Destiny 2: Beyond Light is a significant expansion to the role-playing game published by video game developer Bungie. Destiny 2: Beyond Light, released on November 10, 2020, is available for download on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia. Destiny 2: Beyond Light is a thrilling, action-packed first-person shooter video game that came as the fifth expansion of Destiny 2’s life cycle. 

For many reasons, Destiny 2: Beyond Light feels like a turning point in the Destiny Franchise. Much has changed, as it comes with a fresh look at the universe that Bungie has built. Bungie was very prudent in doing away with many features of Destiny 2: Beyond Light’s predecessors while introducing the setting of a newer and more refreshing era. 

Beyond Light does not start as a continuation of where its predecessor left off. Instead, players are faced with new quests, weapons, challenges, skills, subclasses, and locations. Even the music has been changed, giving the game a contemporary and entirely foreign feel. Destiny 2: Beyond Light takes players further into the nature of the Darkness, the truth behind the hazy principles of the Guardians and their relentless enemies.

Gameplay 

Destiny 2: Beyond Light has managed to maintain the general and basic gameplay seen in the rest of the franchise, Destiny 2: Beyond Light follows the experience of a Guardian who draws power from a source referred to as Light. With Light, the guardian, the player gets superhuman powers and skills of all sorts, including the ability to regenerate. 

Beyond Light expertly switches points of view between first-person and third-person shooter gameplay. Despite being a multiplayer online game entirely, Destiny 2: Beyond Light still operates with a mix of player versus player and player versus environment activities. Players can have as many as three active characters, each selected from the main classes provided: Hunter, Titan, and Warlock. Cooperative efforts include missions that follow a story, bounty missions, special seasonal events, and raids. 

Players can also get involved in competitive activities involving Guardians playing against each other as separate teams or in the Crucible. Rewards come in the form of new weapons and additional armour, alongside other resources that may be used to secure character upgrades. Destiny 2: Beyond Light has added another type of elemental damage to the previously existing trio: Arc, Solar, and Void. The newly added damage type is known as Stasis. The newly included Stasis features damage types based on power drawn from the Darkness.

The Darkness Saves The Day

Playing Destiny 2: Beyond Light was an experience filled with surprises. Stasis was undoubtedly one of the most astonishing surprises offered throughout my experience. Proving to be quite a handy tool, the new damage type offers impressive subclasses to the three classes provided. For example, Stasis produces ice and col-based damage. 

This affects Warlock’s Shadebinder, the Hunter’s Revenant, and the Titan’s Behemoth. With the Warlock’s Shadebinder, you can summon a powerful icy staff that shoots out icy missiles to stun, freeze, and shatter enemies. The Titan’s Behemoth can strike down enemies by sending icy tremors through the ground with a mighty ice gauntlet. The Hunter’s Revenant can channel the power of ice to produce a powerful pair of double kamas made of ice which can be thrown to destabilise and freeze enemies.

Missions and Strikes to Keep You On Your Toes

Destiny 2: Beyond Light features the removal of five-game destinations in the predecessors of the franchise. These eliminated destinations have been replaced by a new destination, Jupiter’s moon Europa, the birthplace of the Exos. The newly included Europa also consists of the Clovis Bray facility, which is now the location for the recently incorporated raid mission, Deep Stone Crypt.

Another newly included mission is a grand return of one of the first raids of the original game version called The Vault of Glass raid. It has been set up with improvements to gameplay and settings. Beyond Light also features an exotic Rimed ghost shell and a legendary emblem with a “Freeze Tag” emote. Guardians are also now allowed to re-obtain any quests that were abandoned via the quest archive. All non-exotic weapons and gear are fitted with a power infusion cap and armour synthesis, allowing Guardians to convert previously owned armour to armour parts added to new armour parts.

Weapons to Fight Against The Opposition

The list of weapons I found in Destiny 2: Beyond Light was interesting, to say the least. At the same time, Bungie brought their A-game with some awe-inspiring weapon designs, their decision to cut out tons of pre-existing content left Beyond Light feeling a little bare. It appears that they realised this and ended up restoring many old guns in addition to their more than 20 new weapons. 

The enemies are now more fired up than ever, meaning that your arsenal needs to be powerful enough to hold them off. My favourite weapons included in this expansion were the Cloudstrike, The Lament, and the most amusing – the No Time To Explain, which is a welcomed reference to a famous line by the Exo Stranger, Elsie Bray, from the pioneer instalment in the Destiny game franchise.

Destiny 2: Beyond Light also features new strikes, which are Cosmodrome and Proving Grounds. These latest strikes were introduced to the existing strikes: The Will of Crota, renamed The Disgraced, The Devil’s Lair, and Fallen S.A.B.E.R.