Reviews of Destiny 2's new Lightfall expansion have fallen into "Mostly Negative" territory on Steam, as players share their disappointment with Bungie's most recent release. Negative reviews are strangely common for Destiny 2 and its expansions, but few would have expected Lightfall to so quickly reach this point if asked even a week ago. Momentum coming out of The Witch Queen expansion was high, but Lightfall appears to have deviated from Destiny 2 players' expectations.
For comparison's sake, of the four currently purchasable Destiny 2 annual expansions, only one has a "Mostly Positive" review rating on Steam. That being the expansion prior to Lightfall, The Witch Queen. Beyond Light and Forsaken both have below-positive review averages. Shadowkeep also has a negative review average. But that just goes to show that, from a player's point of view, Destiny 2 has potentially never been in a better place than during the year of The Witch Queen.
Destiny 2 players' excitement and positivity appear to have stalled out with the launch of Lightfall, unfortunately. The Lightfall expansion of Destiny 2 now sits at Steam's "Mostly Negative" review average. There are now over 2,000 reviews for the expansion on Steam and just 28% of those reviews were positive. It would take a substantial shift in community attitude toward Lightfall to shift it back in a positive direction.
As for why the Lightfall expansion is being so poorly reviewed by players, there's no one simple answer. The Lightfall story campaign is a focus for a lot of criticism, with more specific criticisms targeted at The Veil, how Strand is implemented, and Nimbus. Many players are disappointed in the limited amount of new traditional content, like Strikes and Crucible maps. Neomuna, the new map for Lightfall, is also criticized as feeling empty, lacking fine detail, and having an uninteresting layout.
One notable thing to call attention to on Steam is how many reviews Lightfall has already received. Lightfall is just two days past launch, but has already received over 2,000 reviews. That's more reviews than The Witch Queen received over the past year. Negative feelings do drive more reviews, and there's no clear evidence of a review bomb, but it's a curious situation, nonetheless.
Lightfall does have plenty of opportunity to win fans over going forward. Lightfall's raid has yet to launch and is likely to win many Destiny 2 players over. Reception to the current Season of Defiance has also been positive and if it continues to deliver may swing some player attitudes. Future Seasons are also likely to be more warmly received, as players near Destiny 2's final chapter -- The Final Shape. At the moment, however, Bungie may want to take a moment to figure out what went wrong.
Destiny 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.