Destiny: The Taken King Reviews
The Taken King and the patch that it brought with it have been a grand revisionist move by Bungie. Very few parts of how the game works haven't been touched, tweaked and altered in some way to improve upon the flawed aspects of the game's original release. With a fun new story, plenty of content that runs alongside it and an outstanding new raid, it's a good time to be playing Destiny.
Providing that the upcoming raid is strong and we see good support and content-rich expansion during Destiny's second year, we could see this MMO-shooter go from a game beloved by a dedicated core of fans to one that excites the mass market for years to come. It got this RPG fanatic invested in a shooter for the first time since Hexen, and it might just hook you, too.
It's evident Bungie has been listening to fan feedback this last year and has worked hard to reinvent Destiny. The story is presented better than ever, the new subclasses offer different playstyles and draw players together, and the grind is alleviated thanks to a plethora of post-game missions and the Dreadnaught patrol zone.
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 resets Destiny for the better. It brings a lot more fun to the table while taming all the things people complained about up to this point in the game, well almost all.
Destiny: The Taken King is an awesome upgrade with many quests to keep me busy long after the campaign has ended.
True, I still don't know my Hunter's name. But suddenly I'm a lot more excited about spending another year with her.
A streamlined menu system, with quests now receiving a dedicated tab coupled with the ability to track bounties and quests via the Ghost's UI, better storytelling with engaging characters and a more consistent drip-feed of genuine rewards for the player means Destiny 2.0 feels like the opportunity taken that Year One badly missed. While there are still many things Bungie can do to improve things, there's now a sense of optimism for players, as this content proves that the developer is listening.
The Taken King isn't so much a Destiny expansion as a thorough reworking, building on the foundations laid by the version 2.0 update to make the endgame both more compelling and more accessible. The campaign itself is strong, varied and engaging, introducing a great new setting that should fuel quests and strikes for months to come. Come back Guardians, and bring your buddies with you - Bungie looks to have delivered the Destiny we've all been waiting for.
Destiny: The Taken King takes what was a good foundational game, and enhances nearly everything about it, taking the great gunplay and environments, and adding more of the good, while negating the bad with system overhauls, new modes, and new ways to enjoy Destiny.
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.
Bungie set out with a goal for Destiny: The Taken King and they have mostly succeeded. While some of the nagging problems from the original game persist – boring patrol areas, recycling of areas and enemies, and bullet-sponge enemies – Destiny: The Taken King does more than enough to make up for the sins of its predecessor.
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.
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.
Destiny: The Taken King made me a believer. It is an enormous step in the right direction for Destiny, and improves upon Destiny in almost every regard.
Destiny: The Taken King is a worthy investment for any fan of the original game and a pretty good one for those who weren't exactly thrilled with the initial experience. Sure, there are some downsides, but more or less, the expansion manages to show that Destiny can provide a great time for a huge number of players.
The Taken King is not only a fun and rewarding experience unto itself, it is a great expansion for the Destiny universe and elevates the game in nearly every way.
For newcomers to the series, 'Destiny: The Taken King' presents a much larger and more user-friendly 'Destiny' experience, and that's after a year of crazy highs, and RNG lows. For veterans, it feels as though we have to take two steps back before we can go forward, but the way is paved with fun things to do. If you've been putting off playing 'Destiny' until it got better, now's the time.
Destiny shows improvement with The Taken King, but there is still work to be done before it occupies a place in the canon of key games of this generation.