Destiny: The Taken King Reviews
Destiny: The Taken King and the Year Two Update is a significant step forward towards making this game something more enjoyable rather than a chore, but it still focuses very narrowly on pleasing its existing player base.
This is the perfect time to enter the Destiny universe, and if the changes and additions introduced in The Taken King are any indication of how Bungie's world will evolve, I'll gladly continue to bring my light to the fight against the darkness.
After filing our initial review of Destiny last year, I said that the experience lacked soul, put the game aside, and felt I wouldn't be coming back. Around the beginning of the summer I needed a game that I could pick up and play for about 30-45 minutes at a time and jumped back in. Before I knew it I was hooked, playing the DLC content, running Strikes, rolling a second (and now third!) character. "The Taken King" and Destiny 2.0 have taken that experience to a new height that is worth diving back into for old players and warrants the price of investment (into the new Legendary Edition) for new players. Bungie has put in so many small, new tweaks and wrinkles that it will take dozens of hours before you'll see and do everything. Destiny is not perfect and is still a grind that is best experienced with friends, but the addition of new and repackaged content fleshes out the experience to a point where it becomes an easy recommendation for shooter fans.
The Taken King is a sophisticated return to Destiny that makes it the best its ever been.
The shine of novelty may have worn off, after Bungie took a year to fix it, but what remains is – at last – a good game
Everything we've played in The Taken King so far feels like an evolution of the gameplay. It's obvious that Bungie has listened to their critics and fans alike, and so far what we've experienced indicates changes have been made in gameplay that are for the better.
The Taken King lights the way forward for the sci-fi shooter, and while it's not the brightest of glows, it's clear that Destiny's darkest days are over.
Whether you're an ardent fan who has logged into Destiny every week since launch, or someone who set down the controller the moment the credits rolled at launch last September, everything has been tweaked and changed for the better for everyone. And if you've yet to sample Destiny's brand of compulsive sci-fi shooting, with a year's worth of modes, missions and updates also behind it, there's no better time to jump in.
The Taken King easily eclipses both previous Destiny expansions in quantity and quality of content, and goes a long way towards making Destiny the game what so many of us have wanted.
The Taken King shows off Destiny's full potential. This is a must have.
The Taken King might not make up for that first year and all of its shambling about, but it puts Destiny on a path that, as someone who spent all of last year whining endlessly to anyone who would listen, I can finally shut my mouth and just enjoy the game. If that isn't an incredible feat, I don't know what is.
True, I still don't know my Hunter's name. But suddenly I'm a lot more excited about spending another year with her.
There are still plenty of thorns, but it manages to address and improve nearly every aspect of the original 1.0 release.
The Taken King is a much welcome expansion that fleshes out Destiny's lore while streamlining some of its more cumbersome aspects. Matchmaking continues to be an issue, especially for folks who don't have plenty of friends online. On the plus side, the changes with The Taken King helps make things right after the initial release and gives hope that Bungie just might be able to truly realize this game's destiny after all.
Hours 20-through-30 have made me a believer in "The Taken King" and the future of "Destiny." Bungie has set out to right past wrongs with this expansion's wealth of content. But it's not just about the quantity of content. "The Taken King" reimagines how players interact with the game world. These changes are all for the better. In year one, it was difficult for serious "Destiny" players to defend the lack of story and the structure's repetitive nature. "The Taken King" creates a community that fans can be proud to be a part of.
The Taken King is one helluva good apology for the mediocre mis-start that was 2014's Destiny. All of our grievances have been addressed in some way. The loot system is fairer and more sensical, there's an actual story worth emotionally investing in, plus the combat's had an adrenaline shot thanks to new enemies, gats to gather, and exciting new subclasses.
If you're willing to do the social networking and accept the time commitment that Destiny requires to reach its endgame content, you'll be treated to the first massively multiplayer online game built around the core of first-person shooter gameplay, a unique entry in the world of video games, and a growing universe where you and your fellow Guardians are all that stand between the Light, humanity's last hope, and the Darkness that threatens to wipe us out forever.
I can honestly say that I have never played a shooter as much as I have played Destiny. Not Call of Duty, not Halo, Not Far Cry or Battlefield. I've clocked in hundreds of hours in the game since its release last year (I wouldn't be surprised if there are people who have thousands), and with The Taken King it looks like it'll just continue to increase.
Destiny: The Taken King is the first expansion in the second year of Destiny and it changes so many of the core concepts, from its interface to its mechanics, that it feels like playing an entirely new game.