Garden of Salvation isn't quite the equal of the massive Forsaken raid, Last Wish, but it's a highlight of Shadowkeep for certain. More Like This. Shadowkeep also fails to provide a weapons refresh as Destiny 2 did with all of its other major expansions, like Forsaken. Shadowkeep improves Destiny 2 in a wide assortment of ways and gives dedicated fans a taste of things to come from an independent Bungie, but it’s ultimately just a taste. It’s that time of year again. It's an improvement that makes the game's core loop of constantly chasing new gear feel like it matters to how you play the game--and it's one Destiny desperately needed. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, a new chapter for Destiny 2, reunites you with an old ally to confront new nightmares. I’m less impressed by the Vex Offensive, a new activity for Destiny 2 which is a simple series of arena battles against hordes of Vex. That’s a boon for people like me who were becoming overwhelmed by the ever-growing weekly checklist of activities to complete. To make it clear, Destiny 2 is still an engaging shooting game that – if you step back and take stock of everything it has to offer – is full of things to do. This should keep us busy for a while. 7. Destiny 2 sees Bungie taking everything it learned over a period of three years, and refining almost all of its systems, while making a few things worse. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep Review: Moon's Haunted and So Is My Playtime. The activity itself requires a little more teamwork than the usual Destiny 2 event, without being impossible to do if you're matchmaking alone. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep PS4 Review. By Kai Powell. Privacy Policy, Now Playing: Destiny 2: Shadowkeep Video Review. It's one of the shorter raids with only four encounters, but includes big, exciting pieces, like a chase through a field exploding with enemy fire and a Gambit-like boss battle that requires teams to split into multiple groups to gather items and defend against team-wiping attacks. While things slow down significantly during the post-soft cap climb, progress feels steady through the game's decent variety of activities, especially with the addition of Vex Offensive. Shadowkeep succeeds with … The new seasonal leveling system, which grants rewards for playing just about any activity, is a nice addition for hardcore fans who are always hungry for more things to chase, but really makes it hard on anyone who doesn’t pay for the premium version via the season pass. Some of the raid’s encounters are so mechanically demanding it took my fireteam many hours to get through them, but I’m sure by next week someone will have found a way to kill every boss solo using an exploit or something. Gameplay. Where Forsaken fixed a bunch of stuff because it had to, Shadowkeep purposefully adds to … & XONE, Armor and weapon customization allows for more gameplay experimentation, Leveling changes and season pass make grinding feel more meaningful, Destiny 1 areas are nicely nostalgic but still give returning players lots to discover, The moon is a great place to explore thanks to its spooky atmosphere, Story campaign is quick and a little thin, New activities are fun but aren't as substantial as previous additions. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep DLC Review for PlayStation 4 17/10/2019 0 By Josh shoup Spread the love. We had trouble understanding what to do, what order to do it in, and where to go to do it as a lot of the quality of life changes that were made to Destiny 2 … That means parts of the expansion feels a bit truncated--it teases more to come, but leaves some of Shadowkeep a bit unsatisfying. Phil Hornshaw has spent around 45 hours so far in Destiny 2 Shadowkeep on PC and PS4 Pro, including a fun but failed attempt to beat Garden of Salvation on day one. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep Review. Value. Details . In this latest major installment of the Destiny universe, Shadowkeep takes players back to the surface of the moon to revisit old haunts. Vendors offer the same gear they’ve been hawking for the past year or longer, meaning your only new sources of gear are the few new sets found in Shadowkeep’s new activities. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep Review. While its campaign is enjoyable in the moment, Destiny 2: Shadowkeep never manages to truly shake the fact that we already went to the Moon five years ago. Review in Progress: Destiny 2: Shadowkeep. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep brings players back to the moon and it invites them to explore. You need a javascript enabled browser to watch videos. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep review. Good. Where Shadowkeep’s campaign hits a low point is with its length. Audio. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, a new chapter for Destiny 2, reunites you with an old ally to confront new nightmares. This explansion adds new missions & quests, a new dungeon, new weapons and gear to earn, an all-new raid, and more. Shadowkeep and the new Season of the Undying content launches alongside Destiny 2’s free-to-play New Light, which welcomes an influx of players, but also comes with the commensurate focus on the in-game store, and cosmetic items that cost more than they should. Even so, there’s a lot to love about the improvements to customization and it’s hard not to get excited about the story Shadowkeep sets up, even if it doesn’t develop it very far this time. The campaign, however, underwhelming. Returning to the moon is full of spooky fun, and while Shadowkeep might not be as huge as Forsaken, it still provides some impressive additions to the world that will take time to fully explore. 