Getting back into the habit of writing reviews again; I figure I'd start easy with a follow up on Destiny.

I'll start off by saying that I was, and in many ways still am, a huge Destiny fan. Since it's original release in 2014, I've logged well over 3,000 hours of gametime across multiple platforms. When Destiny 2 released on PC, I bought a copy on PS4 just to play it during the 2 months before the PC port came out. I moved during that time and couldn't transfer my preorder, so I bought a second copy of the game on PC and gifted my preordered copies game code to a friend when it arrived in the mail. I own two raid jackets, two raid rings, and a rather impressive pile of merch and tee shirts, including the Nerf Gjallerhorn I just painted and posted. I participated in three day-one raid attempts, succeeding only once but logging close to the full 24 hours all three times.

The story and lore has always been what sold me for the game. I'm a sucker for science fiction post-apocalypse. While Destiny doesn't fall fully in that category, the universe is so fully realized I find myself enjoying reading up on it outside of the game. A lot has happened since my initial review in regards to story progression. What started as a pretty cliche "we're the light fighting the Darkness" setting started painting in shades of grey. We allied with splinter factions of two of the main enemy races, started wielding Darkness powers ourselves, and the narrative has shifted from Light and Dark being ethereal symbols of good and evil to just tools, to now fighting enemies with names and faces.

All of that sat well with me. Bungies shift to a seasonal content drop (more in line with say... an MMO) was a smart move, though originally it was frustrating because if you missed a season there was no way to do it or catch up. The whole system evolved over time so you are allowed to replay old seasonal content for the duration of a major release (about a year give or take), but the big release drop was a reset on all the seasonal vendors and missions. The seasons themselves also grew more closely tied to the main narrative; nowadays each season is like a whole new narrative arc for your Guardian to follow. This is a double-edged sword in my opinion. For longtime players, it provides incentive to come back, if only for a day or two a week, to complete the story. But since new players only have access to whatever is going on per year, there are massive gaps in the games narrative where content was cut out to make room for the new stuff.

Gameplay is as solid as anything Bungie has made before. The gunplay is very solid, and each weapon feels unique even without the various modifiers that can be built in. The implementation of a crafting system has helped ease the pain of farming for a random chance "god roll" of certain weapons, while Bungie smartly made it so some weapons you still have to farm. six man raids, and three man dungeons help flesh out the PvE with a comfortable level of challenge that can be ramped up for more skilled, or masochistic, players. I don't play PvP that much, though I do find it enjoyable on a low to mid level skill range. I don't have the patience for high-end PvP content.

While I have opinions on the state of things outside the game with Bungie, I'll keep this review on the game only. For a free base game, it's not bad. Previous content frequently goes on sale for dirt cheap, so new players can get more for very little spending. In-game purchases are cosmetic only, though the way the purchasing system is for current game content can be seen as a bit predatory.