Peter Hodges

Lightfall is an action packed expansion, but is let down by its lack-lustre story and sparse destination. But, a suite of quality of life updates, a fantastic new subclass and further improvements into the endgame make for a compelling experience, even if the narrative leaves something to be desired. The Lightfall campaign was marketed to be under the umbrella of a 80’s action movie, and as far as the gameplay is concerned it fulfils that objective. Missions are full of high octane moments, and the feature legendary difficulty presents a great challenge. Where Lightfall falls short is its story. Unfortunately, it just fails it hit the mark as a penultimate episode to the light and dark saga. Dialogue is scattered and shaky, leaving the player character lost at the central through line of the plot, and when the final credits roll, there is no satisfying conclusion or payoff. Much of the story is distracted by the new subclass, and teaching guardians to wield this power. But, that power is extremely satisfying. With Strand, the new darkness based subclass, players weave into psychic energy to wield cosmic power. Strand is focused on mobility and crowd control, and is another fantastic edition to the sandbox. Neomuna, the new destination, is sadly not so satisfying. While this hidden city on Neptune is beautiful, it sadly feels empty and lifeless. For an area touted for its neon skyscrapers, vertically designed spaces are both lacking and feel weak. Plus, the bloated design option of Destiny’s interconnected smaller zones is starting to become painfully obvious, and drags on the experience. Upon finishing the campaign, players will be presented with an expansive suite of endgame activities, quests, weapons to chase and an all new raid. All of these are great, and continue to show that while Bungie still hasn’t mastered its onboarding experience, they are the masters of creating engaging experiences for their most hardcore and dedicated fans. Finally, Lightfall brings a huge selection of improvements to its quality of life. Most notably, the new loadouts system allows players to seamlessly swap between gameplay styles, and the new modifications updates make it easier than ever ti create new builds and setups for your monster killing heroes. Lightfall isn’t the best Destiny expansion, but if you want an action focused deep RPG shooter; it serves you well. But, if you are seeking a sci-fi space opera, perhaps Lightfall will leave something to be desired.