Bungie has put a wrap on live service updates for Destiny 2, nine years after the game’s launch. I didn’t have much of a reaction to this announcement initially; I stopped playing Destiny 2 before 2018’s Forsaken DLC, and before it had gone free-to-play. My sentiment toward the game had been wounded further when all of the content included in my deluxe pre-order (the base game campaign and the first two expansions) were removed entirely. It never sat right with me that the content I paid for was removed, so I chose to forget Destiny 2 and championed the first Destiny – despite its own flaws – as the pinnacle of the franchise. But after a couple of days and seeing the Internet’s outcries, emotions stirred.
Even if I have reservations with the direction Destiny has taken, it’s still a world I feel a close attachment to. Seeing this chapter come to a close brings no joy. In fact, the possibility that this could be the end of the franchise is disheartening. In a roundabout way, maybe this will be an opportunity for Bungie to reset expectations and move forward in a way that more closely aligns with the game’s original vision, away from battle passes, microtransactions, level reductions, and vaulting content.
Destiny 2’s conclusion is sad news, but maybe it will facilitate success. The future is uncertain, but the past is full of fond memories. Here are a few of mine:
The Red War
The original Destiny 2 campaign! This blew my mind when I first played it, and I wish I had recordings, screenshots, or anything to memorialize this storyline that has been inaccessible for over half a decade. When this content was in the game, it kicked off by having Cabal invade the Tower. Fighting to defend a space where I’d spent so many hours peacefully hanging out with friends felt like a deeply personal objective. It also introduced Ghaul, a villain so intimidating he rivalled Tartarus from Halo 2. The whole campaign felt cataclysmic, and raised the stakes beyond anything we had seen before. It served as a great introduction for the sequel. An irreplaceable part of Destiny 2’s core was lost when this campaign was vaulted.
Leviathan
When I started playing Destiny 2 through the Blizzard launcher, I didn’t have any friends who played the game on PC. That meant I had to seek out other players who were willing to guide me through the game’s first raid: Leviathan. Raids are complex dungeons designed for six players to overcome. Puzzles and difficult combat encounters were always intimidating as a solo player, but I had wonderful experiences with people who were willing to let me join their group of five.
Of course, the dream of any Destiny player was the highly coveted raid gear. And oh, Ghost Primus, my beloved..
Obtaining the Leviathan gear is a standout moment in gaming for me. It’s aesthetically distinct and features the stylistically written lore that is characteristic of Destiny. Ghost Primus is a good example:
“The Ghost Primus was strong because of his disfigurement, not in spite of it. He alone had the vision to share my dream of a new, perfect world. Ghaul was a creature of singular beauty, and I loved him”.
– Ghost Primus Item Description
Curse of Osiris and Warmind
The year one expansions Curse of Osiris and Warmind also hold a special place in my heart. Even though Curse of Osiris was brief and the accompanying planet Mercury was a little too small, the Infinite Forest was fun to explore. I remember loving the storytelling and the revelations we learned of the Vex and how they’d transformed Mercury.
In my mind, Warmind’s biggest gift to Destiny was its contributions to fleshing out the exotic catalogue. Does anyone else remember, or even use, Sleeper Simulant? There was so much unique gear to earn, and it was a fitting closure to the year one content.
It’s true that I’m looking at Destiny 2 through my nostalgia goggles right now as I process the news of the game entering maintenance mode. Before this past week, I hadn’t logged in or even thought about Destiny 2 for years. But it still feels like I’ve actively lost something with development being halted. Now that the game is “static” and no new content is being added to deprecate existing gear, I feel oddly more likely to pick this up from time to time. Just to replay the original Destiny strikes that have been ported forward and to swoon over my gear from 2017 that I committed so much time to getting.
Even though I wasn’t there for the full ride, and it wasn’t always a smooth one, thank you, Bungie, for the incredible world you built.