Destiny 2‘s next flagship expansion, Beyond Light, is on the horizon, and Bungie is ramping up the hype with Stasis subclass news. While what fans have seen so far surely looks exciting, it is worth remembering that a lot hinges on this expansion and whether Bungie can deliver another Forsaken-level home run.
After the summer of 2018, Destiny 2 saw a huge spike in player numbers with the launch of Forsaken. For many, it is fair to say that Forsaken was everything they wanted or the game needed. Destiny has recently gone through tumultuous times, and another expansion like 2018’s hit might be needed to unite and bolster the playerbase.
The launch of Beyond Light has to be strong because Bungie has plans to usher in a new age of Destiny starting this fall, and if it cannot start out strong, it might be hard to pick up momentum later. While last year also rejuvenated the playerbase with Shadowkeep, this jump was largely helped by the move to Steam and New Light, which made the game free. This year, there is no such shift, which means all the work falls on the shoulders of Beyond Light.
And the situation isn’t helped by its launch schedule either. Beyond Light will be going up against major candidates such as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Cyberpunk 2077, not to mention the console launches and the craze of the holiday season. Furthermore, Beyond Light‘s asking price, especially in the deluxe editions, is comparable to that of a AAA game. In reality, Beyond Light is essentially an add-on because players can progress through their pursuits and power leveling system just fine without the expansion.
Competition aside, Beyond Light‘s true benchmark is Forsaken because it is the only expansion that delivered fully original and expansive zones. Player standards have inevitably been raised, and Shadowkeep didn’t quite meet them a year ago. Europa is yet another never-before-seen zone, but it is unknown whether it can become the “endgame destination” that the Dreaming City was.
Moreover, Bungie will need to prove itself with this upcoming release since it hasn’t had outside help in development for the first time since the inception of Destiny. As far as we know, Beyond Light has been developed solely by Bungie, which is commendable as is. If the studio can show that it can push Forsaken-quality experiences on its own, the future of the franchise will look much brighter.
But, unfortunately for Beyond Light, it also has to make up for the huge loss of content with the introduction of the Destiny Content Vault. Somehow, this expansion will need to make the removal of 4 destinations sting less and provide a fulfilling start to a trilogy of expansions, stretching out to 2022.
It isn’t all doom and gloom as Beyond Light also had many surprises up its sleeve such as the return of the Exo Stranger and the highly anticipated Darkness subclasses. Fans are looking forward to it for the most part, and hopefully a Destiny 2 will begin a strong year 4.
Destiny 2: Beyond Light is available on November 10 for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
![\"IT電腦補習](\"http://itteacheritfreelance.hk/test/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/logo2-2.png\"){kind=logo}
www.itsec.hk
www.itsec.vip
www.itseceu.uk
Leave a Reply