7.9. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep Review. What better time to start playing Destiny 2 than Halloween. Tweaking my abilities to create the perfect murder cocktail is rewarding in its own right. But is looking back the way forward for Destiny? Here, Eris has learned that the death-worshipping faction, the Hive, has discovered something on the moon that's conjuring up phantoms of past foes and allies, returning deadly facsimiles of them to life. 7.9. In fact, so much of Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is about returning locations, enemies, and mechanics that it gets to the point where it actually embraces it. Everything earns you experience to advance your battle pass and artifact, and the latter of which contributes to your characters' overall Power level, so there's a lot less wasted time chasing useless rewards. Driving that focus is the new approach to weapon and armor mods, which allows you to mix and match elements that were previously unmovable perks on particular pieces of gear. Shadowkeep succeeds with … & PC 6 years, 8 months Sorry, but you can't access this content! Destiny 2: Shadowkeep Review. Bungie has released yet another package of DLC, this time to crown some major innovative changes to the game. Destiny 2 is a live game, and Shadowkeep adds dozens of new elements and tweaks to much of what’s already there that it could be some time before we feel comfortable giving this expansion a score. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep review-in-progress: Fly me to the moon Destiny 2 moved to Steam and released a new expansion on the same day. Shadowkeep represents a shift in the fundamentals of Destiny 2, and that has only improved the game. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is a big step in the right direction for Destiny, even when it feels like the first chapter in a larger story and subjects you to a brutal grind. The system provides a lot of opportunities to think about and develop character builds; more than I've been doing through most of the five years I've played Destiny. Need to know. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep October 1st, 2019. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep brings guardians back to the moon in this haunting and gargantuan update that adds a ton of new and all around fun features to give Destiny players a … Destiny 2: Shadowkeep made a pretty bad first impression, because it was literally impossible to play at launch.In hindsight, launching a free-to-play version of Destiny 2 at the same time as a brand new expansion might not have been Bungie's smartest play, and its servers buckled under the strain of so many new and returning players to create six long hours of downtime. It's hard to overstate how much better Destiny 2 has become in the last year. It is cool, however, to hang out on the moon, especially because its spooky factor has gone up. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep PS4 Review. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep Review. If Shadowkeep makes anything crystal clear, it’s that it was built for the hardcore audience that’s stuck with Destiny 2 for years through good times and bad, even if its new features run the risk of confusing and alienating new players. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is a big step in the right direction for Destiny, even when it feels like the first chapter in a larger story and subjects you to a brutal grind. As a result, you never feel stalled, no matter what part of the game you're playing. Eris is back, you return to the D1 location of the moon, which we haven't seen in two years, and you fight slightly watered-down versions of big bad guys you've previously defeated, such as Dark Below raid boss Crota and Destiny 2 vanilla boss Ghaul. What is it? Twinfinite reviews Destiny 2: Shadowkeep for PS4, Xbox One and PC. 7.9. admin. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep Review. For better or worse, this is just more Destiny, and that’s a positive for those enamoured with the franchise, but anyone who was hoping for a more dramatic overhaul of its core systems and mechanics will be left wanting. The first Destiny 2 expansion since the base game became free is also Bungie’s first without Activision, as Shadowkeep returns to the Moon. Shadowkeep has one of the shortest campaigns that Destiny 2 has ever seen, which is a huge disappointment given the quality of the writing that is there. We encourage you to read our updated PRIVACY POLICY and COOKIE POLICY. I’m in the former camp, I’ve taken down Cayde’s killers, forged many exotic weapons and have been called a snitch from the Drifter more times than I … Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos. 4.3 Eerie Masterpiece! These are improvements that represent a giant leap forward for Destiny 2. Depend on to pay $35/£30 Developer Bungie Author Bungie Reviewed on GeForce GTX 1070, 16GB RAM, i5-6600okay Multiplayer MMO-ish Site Official site. Twinfinite reviews Destiny 2: Shadowkeep for PS4, Xbox One and PC. © 2020 GAMESPOT, A RED VENTURES COMPANY. 