Recent reviews by Azure Bat

Good luck with the crypto, Neos sucks now.

RIP Neos. Karel is a douche.

For those who like Destiny to play Destiny, you will enjoy this expansion no matter what. If you're wanting anything more, you will be disappointed.

It's a shame that this wet fart of an expansion is considered a penultimate chapter for the light saga. It's the same 4 factions we've been killing since D1. The new enemy type, tormentors, barely do anything to you and their AI breaks as soon as you elevate yourself. The story is awful. Confusing, many plot holes, and is a complete waste of time if you're invested in Destiny's story whatsoever. And the cringe, Marvel-like acting and writing is very hard to tolerate. I really wish they would take their story more seriously.

Season of Defiance shows the flaws in their writing and provides a just as much of a marvel-cringe mess of a story. Amanda's death was not deserved at all and was a huge throwaway of a character that's been around since the beginning. I was left saying "Did they really just do that?" instead of having any sort of emotional reaction to her death. ANY other studio could at least give a more nuanced story before killing her off. The only emotional moment for me was Zavala talking about Amanda's death, due to the grim irony of Lance Reddick's passing, shortly before the release of that cutscene.

The seasonal weapons and gameplay loop aren't even worth going in depth. It's a destiny seasonal battleground mode with mid weapons. The exotics are neat.

Knowing that this expansion is filler for Final Shape, I am certain that this entire year of Destiny will be filled with seasonal gimmicks, throwaway stories, and the same seasonal routine we've done for the last 3-4 years. I'm finally stepping away from this game and keep myself from giving it anymore time and money. The only time I will log in will likely be for Dungeons and Raids that I already paid for. This game does not respect your time.

I can say a few positive things that Bungie still succeeds in. The gameplay/gunplay loop has always been good and still is. The destinations, raids, cutscenes, and set pieces are beautiful as always. The music still always impressive and has me listening to it even when I'm not playing it anymore.

But after all this, Lightfall has taught me 3 things for for my future Destiny purchases:
1. Wait until reviews are out
2. NEVER get the Deluxe edition
3. Seasonal content has always and still is likely a waste of time.

Update:
There will be no more future purchases from me. The layoffs were my final straw and the management at Bungie are failures. This game is nothing but nostalgia bait and preys on those who have been sticking around for many years. It's disgusting.

Bungie's learned absolutely nothing from the expansions that flopped in the past. They know they can hype the veterans up to buy anything. They will squeeze every last penny from them to meet Sony's needs and the veteran players will defend their purchases to the end of Destiny, even if it's an unfinished mess.

Being away from the game made me learn how much I played it for the potential rather than what it was. Bungie knows this and uses it to their advantage. Lightfall woke me and many others up from this and now realize for the last expansion, that they don't have to innovate at all.

I've quit, I've been happier, and I play games that are fun and enjoyable. I'm sad Destiny couldn't live up to the potential it had.

As someone who's been very critical of Bungie's expansions, I have to say this is definitely the best one to date. I have my gripes about the base game (ritual playlists, balancing, seasonal stuff, etc) and its problems, but all that aside, this is a great expansion packed full of content. I HIGHLY recommend playing the new expansion under legendary from the start, as you will feel it's impact much more. Playing in this difficulty will bring you back to old days with Halo's legendary campaigns, and will also reduce the grind substantially if that's not your cup of tea. One hope I have is that Bungie continues to make content more difficult, mainly the base difficulty. Once you're at the soft cap, everything is a cakewalk and definitely needs to be adjusted to be more difficult.

The raid is absolutely one of my favorite raids to date. Up and down it was an enjoyable experience, very creative environment, along with the boss fight being intense and satisfying. Having bosses fight back is something Bungie needs more of!! I ENJOYED getting kicked in the face when I was being too careless.

Overall, good content that will satisfy those who want decent Destiny content and a great story. There are some downfalls, but it is attributed to the base game's core issues, which hopefully can be fixed and adjusted down the road.

I played a couple hours of this game. It's alright.

For those coming in, there's a lot to offer with the base game and foresaken expansion. But with Shadowkeep, I feel there was a lot of missed opportunities. This expansion has a lot to offer with new areas and game modes, but some content is very lackluster and unrewarding. The lack of exclusive nightfall rewards for Shadowkeep strikes is surprising, nightmare hunts are generally pointless, and the campaign is just one big teaser.
However, the campaign story is slightly better than most. The performance for Eris was very well done. The Pit of Herasy is a great dungeon and offers a lot of rewards. I have not played the raid but I've heard it's decent and offers a lot of decent gear, even though the raid armor is just re-textured season 2 armor.
The seasonal content has been very dull and overall, unrewarding. The story additions have been good, but the game modes and reward pool does not hold up very well. The rewards for the pass are neat, but are mainly just cosmetics to chase. The titles are not worth getting as it's essentially a badge that says "I did way too much vex offensive/sundial".

TL;DR
Lackluster story with minimal reward structure. The exotics are cool, but the additional content has been hit or miss. Pit of Herasy and the raid are cool. Some game modes are a waste of time and the seasonal content has been boring. I do not suggest it at it's full price and would recommend waiting until it's on sale. Get Forsaken if you haven't, much more rewarding for the price.

Selling you the same cookie cutter ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Now with the new feature: Paid mods. We destroyed you when you tried to pull this last time. We can do it again.

Paid mods are cancer to the modding community. Don't support this game.

♥♥♥♥ you Rockstar. You continue to ♥♥♥♥ on the modding community.

This game will remain as one of my all time favorite games. Everything about it is solid.
The graphics absolutely gorgeous. I have never seen a platformer this beautiful. Your eyes will be very happy.
Its gameplay has a metroid style and takes it to a different element. It can be quite challenging at times, but the sense of accomplishment is rewarding.
Out of many of the games I've played, this game hands down has one of the best soundtracks. The music pulled me in and immersed me unlike any other game. With it tied into a great storyline, it will crush your heart in the saddest moments yet fill you with joy in the happy ones.
Moon Studios has a HUGE attention to detail in their game. They poured their hearts into Ori and the Blind Forest and you'll see it once you play it.

I can't wait to see more of your work Moon Studios! Keep up the amazing work!!