Destiny 2: Lightfall Reviews

Destiny 2: Lightfall is ranked in the 44th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
Travis Northup
Top Critic
6 / 10.0
Mar 15, 2023

A couple exciting additions like Strand don't stop Destiny 2: Lightfall from feeling like a disappointing step backwards.

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PC Gamer
Top Critic
68 / 100
Mar 17, 2023

A disappointing campaign, and a sandbox rework that shows promise, but feels like it's still some major balance patches away from leaving the game in a good place.

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Unscored
Mar 1, 2023

Lightfall needs Strand to be good, and the new raid coming March 10 had better be a banger.

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7.8 / 10.0
Mar 14, 2023

I may have found the campaign uninspired and its legendary difficulty a slog characterized by bullet-spongey foes. But an expansion to a game this big is more than just its opening story. Lightfall sets up some strong possibilities – narratively and in the gameplay sphere – for a rewarding year of adventure ahead. Despite some frustrations, Destiny 2 continues to make strides in catering to a diverse player base characterized by disparate desires. Lightfall is hit and miss, but any stumbles shouldn’t be enough to derail players’ enthusiasm for continued adventure or the excitement of seeing the epic conclude over the next year.

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Polygon
Top Critic
Unscored
Mar 3, 2023

Considering that Lightfall’s story ends with many open-ended questions and is just the beginning of a year’s worth of narrative and gameplay content, which demands a level of time investment that many new players might balk at, it’s difficult to know whether the gameplay and the artwork — polished as they are — will be enough to draw in the uninitiated. Are they willing, once the campaign wraps up, to begin grinding, to devote themselves to this world that mostly ignores them, choosing to commemorate its “Veterans” (the title awarded to players who started playing six years ago) instead? There’s certainly something impressive about a game like Destiny 2, which has a history of its own, but also one that dates back to past franchises. But it leaves one wondering if there’s space at all for those who have no relationship with that history — who approach the game as visitors, witnessing just a sliver of what must feel like a lifetime of memories.

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7 / 10
Mar 8, 2023

Lightfall's new gameplay mechanics and evolved systems position it as a turning point for Destiny 2, but the expansion is let down by the poor narrative of its campaign.

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Kotaku
Top Critic
Unscored
Mar 17, 2023

The future is still bright for Destiny 2. We just have to get there.

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7 / 10.0
Mar 6, 2023

Solid and definitely has an audience. There could be some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun.

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75 / 100
Mar 6, 2023

Even when you have the game with the best gunplay on the market, it does not always hit the target: Eclipse is one of the weakest expansions of Destiny 2, especially when it comes to campaign. But, like the Guardians, Bungie has a chance here to stand up and prove that they are capable of getting it right again. Like so many other times.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

TheSixthAxis
Top Critic
6 / 10
Mar 14, 2023

Destiny 2 is still one of the best feeling games to play, but compared to the inventive, personal story told in The Witch Queen, Lightfall is dull and totally inconsequential. What a disappointment.

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7 / 10.0
Apr 3, 2023

Destiny 2: Lightfall is an expansion with two opposing aspects, that can be seen as the mirror image of the previous The Witch Queen. Weak in narrative content, it shows its best in perfecting the gaming experience, understood as that set of tools to fully enjoy the potential of our guardians. The hope now is that Bungie will put an extra effort into delivering Seasons full of content and capable of keeping the attention high towards the end of a saga a bit… paracausal.

Review in Italian | Read full review

Mar 3, 2023

Destiny 2 Lightfall successfully expands upon and upgrades an already fantastic game. With Neomuna, Strand, and the numerous quality of life additions, the only big area Lightfall falters is the story. And while Lightfall's missions are really fun and well-designed, writing excluded, the overall story's biggest problems are its lack of exposition and the fact that it's just the wrong story.

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8 / 10.0
Mar 4, 2023

Lightfall does less with Destiny 2 in a narrative sense than previous expansions, but improves the quality of life considerably.

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70 / 100
Mar 8, 2023

Destiny 2: Lightfall does a lot to advance the Destiny 2 experience, adding a stellar new subclass and destination alongside a much needed difficulty increase. Conversely, it features a story so bland, derivative, and dissatisfying that I am honestly worried Bungie may never be able to right the narrative course.

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Mar 16, 2023

Between its horrible story, subpar post-campaign quests, and lackluster raid, Destiny 2's Lightfall expansion is a massive step backward for Bungie's live service shooter. There is some good here — Strand is fantastic, and most of the new gear is strong, too — but overall, Lightfall will leave most dissatisfied.

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9 / 10.0
Mar 7, 2023

Destiny 2: Lightfall is my favorite entry into Destiny. This is a tall order with how amazing expansions like The Taken King, Forsaken, and The Witch Queen have been. Nevertheless, Lightfall has surpassed my expectations in almost every way. The gameplay is even more fun and fluid, the location is fresh and new, and while the story has holes, I'm excited to learn how Bunge fills them over the following year and on. Lightfall is as fantastic as it is mysterious, and I love every minute.

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7 / 10
Mar 7, 2023

There is so much we could still cover with this latest expansion, like Buildcrafting 2.0 and the new Guardian Ranks system, both of which aim to streamline the Destiny experience. However, at its core Lightfall is all about its story, setting, and gameplay changes. The campaign and setting largely let us down, with the whole thing feeling like the middle child of the Witch Queen, Ligthtfall, and Final Shape trilogy. However, the vigorous excitement that Destiny 2's brilliant gameplay elicits greatly elevates the overall Lightfall experience, with some stellar enhancements thanks to Strand subclasses and grapples. It's irritating to be left in narrative limbo for yet another year, but you'll still struggle to find a space shooter that is this much fun.

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6.5 / 10.0
Mar 15, 2023

After The Witch Queen, Lightfall is a step back for Destiny 2, both story-wise and in terms of its gameplay mechanics.

Review in Italian | Read full review

5.5 / 10.0
Mar 20, 2023

This is the Destiny we have for now. And things will change over the next year, a lot of tweaks are incoming. Difficulty will probably be scaled back as the current state scares away new and casual players. The consumables economy is likely going to need to be tweaked as well, the game will evolve with the seasons, but Lightfall itself is an overall disappointing chapter in a game that remains excellent. Bungie appears to be buying time until the Final Shape next year, and we're being asked to pay for it.

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70 / 100
Mar 22, 2023

Lightfall as a whole package falls short of the standard set by The Witch Queen last year. The story is shaky and tangential, and the gameplay changes are few and far between outside of the underwhelming Strand powers. Neomuna isn’t nearly as memorable, and difficulty changes make it more challenging to engage with Destiny’s bread and butter content. Thankfully, overall quality of life improvements and the rock solid bones of the gameplay save the package as a whole. If you’re after more Destiny 2, Lightfall is certainly that, but as the most expensive expansion yet ($100 USD with the annual pass), I expected to have my hair blown back a bit more.

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