CREDIT: BUNGIE
Destiny 2.0 is a much-improved version of Destiny with new characters, levels, enemies, gear and areas to explore.0

Just over a year ago Destiny was released on consoles worldwide, kicking off Bungie’s ambitious 10- year plan to merge the Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) and the ever-present First-Person Shooter (FPS) genres and create a huge, shared console world.

The studio’s Halo series is ranked as the most significant FPS’ ever created and the original trilogy’s story is one of the best narratives ever written to support endless gunplay.

With said history and heaps of hype behind the game, fans and critics were confused when the original game was released with a confusing, unwieldy loot system, a repetitive set of tasks and an almost non-existent story. The only saving grace was the technical and mechanical perfection of the gameplay itself and its ability to bring people together into one, fairly cohesive universe.

One year and two small expansions later, Destiny hardly resembles the game it was at its launch, with Bungie genuinely listening to concerns of the game’s community.

Everything done so far however pales in comparison to the release of The Taken King and the subsequent gaming patch that officially has brought us into Destiny 2.0.

Of all the gameplay changes made, perhaps the most important is which was made to the game’s levelling system.

The original system had players earning experience as you would in any other title, but only until level 20, after which the level was calculated by ‘light’, an additional statistic found in armour rewarded for completing high-level challenges.

While an interesting spin on an old system, it unfortunately alienated players who were unable to get a group of six friends together for the game’s raids and the highest-level challenges.

All of the aforementioned issues have changed with 2.0. Players can now use experience gained from general play to level their way all the way up to the highest level, which is now 40.

The light stat has also changed to add bonuses to attack and defense. This prevents solo players from being locked out of certain activities simply because they don’t have a certain helmet or gun.

The most pleasant change is the storytelling approach. It took around 30 seconds from the opening cut scene for me to see that this would be a much more exciting experience to play through and the narrative has been brought into story missions as well.

The opening mission included some truly eye-catching moments, including one passage of play that genuinely brought fear out of me.

Coming with the changes to story is the game finally making use of what is a truly impressive voice cast, with Peter Dinklage being replaced with Nolan North.

Voicing the ghost, a constant robotic companion responsible for much of the games dialogue, Dinklage never really sounded into the role.

North however is a video game veteran, starring as Nathan Drake in the acclaimed Uncharted series. Credited with over 200 appearances in various roles it’s not easy to play a game that doesn’t have him in it.

Another highlight in the cast is geek icon Nathan Fillion, who in the first year of Destiny was truly wasted as Cayde-6.

The robotic general is an intriguing character if you care to go into the grimoire, which are online cards used to flesh out the lore. Cayde is getting involved with events and most importantly, acting just like Fillion’s signature role, Firefly’s Mal Reynolds.

Other highlights include the addition of quests, new enemies, new gear and for the first time, an entire new area to explore, moving us to a more exotic location.

With countless hours of content added, I’ve not even had a chance to scratch the surface of what is to offer, but there is no doubt that the series is finally showing signs of what it always wanted to be.

It’s more fun, more accessible and there are more players than ever. For those who have been on the fence about it, there’s never been a better time to dive in.