Summary
Destiny 2’s The Final Shape is set to conclude the franchise’s first major story arc, the Light and Darkness Saga, which incorporates everything that fans have experienced since the launch of the original title in 2014. While the expansion will feature new narrative missions,the Raid forDestiny 2’s The Final Shapewill provide the true conclusion to its Light and Darkness conflict, leaving it with a lot to live up to. Luckily the recent Crota’s End Raid has provided a solid template moving forward, with some caveats. To deliver on its incredible stakes,Destiny 2’s The Final Shape Raid should both be more like Crota’s End and nothing like it.
Destiny 2recently entered the Season of the Witch, in which Guardians work with an unlikely ally, Savathun’s Ghost Immaru, to find a way to follow The Witness inside The Traveler. To do so, they enter into a bargain. Guardians must resurrect the Witch Queen and defeat her sister, Xivu Arath. If successful, Savathun will reveal the way into the Traveler. To defeat Xivu, Eris Morn enlists Guardians to empower her, following her transformation into a Hive God. The Season’s main activities, Savathun’s Spire and the Altars of Summoning, see players tithe their kills to Eris while empowering both the Hive god and the spire for what’s to come. All the Hive themes made Crota’s End the perfect Raid to reprise from the original game.
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Destiny 2’s Reprised Crota’s End Raid Accomplished the Impossible
This month, developer Bungie released the next in its line of reprisedDestinyRaids, Crota’s End. The originalCrota’s End is considered one of the biggest missteps inDestiny’shistory, as it failed to encapsulate the incredibly brutal lore that surrounded its central enemy Crota. Despite a history of wiping out thousands of Guardians, leading the Vanguard to retreat from reclaiming the Moon, many of the Raid’s phases could be soloed, and its boss one-phased. Heading intoDestiny 2, this led many fans to speculate that Bungie would downgrade its potential reprise to a Dungeon.
Fans were in for a shock whenDestiny 2’s Crota’s End reprised Raidproved a considerable challenge. At the heart of its challenges was the Chalice of Light, which now played a part in the Raid from start to finish. The Chalice of Light is used to empower Guardians so that they can enlighten, expunge, build, and empower certain elements of the Raid. However, Guardians can only hold it for a short amount of time, following earning the “Enlightened” status, so players had to constantly take turns holding and using the Chalice to solve puzzles.
What’s more, Crota, the previously laughable final boss, was an absolute powerhouse, solidifying the Crota’s End reprised Raid as the challenging experience that the villain, and his incredible lore, had always deserved. This was intentionally harder ahead of The Final Shape’s Raid, which bodes well for the conclusion of the saga.
The Final Shape Raid Should Emulate Crota’s End, But Nix its Limitations
The Crota’s End Raid was a marked success in nearly every area. However,Crota’s End had unique restrictions, especially in Contest Mode, as meta builds and recently released Strand aspects threatened to break the raid before it even began. Moving forward, this is something Bungie absolutely should not repeat, as it threatens to devalue the time and care that Guardians put into building their loadouts and approachingDestiny 2’s major challenges. In The Final Shape, players shouldn’t have to see major pieces of their builds disabled just to access the final payoff of nearly a decade-long investment.
Destiny 2’s The Final Shape Raid has a tough job ahead of it, as it needs to build up totheDestinyfranchise’s ultimate conflict, before delivering a boss experience worthy of The Witness. To do so, it should emulate the challenges delivered by the Crota’s End Raid, while avoiding the restrictions needed to access them. Bungie should not need players to follow a list of restrictions to access the Raid, as The Final Shape shouldn’t grant Guardians abilities, mods, or items that the Raid cannot reckon with. If done properly, The Final Shape Raid can deliver the ultimate showdown, bringing The Light and Darkness Saga to its end.
Destiny 2is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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