch of a full-fledged expansion. The best thing about Shadowkeep is the new Garden of Salvation raid, which isn't as long as some of the previous raids but does provide a challenging last encounter. Also, the new Vex Offensive six-player activity has been designed to be accessible to players who aren't hardcore but would like a taste of a raid-like activity.

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