90%PC
10h 30m Played
Ive been looking forward to the final shape for years now, the conclusion to the story that I started all the way back in 2015 between the taken king and rise of iron, at the ripe old age of 10 years old. Ive been playing destiny off and on for 9 years straight, and just like everyone else, I was excited to see everything come to an end. I ended up getting my boyfriend into this game as well, which led to me replaying all expansions from shadowkeep onwards, which led me to a few conclusions. FIrst off, shadowkeep and especially lightfall arent really that bad. Secondly, Witch queen is not as good as I remember. And lastly, beyond light is literally terrible. If you take all of these conclusions into account, it paints a better picture of each dlcs reception and why each one was received as it was. For example, beyond light is the worst expansion of the 5, and witch queen was just such a monumental leap forward from that one in every way, no wonder everyone (including me) loves that one. Lightfall is indeed a step down from witch queen, because we had such high expectations from that one, and it was not delivered in the storytelling. So now were on the final shape, where it needs to not only finish the story since destiny 1, but also continue and improve from the story told in lightfall. Not only that, but it also needs to improve on the new mission design that was implemented in witch queen, as well as provide enough content and satisfying moments to appease every destiny superfan. After my 10+ hour legend playthrough I gotta admit, it did all that.
The best thing about the final shape is the pale heart itself and how its used to elevate the gameplay and mission design. First off, the pale heart is easily one of the best destinations in the whole game, with a mixture of nostalgic and friendly starting areas, as well as haunting and hostile areas as you get closer to the witness. The destination gets more and more corrupted the further you explore it, and I loved the visual storytelling it provided of the witness grabbing hold and taking control of the traveler. What makes the pale heart so unique tho, is that its honestly one straight line, and your the only one in it.
The pale heart is the first and only "solo" destination, which really benefits the story of you, ghost, the og vanguard and crow against the witness. Theres no backup. The whole expansion honestly gives me a lonesome road kind of vibe, where the whole time your on a journey, with an end goal in mind. Hell, you can even see the witnesses lair from the start and vice versa. I loved the way this campaign was presented and I think its easily the best idea that bungie has had yet. I cannot imagine this DLC being anything other than your journey to the witnesses lair.
As for actual mission design and combat itself, id say this is also just fantastic and much better than the rest of the expansions. I loved prismatic even if at first it starts out a little weak. Once you unlock a lot more fragments and the new super, it really comes into its own. I love how you can finally just use pretty much whatever power you want, instead of like using void just to use bubble or something. I think that the dread are a pretty good new enemy race, and while I do think they can be very strong and annoying at times, I do think that may just be because of the increased difficulty of the legend campaign. Another thing I noticed to is that you pretty much fought like every enemy race at some point which really added to the stakes of this expansion. I loved how each mission featured a new mechanic, and honestly some of these can get really hard to understand at times, taking inspiration from various different dungeon mechanics. The legend campaign was also sorta hard too.
The story side of things are honestly really good too, especially at first. Id say the first half of this DLC is a like character focused story, focusing on some of the most important characters to your guardian. I loved getting the band back together so to speak and I think bungie did a great job giving each character personal conflicts and reasons as to why they may get held up on the way to the witness. I do think however that towards the end of this story things do start to get a little convoluted and the pacing speeds up immensely. I wouldn't have minded honestly like 1-2 more missions to just expand on the story here and help slow things down a little. The ending of this campaign too is honestly just clearly set up for the raid and future story missions, and while I do think it is a little disappointing in that regard, I still think it was a fantastic story and fantastic act 1, especially for destiny standards.
Overall I loved the final shape and think its the best destiny campaign yet. Time remains to be seen how the raid, endgame and post raid content will be received, however I think this will be regarded as the best destiny expansion yet and a fantastic end to 10 years of destiny.
