Destiny 2’s storytelling has improved dramatically, and I’m here for it
One of Destiny’s largest weaknesses has transformed into one of its key strengths.
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Ever since its debut in 2014, one of the Destiny franchise’s biggest problems has been the presentation of its story. While there are plenty of excellent moments of character development and exciting plot development in the series' lore books, much of it never actually felt present during the player’s gameplay experience. For years, the series has had a distinct lack of meaningful voiced character dialogue, and there hasn’t been much in the way of interaction between the characters either. On top of this, cutscenes have been few and far between, and the ones that have appeared have generally felt insignificant to the narratives being told.
Ultimately, while Destiny’s stories are fun to play through and feature excellent settings and backdrops, the narrative content within them has typically been disappointing because of the lack of important storytelling mechanisms. Recently, though, Bungie hassignificantlyimproved the quality of storytelling within Destiny 2, and I’m here for it.
In recent seasons, Bungie has added and improved several storytelling mechanisms that have directly strengthened the connection players have to the game’s writing. These include the following:
It’s clear that Bungie has invested atonof time, effort, and resources into making the story of Destiny feel more present and nuanced in-game, and it’sworking. Players on Reddit, Twitter, and other social media platforms are gushing about how invested they are in the story and its cast. Developments such as Zavala’s pursuit of peace after countless years of conflict or Crow’s hope that the people of the Last City can forgive the Fallen as well as himself are strongly resonating with fans. There are threads upon threads of players discussing the latest story developments and theorycrafting about what could be coming next. Instead of dragging my feet with the story content like I used to, engaging with it is now the first thing I do during my Tuesday afternoon once the game’s weekly reset hits and there’s more to dig into.
Ultimately, Bungie has done a phenomenal job of improving Destiny 2’s storytelling over the course of the last year, and it’s exciting to think about how the studio will continue to evolve the franchise’s narrative moving forward. Will Bungie continue to host real-time in-game events like theTraveler healing itself? Will a character “take over” the official Destiny 2 Twitter account again like theCabal Empress Caiatl did? Or will Bungie try out some other new ideas? Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure; the days of Destiny having poor storytelling are over, and the future looks bright.
Your thoughts
Do you agree with me that Destiny’s storytelling has improved vastly in the last year? How would you like to see Bungie evolve the narrative further? Let me know.
The latest Destiny 2 expansion,Destiny 2: Beyond Light, is available now for $40 on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. The base game is free, so if you’re looking to try Destiny 2 out before paying for expansions or season passes, you can do so. It’s one of thebest Xbox One shootersavailable right now, so I recommend giving it a shot. If you do decide to try the game, don’t miss mybeginner’s guide on how to get into Destiny 2 in 2021as well as my guide to thebest Destiny 2 builds, and how to make your own. Don’t miss my roundup ofthe 10 best Destiny 2 weapons you need to farm in Season of the Splicereither, as new and veteran players alike will want to get their hands on them.
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Europa awaits
Beyond Light is the next big expansion for Destiny 2, introducing a new element for Guardians to wield, a new area on the Jupiter moon Europa, a new story, and plenty of loot to go around.
Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he’s been an avid fan since childhood. He’s been writing for Team WC since the summer of 2017, and you’ll find him doing news, editorials, reviews, and general coverage on everything gaming, Xbox, and Windows PC. His favorite game of all time is probably NieR: Automata, though Elden Ring, Fallout: New Vegas, and Team Fortress 2 are in the running, too. When he’s not writing or gaming, there’s a good chance he’s either watching an interesting new movie or TV show or actually going outside for once.Follow him on X(Twitter).