7.9. The good news here is that the content Shadowkeep does add is largely great, even if it feels like there’s too little of it, and Bungie has a content calendar that promises more coming in the future, all of which is built into the $30 cost of this expansion. Much of the experience of live service games like Destiny 2 is in the continued chase after better gear and more power in the endgame. Publisher Bungie. Like last season's Menagerie, it has the feeling of being a lighter, easier raid-like activity that's more accessible for those who aren't quite hardcore enough to take on Garden of Salvation. October 15, 2019 Uncategorized Leave a comment. The campaign, however, underwhelming. With important changes to Destiny’s sandbox and an added focus on RPG mechanics, customization, and high-end loot to chase, Shadowkeep is a big step in the right direction in a lot of ways, but also feels like it’s setting Destiny 2 up for a bright future that isn’t quite here yet. Once you’ve burned through it, you’re met with a massive grind that makes up the bulk of this expansion. Hopefully, this activity will be iterated upon in the future or at least have different bosses each week, but for now my advice is to avoid it altogether or watch something on your phone while grinding it out. Shadowkeep ends up feeling like the first act of a larger story. Gameplay. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is a big step in the right direction for Destiny, even when it feels like the first chapter in a larger story and subjects you to a brutal grind. It's also clearly the first part of a much larger tale, one that Bungie says will play out over the entire year. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is a big step in the right direction for Destiny, even when it feels like the first chapter in a larger story and subjects you to a brutal grind. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep DLC review by Mick Fraser on . Up to the soft Power level cap, every drop is a useful one--giving you a chance to try out a host of different weapons and armor in various circumstances before you get to Shadowkeep's toughest content. Vex Offensive, a new six-player wave-based activity that dropped alongside the raid, helps to round out the amount of stuff Shadowkeep gives you to do for its first season. More Like This. More Reviews by Travis Northup. To make it clear, Destiny 2 is still an engaging shooting game that – if you step back and take stock of everything it has to offer – is full of things to do. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep Review – Free to Play, Free to Grow. By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's The lack of new loot and a so-so campaign weighs down an otherwise solid expansion for Destiny 2. The ride from Destiny's original alpha period through the lifetime of the sequel has been both bumpy and … By Megan Crouse | October 16, 2019 | … Reviewed On PlayStation 4 Pro. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is a lot of old content covered by a coat of paint that can barely be considered new, but thanks to the general update of a few game systems and a decent amount of recreational therapy with which you can increase your Light Level, this expansion definitely makes Destiny 2 a better, bigger game. Though Bungie has maintained a parade of events and updates for the game throughout 2019, they set themselves a rather high … Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is the first major expansion for the popular MMO shooter since developer Bungie’s split from Activision Blizzard in January. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is a new start for Destiny 2, a refinement of Forsaken’s game-changing updates intended to catapult Destiny into the future. Destiny 2 Shadowkeep It's not quite on the level of The Taken King or Forsaken, but Shadowkeep feels like a major step forward for Destiny 2. Review in Progress: Destiny 2: Shadowkeep - Chris Carter Bungie delays Destiny 2's Shadowkeep expansion by two weeks - Brett Makedonski Destiny 2's next expansion, Shadowkeep… Simply put, this mode is a bland, monotonous grind that doesn’t provide much of a challenge, any interesting mechanics to master, or anything that helps advance the story. Good. By Destiny 2: Shadowkeep Review. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is the latest expansion for Bungie’s troubled sequel, its first since splitting with publisher Activision alongside the simultaneous Free to Play re-launch of the base game entitled New Light and represents, perhaps unsurprisingly, a fresh start and a statement of intent for the franchise going forward. The biggest changes focus on making character builds a more important part of the experience, giving you a chance to experiment with weapons and armor not just to make your character more powerful in general, but more powerful in ways that specifically meet your particular play style and needs. What’s worse is that some of those new activities don’t seem to have exclusive drops, like the unique weapons found in Forsaken’s Strikes. Platform PC PlayStation 4 Xbox One. Bungie has said this approach is how it wants to handle the game going forward, and Shadowkeep represents a big step in that direction. Copious new features and content to match. But in true Destiny fashion, the end of Shadowkeep’s campaign is largely where the larger experience begins, in the form of endgame activities and a grind more threatening than any raid boss could ever hope to be. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep reviewed on Xbox One X by Travis Northup. There doesn’t seem to be a way to own Shadowkeep without also owning the pass for this season, but in future seasons this could be a bit of a headache, especially when important rewards like exotic weapons are a part of this system. With Armor 2.0 and the new weapon mod system, you can move those perks (now as individual mods) between armor sets to build a few pieces of gear with exactly the capabilities you want. The early leveling system has been improved significantly as well, making the climb to the endgame a lot more reasonable. 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