Destiny 2: Shadowkeep: The Nightmare of the Grind.

Destiny 2 has remained unplayed since I finished my review of the Black Armory DLC, the mini-content drops not being anywhere near enough to tempt me back to the fold. When I started hearing rumours of Shadowkeep though I was hopeful for another injection of content like Forsaken; something to shake up the formula a bit and provide enough incentive for me to invest some solid hours back into Destiny again. The reality isn’t quite like that even though, given that I haven’t played for almost a year at this point, the number of changes to Destiny 2 in the interim are on par with those that Forsaken none of them are really focused on a player like me. Couple that with Shadowkeep being a new breed of expansion that’s not dependent on previous releases, set on a previous location from Destiny 1, you’re left with this weird mix of new and old. To be sure it’s far better than the mini-DLC drops that come with the various season passes but it’s lacking that same X-factor that really sucked me deep in with Forsaken.

Eris Morn has ventured deep into the caverns of the moon, seeking out a strange energy signal that’s been scratching away at the edge of her mind for some time. The Hive have also reawakened on the moon, having been dormant ever since the guardians slew Crota which brought the wrath of Oryx to our solar system. It’s down here that you discover the Pyramid, a relic of the time when the darkness was encroaching on our world, only to be pushed back at the last moment by the Traveler when it forged the guardians. Now horrendous nightmares of all sorts roam freely across the solar system, tormenting everyone with visions of close ones who’ve passed and bringing back shadows of fallen enemies. It is time once again Guardian to venture into the unknown and face the purest form of the darkness you’ve yet encountered.

Shadowkeep doesn’t bring with it any visual upgrades per se, however it does take the old Moon world and revamp it significantly. The same areas that I spent countless hours farming Helium Coils in are now far better rendered than I ever remembered them being before. That’s likely due in no small part to me playing it through a not-so-great capture card from my PS4 but still, the difference is night and day. The game still runs incredibly well, even with the newer encounters that throw insane numbers of enemies at you. After coming off The Surge 2 I had the terrible thought that my rig wasn’t really up to graphics like this anymore but thankfully I was mistaken.

If you’re like me and only just coming back to Destiny after some time then there’s going to be a slew of changes thrown at you, a lot of which are utterly meaningless in the grand scheme of things. The numerous events that have happened between then and now are still around such as Gambit Prime, the Vex Invasions, the Forges and a bunch of other things that I’m probably forgetting. The UI changes are definitely for the better, even if my muscle memory of where things used to be is now useless making some interactions an exercise in frustration. The light cap is now theoretically unlimited due to the introduction of an “artefact” item which everyone gets, adding to your power level as you gain XP. However the main caps are 950 for most gear and then 960 for “pinnacle” level loot which is essentially supposed to be a grind for those players who really need something to do. However given the fact I’ve seen numerous 960+ characters already shows that it’s not really that bad if you’re committed to it but the grind for us single character, not a lot of time to spare guys is going to be a lot tougher unfortunately.

There’s no changes to the underlying combat, that’s as great as it has ever been, but the stat and mod system has been reworked substantially. Now we’re very much into RPG territory as there’s a bunch of stats to min/max, mods to use in varying combinations and encounters that will demand you run certain builds in order to progress. This is something that the hardcore Destiny community has been requesting for sometime and so I don’t really begrudge Bungie for putting it in. For us plebs (and according to Wasted on Destiny at least half of you have played less than me) it does mean that part of the game is locked away from you behind a, thankfully somewhat easier, grind. Now I haven’t been playing since release, I think I’m into about week 3 or so, but I’m only up to light level 920ish with 20 hours in. My gut feel is it’s couple more weeks before I can get capped so I can raid. Whilst that’s not completely out of line with Forsaken what’s missing is that hook to keep me coming back. Forsaken had the ever evolving Dreaming City which was the perfect way to keep on motivating you to come back. Shadowkeep though? There’s really not much there, despite the massive reveal of the Pyramid.

To be sure there’s no end of stuff to do in there, hell I can easily lose a couple hours chasing down a couple powerful pieces of loot, but I’m not the kind of player where Destiny is my only game. If I had my way I’d definitely favour the older style system where getting raid ready didn’t take too long, a couple weeks of dedicate play for a single character solo player like myself, and then the optimisation for the raid would begin as you slowly amassed gear from it and honed your skills on the encounters. I know I’m likely in the minority of wanting something like that but if the grind isn’t going to provide me some level of satisfaction, either through meaningful progress or tidbits of lore and story, then I don’t have much else to drive me through it.

I’d probably be a little less pissy about it if the Pyramid wasn’t such a giant lore cock tease. For the uninitiated there’s been concept art of The Darkness floating around ever since the original Destiny and, you guessed it, it’s all about pyramids. To be sure there’s definitely something bigger brewing that’ll likely be revealed in this season’s DLC but I feel like this was a missed opportunity to use a massive reveal like that to create another Dreaming City like experience. Gargh, maybe I’m overthinking this.

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is a kind of middle of the road expansion/DLC, not being a small content drop like Black Armory but still being nowhere near as big as Forsaken was. For those players who’ve been with Destiny 2 throughout the last year it’s likely the content injection they’ve been craving, a new set of goals for them to throw themselves against. For player like me though it’s probably too much and not enough all at the same time; the numerous little events that have occurred in the past year thrown at you all at once whilst the new shiny thing sort of blurs into the mix. Personally I’m a little disappointed in myself for setting my expectations so high but also at Destiny for not doing enough to meet them, even halfway. To be sure I’d prefer this kind of expansion over mini-DLCs any day of the week but I’d also rather spend a good chunk of change on a Forsaken like experience every year, if I was able.

Rating: 8.25/10

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is available on PC, XboxOne and PlayStation 4 right now for $54.95. Total play time in Shadowkeep was 20 hours putting the total time in Destiny 2 at approximately 191 hours.