It has officially been five years since Destiny 2 launched, and the game has come a long way from the early Red War campaign and the multiple issues it faced throughout Year 1's Curse of Osiris expansion. While the franchise as a whole is now eight years old, Bungie did learn a lot about Destiny 2's identity by taking a look at what the company achieved with its predecessor, but also by stopping to think about where the story could have gone and should go next. Bungie's looter-shooter franchise has always been about story and the universe it built as much as a compelling gameplay flow.

Destiny 2's Year 5 is capitalizing on the legacy of its previous expansions and seasonal releases by forging new narrative threads and taking older ones to new heights, which is increasingly satisfying the more players are invested in the story. While Year 4 was about discovering morally gray areas for Guardians to operate in and find new allies, Year 5 seems to be about driving those characters to fight their inner demons ahead of Lightfall and The Final Shape. These two expansions will ultimately end the Light and Darkness saga that has been characterizing Destiny 2 since the start, and Year 5 perfectly encapsulates that feeling so far.

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Why Destiny 2's Year 5 Promises Great Stories Ahead

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Season of the Risen was a strong release for Destiny 2 because it was the perfect length for a Season accompanying the launch of a massive expansion in The Witch Queen. Still, what made it impactful is the complexity of the characters involved, allowing both Crow and Lord Saladin to grow and take their respective paths to keep protecting mankind. Season of the Risen and The Witch Queen as a whole untangled knots for Bungie by making Guardians go up against their perfect mirror in Hive Lightbearers, and this too was storytelling done well.

In Season of the Haunted, a small cast of characters was forced to face their worst nightmares and most negative emotions. Crow learned to accept the part of Uldren Sov that has been tormenting him since Savathun's revelations at the end of Season of the Lost. The iconic Destiny 2 Vanguard Commander, Zavala, showed Guardians a side of himself that goes beyond the firm and dependable leader they have come to know. Lastly, Empress Caiatl learned to set aside her doubts about her leadership and the events surrounding the fall of the Cabal capital, Torobatl, by coming face-to-face with the Nightmare of Dominus Ghaul.

It's early to determine what Season of Plunder will bring, but it seems to be about a dark secret in Eliksni history that has ominous ties with the Darkness and The Witness' Black Fleet. These stories are a great testament to what Destiny 2 can achieve with Lightfall and The Final Shape, because players are fully immersed in a world where there are no clear boundaries to what defines good and evil, light and dark. Rather, the narrative questions what it means to be human, or what defines humanity in those who oppose the players.

Destiny 2's Lightfall might be the first time Guardians take a hard blow, according to Bungie, and that is a way for the game to come full circle to those vanilla Red War days. The Final Shape, on the other hand, might be about redefining what it means to be a Guardian - a concept that was first introduced with Destiny when players launched the game. Only time will tell whether the upcoming stories will live up to the expectations of thousands of players, but in the meantime,Year 5 is on the track to prove that and more.

Destiny 2 is now available for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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