A little more than two weeks ago, on June 4th, the expansion “The Final Shape” for Destiny 2 was released. In the lead-up, the DLC was viewed skeptically, as its predecessor Lightfall in 2023 had disappointed many fans. How is The Final Shape being received on Steam? And have player numbers recovered despite Lightfall?
Why was the DLC viewed so skeptically? There were some warning signs before “The Final Shape”:
- The last DLC “Lightfall”, which was released on February 28, 2023, was for many a low point in the history of Destiny. On Steam, Lightfall received a miserable 29% positive reviews
- Moreover, “The Final Shape” was pushed back by several months. Originally, the DLC was supposed to be released on February 27, 2024
- The director of the DLC, Joe Blackburn, left in January 2024, there were layoffs in the team, Sony applied pressure – all not good signs
“The Final Shape” was considered “This is really the last chance now” for Destiny 2:
Steam reviews for “The Final Shape” are much friendlier than for Lightfall
So how is the DLC being received now: “The Final Shape” has a solid 81% positive reviews, which adds up to a “very positive”, and is especially a relief compared to the miserable “Lightfall”.
The perhaps best review says: “Bungie has dug its own grave so deep that they have stumbled upon gold.”
Another user says: “With a big grin on my face, I want to say: This is a bigger comeback than No Man’s Sky.” The story is a “massive redemption”, finally Destiny 2 has a real threat. Moreover, a large part of the weapons is fun.
A third player says: Bungie’s future looked bleak, but luckily they achieved the impossible and released the “best DLC in the history of the game”. Despite all the mistakes, one has to congratulate Bungie on this DLC.
Lightfall has left no lasting damage – Player numbers almost at peak value
What do the player numbers look like? The player numbers on Steam peaked at 314,379 and even two weeks later remain solid at 140,000 at peak.
314,000 is pretty much the figure that was reached in February 2023 with Lightfall. So, no lasting damage has occurred here, despite Lightfall being received so poorly.
That was different in 2017: Apparently, the Vanilla version of Destiny 2 alienated so many players that it could not recover even with the strong “Forsaken” in 2018. The permanent decline of players at that time was the reason for the split from Activision Blizzard.
Are there also negative voices? The negative voices mainly came around June 5th and revolve mostly around problems with updates, maintenance, and patches.
The German players simply hate the downtimes. In any case, it can be said that the sentiment for “The Final Shape” on Steam is much better than for “Lightfall”. Even if surely not everything is going perfectly: After 10 years, Destiny 2 gives German players an unforgettable patch evening
