Destiny 2: The Final Shape Review (Bone3ater)
Destiny 2 The Final Shape delivered a (mostly) satisfying finale to the decade-long Light and Darkness saga. The story is one of the better ones Bungie has told - certainly better than the fever dream that was Lightfall. It brings long-standing threads to a (mostly) meaningful conclusion and gives beloved characters the moments they deserve.
The gameplay remains top-tier. The introduction of Prismatic subclasses adds a creative new layer to buildcrafting, encouraging experimentation and blending class fantasies in fresh ways. New weapons feel punchy and fun, with standout exotics and legendaries that breathe new life into core combat. The visual setpieces are still stunning and the soundtrack is good as well.
But then, as always with Destiny, the cracks start to show the longer you play.
Even after The Final Shape, Destiny 2 remains burdened by the same predatory live service model that’s plagued it for years. Aggressive microtransactions are omnipresent. Paid seasonal content is both costly and fleeting - disappearing forever after a few months, despite being tightly woven into the narrative. The game still leans heavily on FOMO and an exhausting grind that demands and claws at your precious free time rather than respecting it.
After finishing The Final Shape and dipping into the first free seasonal content, I slowly realized that I was done. This expansion was my personal drop-off point - not out of disappointment with the expansion itself, but because it made me realize how much I resented the larger structure that kept Destiny going for years at this point.
It's like eating a delicious meal in a restaurant that charges you for silverware, locks half of your meal behind a paywall, throws it into the trash if you don’t eat it fast enoughy then gives you a few slaps in the face and the next day you find out most of the cooks and servers were fired.
Destiny 2 remains one of the most fun games I ever played and simultaneously one of the most frustrating games to engage with. The Final Shape is the end for me and I sincerely hope I’ve finally weaned myself off of this particular live-service product so I can tackle my backlog of games instead of being actively farmed by corpos for their MAU's reports or by contributing to some faceless, privileged, unrelatable, workaholic CEO's vintage car collection lmao. I already do that by working for my boss, thanks.
Seriously tho, why do you need a vintage car collection? You know what I would do with that kind of money? Immediately stop working forever, invest most of it, live off of the interest and have a nice life till I die. And not fire my cooks and servers who also have a life and no vintage car collection. But I digress.
As the last point I want to make a special mention to the late Lance Reddick whose iconic portrayal of Commander Zavala left a lasting mark on Destiny and its community. His unmistakable voice gave Zavala depth and (at least later) humanity, anchoring the Vanguard through years of chaos and change.
I still fondly remember his performance in Season of the Witch where we finally got some actual backstory to the character. Which honestly makes it even WORSE that this content and his performance is forever unaccessible in-game.
He portrayed a commanding presence and strength. His voice gave Zavala depth and his loss is deeply felt. While no voice could truly replace his, I want to sincerely thank Keith David for stepping into the role with grace and respect. His performance honors the legacy Lance left behind and I can't think of another voice actor who could've continued this role as well as he has.