As the name suggests, The Last City is the central hub of Destiny and is the only safe haven on Earth. Well, maybe safe haven isn’t the best description of the city and the state of civilization, especially considering the events at the beginning of Destiny 2, but it’s certainly better than what awaits those on the outskirts. The massive walls weren’t built for show, nor are they there to keep Titans out, but instead hostile alien races that have been left over from numerous battles following The Collapse. Most notably are The Fallen, but you’ll also see a monstrous species called The Hive on Earth, as well, due to their hideout being relatively close to the planet.

There are no new enemy species in Destiny 2. We still have the Fallen, Cabal, Vex and Hive, which are all returning from the Destiny 1 era. From a story perspective, how do you make enemies players have fought so many times over the past three years feel fresh?

Destiny is a game with strong lore that does a poor job of presenting it to players. Though Bungie vastly improved the game's story elements in The Taken King and Rise of Iron, it's with Destiny 2 where the developer is looking to make it's biggest strides yet. Featuring a full-fledged campaign, Adventures that tell their own sidestory and new lore items, the story team in Bellevue, Washington have had their hands busy. We got to sit down the Matthew Ward and Jason Harris, members of the Story and Cinematics team to discuss Destiny 2's plot.

Destiny’s sequel still has a stunning lack of features, of new things to do in and with its content. Where’s the variety of Crucible modes? Where are the custom lobbies? Where is Horde mode and strike scoring? What about customizable difficulty and gameplay modifiers? Why don’t we have any in-game systems we can use to challenge ourselves and our friends? If incentive is necessary, why not offer emblems for running strikes, story missions or even raids with certain modifiers turned on? How about a system to share or feature custom-made challenges and offer a small sum of Silver for popularity? Additional raids, strikes and explorable spaces are nice, but they don’t solve the problem. Features, things to do with that content, do solve the problem and Destiny 2 currently doesn’t even offer as many as its predecessor.

Destiny 2 has even managed to mess up its core gameplay. While the developers’ hearts were surely in the right place when they chose to streamline the gameplay in the name of accessibility and PvP balance, in practice most of their changes have done more harm than good. One can tell that PvP was the major focus, because the changes work quite well for it. No longer do players have to endure the frustration of shotgun metas and related internet page constantly getting mapped by sniper rifles. Reduced access to abilities and power/special weapons allows for slower engagements. They’ve opened the door for an improved Crucible experience. The problem is that these changes are downright awful for the rest of the game. As it stands, Destiny 2’s gameplay mechanics encourage the hoarding of abilities and ammo rather than their enjoyment.

Much of the gameplay changes lie under the hood. Primary, Special and Heavy weapon classifications have been replaced with Kinetic, Energy and Power weapon classifications. While many may lament the fact that Sniper Rifles, Fusion Rifles and Shotguns have been moved to the Power Weapon slot, the changes made to the classifications are ultimately smart. Players now have more viable weapons to choose from, making it easier to melt enemy shields with Energy Weapons, pound unshielded enemies with Kinectic Weaponry and better control crowds with Power Weapons. New gun types like the submachine gun and grenade launcher are thrown in to add more variety and are quite fun to use.

The final piece of DLC is more of an isolated incident on Earth, with a couple of overlaying issues after the fact. This takes the player to the Plaguelands, a sealed off area within the Cosmodrone that houses a familiar but new threat. You meet with Saladin Forge, the last remaining Iron Lord who seeks aid from the Guardians. For clarity, Iron Lords are essentially noble Guardians who have taken up the mantle to defend and rebuild civilization, protecting the walls of the Last City.

What is surprising is the antagonist, Gaul. Presented in trailers as a hulking brute, Gaul appeared to be a walking cliché. The end product is the complete opposite with Gaul having much more depth than anticipated. Gaul doesn’t get the amount of screen time he deserves, which is disappointing considering he’s the best part of the story. Completing the campaign can last anywhere between 6-8 hours, and that time is mostly filled with well-written and varied missions. Sure, some cookie-cutter missions are just there to pad out the length, but for the majority of missions, there’s more than enough context and agency to keep players going. One mission you may be driving a vehicle, in another you’re escorting a valuable object and then you may be teleporting around areas to save a friend. There’s a lot more variety on display in Destiny 2’s missions.