Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate Review – Starting Over

I‘ve seen many Destiny expansions that fans and non-fans had very little faith in going into, but none like The Edge of Fate. As soon as reports emerged about The Final Shape under-performing and layoffs occurred, it was obvious that Destiny 2 wouldn’t have the same scale of expansions for a long time. The pre-launch reveals didn’t do the best job in really building hype (save for that one Dev Insights video), but maybe Bungie could pull it off or pleasantly surprise us all (and vice versa).

Having finished the Legendary Campaign solo, some side quests and more than a few runs of the new three-player activity, The Edge of Fate is above-average; “fine” in the most charitable sense possible. There are some surprising standouts, and I am excited for where the narrative goes next, but its new mechanics, lack of content in some vital areas, and more really drag it down. If Episodes felt like glorified Seasons, then this is just shy of a glorified Episode, and even then, I’m divided.

The story of The Edge of Fate sees the Guardian sent to Kepler in response to an SOS, they encounter a fanatic portion of the Eliksni House of Exile, led by the Archon Levazsk; a singularity that’s seemingly on the verge of collapsing and wiping out the Sol system; and the Aionions, a group of human researchers who effectively avoided the collapse (but aren’t combat savvy like, say, the Neomunians).

"It’s not irredeemably bad and doesn’t make me question my existence like Curse of Osiris or Warmind. And despite the comparisons to Rise of Iron with regards to length, the campaign is sizable and packed with plenty of side quests. However, Kepler as a destination doesn’t feel exciting enough."

There’s also Lodi, who’s completely out of their depth and trying to make sense of his presence. A lot is going on, but credit where it’s due to the narrative team, who keep everything intriguing and slowly peel back the mysteries surrounding the singularity. Making players care after The Final Shape, especially when you’re trying to kickstart a new saga, isn’t easy – the Episodes are a testament to this, even if returning to the Dreadnaught offered some great plot points. And yet, I was eager to know what happens next; to see if the moniker “Guardians make their own fate” really holds (Spoilers: It’s complicated).

Strong characterisation goes hand in hand with excellent voice performances, and across the board, everyone knocks it out of the park. Debra Wilson, filling in as Ikora, does take some getting used to, but her performance at one point in the final mission is some of the franchise’s best. Maggie Robertson is also great as Orin, who oscillates between loquacious (scrambled eggs) and unintentionally abrasive as she attempts to readjust to reality. Todd Haberkorn is, as always, fantastic as The Drifter.

And yet all of them pale in comparison to Brian Villalobos as Lodi. Without getting into spoilers, he masterfully navigates from official-sounding, lovably nerdy, and friendly to having full-on crashouts as anyone in his situation would. He’s the only one who can get away with saying that Guardians – and everyone else in the future, for that matter – have terrible fashion sense.

So, with all this admiration for what the narrative and voice actors have accomplished, it saddens me that the gameplay doesn’t hold up. It’s not irredeemably bad and doesn’t make me question my existence like Curse of Osiris or Warmind. And despite the comparisons to Rise of Iron with regards to length, the campaign is sizable and packed with plenty of side quests.

However, Kepler as a destination doesn’t feel exciting enough. You don’t need to give me massive environments to traverse like in Encore (Encore gave me enough of that as is) or The Pale Heart, and the art team’s prowess is still on display where it counts. That establishing shot of the navy carrier on the plains in the distance? The singularity in all its glory? Top marks. But the environment itself feels cramped and ultimately dull. I’ve seen comparisons to the Tangled Shore, Titan, and Venus, and make no mistake, they’re perfectly valid, but even with a decent flow, Kepler does little to really draw me in on a gameplay level.

"The Sieve is the new three-player activity, and fortunately, it is enjoyable. Despite encompassing a small reused section of Kepler, it offers some neat boss fights, decent objective variety, and strong usage of Matterspark. Best of all, it’s repeatable…until the time runs out."

With that in mind, the campaign missions have their work cut out in trying to impress me. This brings me to my new mortal enemy – Matterspark. Oh, there’s the Relocator, a Void Cannon which teleports you after connecting all the nodes (sometimes you have to shoot one to correctly orient it) and Mattermorph, which creates platforms from the environment and can also suspend enemies. But Matterspark really drove me up the wall, and not just when navigating environments. Initially feeling a little clunky, sometimes a bit too sensitive and causing overcorrections which resulted in plummeting to my death, its on-screen effects are annoyingly egregious. I also wasn’t a fan of the odd clipping that occurred while navigating Kepler or the nauseous spinning if I touched my mouse while interacting with a Matterspark node.

