After 10 years of storytelling, the overall saga presented in the original Destiny release is finally complete. With the final form, Bungie bows to the vast majority of its ongoing stories and questions and sets the stage for a new direction in subsequent releases. Before that, this final chapter is extremely satisfying and offers a touching, sincere and character-based summary that is in line with what has been presented above. From the narrative to the gameplay, this is not the episode that welcomes newcomers. But for every hour (or thousands of hours) that a player has invested in this adventure, the ending offered is even more powerful.

The Final expansion of Shape transports Guardians to the secret interior of the huge spherical traveler, a space with borderline and surreal environments halfway between the real and the imaginary. In a decade of solid site design, this new destination is the most unusual and artistically striking. He regularly makes nods to places we’ve visited before, combining them with strange organic shapes like giant hands and faces carved into the rock.

The campaign is designed as a non-stop journey from point A to point B, with waypoints depicting moments of fear and catharsis for the most important actors in history over the last decade. It’s the most human and relatable storytelling the franchise has managed to do so far.

Thanks to the gloriously peril Dread faction of enemies and a number of raid-like mechanics, the missions offer a satisfying combination of intense action and shootouts, while requiring careful observation. The story ends with a satisfying hit of euphoria and excitement as it intertwines the conclusion of the raid and a final concluding activity. A grandiose and epic narrative requires a clever mix of bombast and poetic sensibility, and this is one of the moments when a game hits the mark.

The new prismatic subclasses make this expansion, along with a host of other new abilities, the most mechanically complex the franchise has dared to make so far. Elaboration and experimentation are essential for high-level games. Despite some simplification efforts, the avalanche of coins and intertwined progression systems is painfully complicated even for experienced players. It’s hard to imagine how a newcomer would pierce the veil and catch up.

However, Bungie deserves endorsements for trying to explain the systems in the game and give instructions on how to improve. In addition to some fantastic new exotic and legendary weapons (which almost seem exotic), players have a huge variety of options to modify and play the way they want. The sandbox is huge and we have a lot of unique opportunities to play indoors.

Some new systems, such as the new Pathfinder system, are fascinating ideas, but they are still too prescriptive and often require play styles that some players do not want to try. That said, many of the new public events, combo activities, and post-campaign missions are fun and carefully designed to allow for extensive and entertaining replay. Many of the current high-level activities, including the new raid and certain team hunts, are extremely challenging and should provide a significant mountain to climb for many weeks to come for most finals players.

As if to remind players that the conclusion of one story is just the beginning of another, the final form wasted little time releasing its new episodic structure to replace the seasons. The full scope and potential of this new implementation approach is beyond the scope of this review and will be extended in the coming months. However, it is enough to know that a pleasant sequel is already waiting for those who get over the end of the saga and are ready to move on, with new activities and rewards, such as exotic class items, waiting to be hunted.

Over the years, Destiny 2 has become a huge and unwieldy beast, full of cooperative and competitive experiences, hundreds of named characters and organizations, and often inaccessible jargon that can take a long time to learn to speak and play. With the final form, Bungie does not apologize for the complexity, but finally offers an intentional score to mark a final point. Largely unencumbered by what has gone before, the looming boundaries are now open to be revealed.