Its inclusion in some puzzles and boss fights is fine, less so when it’s added to every single aspect of the game, like Bungie is trying to one-up the Batmobile from Arkham Knight. By the finale, where I have more Matterspark shenanigans while the veritable end of the Sol system is at stake, I wanted Bungie to simply read the room and give me a regular boss fight. Without these gimmicks, the encounters on Legendary difficulty with their enemy density and Banes felt solid.

Nothing you haven’t seen before when it comes to destroying shield generators, inserting balls, depositing Motes, “dismantle mines, yes?”, but decent overall with the action. The missions and side quests involve revisiting many of the same locations, which did nothing to help my fatigue with Kepler as a whole. And while I don’t despise the Relocator or Mattermorph, their usage along with Matterspark only results in exploration in the post-game, to the point where I wonder why Bungie even bothered.

And that’s the expansion, more or less. No new Strikes or Crucible maps, and though this is the Season of Reclamation, there isn’t even a new six-person seasonal activity. The Exotics are also fairly minimal – three weapons (four, counting the raid) and three armor pieces aren’t quite enough. I quite like Third Iteration’s gimmick, and Helion is decent for lower World Tiers and difficulties, though far from remarkable. Build-crafting has received an overhaul, which I’ll discuss, but that’s part of the free update. Intertwined as it may be with The Edge of Fate’s launch, it isn’t available exclusively to expansion owners.

The Sieve is the new three-player activity, and fortunately, it is enjoyable. Despite encompassing a small reused section of Kepler, it offers some neat boss fights, decent objective variety, and strong usage of Matterspark. Best of all, it’s repeatable…until the time runs out. Yes, it’s time-limited, and I’m unsure whether Bungie thought to replicate the Destiny 1 feel of Public Events or get on my nerves with the infrequency of its availability. It’s 2025. It’s The Edge of Fate, and I have far more interesting games wasting away on Steam. Let me play it with randoms whenever I want, for crying out loud.

"I can’t outright recommend against The Edge of Fate, but unless you like the characters and lore, only the most hardcore of Destiny 2 players need apply. The amount of content, some presentation elements, performances and raid may provide enough sustenance for some, but for others, it only just edges above average."

Regarding Armor 3.0 and loot Tiers – I don’t outright hate it, but its impact on build-crafting isn’t the min-maxing bonanza that I expected. The new set bonuses also feel woefully boring, except for the Bushido armor, which grants damage resistance on shotgun, sword, and bow kills while healing on freshly drawn weapon kills (and looks the sickest). Everything else is straight-up infusion fuel. I like The Portal offering more granular options for difficulty, balancing negative and positive modifiers to obtain higher Power drops.

But if I can raise the Power of activities beyond my current level, why is there a permanent minus 50 delta between me and enemy combatants at the highest difficulty? Why would I grind for Tier 5 armor to get all these bonuses earned from surpassing 100 on the new stats when I’m at a permanent disadvantage? I’m all for this seasonal Power grind, even with how RNG-heavy it is to get the set bonus with the desired armor archetype and stats at your Tier of choice. So why, especially with all the other modifiers in place?

I’m also not a fan of the Pinnacle section being so narrow in terms of activities. Also, why is much of the really exciting loot like the Rocket Pulse Rifle dependent on grinding out these old Exotic missions instead of the Legendary campaign? Where is the Heavy Crossbow, Bungie? The Spread Shot Handcannon and Precision Bow frames? I didn’t even know Ribbontail, a Strand Trace Rifle, was a thing until looking it up. Where is Ribbontail, Bungie?!

On the bright side, the raid, The Desert Perpetual, is good, which, outside of Root of Nightmares, seems a given for Bungie at this point. I enjoyed the nonlinear nature and focus on bosses, even if it felt lacking in terms of other encounters or puzzles. Thankfully, there’s no Matterspark nonsense, so I can’t be too mad. Suffice it to say, though, that if you’re not a fan of DPS checks, it will feel more like the Damage Perpetual.

I can’t outright recommend against The Edge of Fate, but unless you like the characters and lore, only the most hardcore of Destiny 2 players need apply. The amount of content, some presentation elements, performances and raid may provide enough sustenance for some, but for others, it only just edges above average.

This game was reviewed on PC.