In a move that screams, “Please come back, we’re sorry (kind of),” Bungie has served pretty much the entire buffet of Destiny 2’s current offerings for the low, low price of absolutely nothing—at least for now. Here’s what’s suddenly wide open: The Witch Queen, Lightfall, The Final Shape, Episode Echoes (aka Season 1.5 of whatever this new “episodic” thing is), Episode Revenant, and Episode Heresy.
Now before you get excited and start downloading 100+ GB of pure lore slop salad, let’s clear something up: this generosity comes with an expiration date. Expansions will lock back back up tighter than the Vault of Glass in a solo run after July 22, just one week after Edge of Fate launches. Meanwhile, those three episodes? Those get Thanos-snapped out of the game the day Edge of Fate drops on July 15th, erased as if they never existed because this is Destiny and nothing gold can stay, Ponyboy.
Now, if you’re a brand-new Guardian trying to get your bearings, it might seem pretty sweet at first that all this is free. On the other hand, Bungie pretty much threw a 10-course meal in your face and said, “You’ve got 20 minutes.” The story’s so tangled it makes Kingdom Hearts look like a Dr. Seuss book, and the UI is still allergic to common sense. There’s no chance you’ll see all of it unless you’ve taken time off work and replaced sleep with Red Bull and blind optimism.
The bright side? Anything you manage to grab—gear, cosmetics, exotics, even your bragging rights—sticks with you forever. However, because there always has to be a monkey’s paw situation tied to anything nice with Bungie, they are overhauling the entire gear system the moment Edge of Fate lands. So all those shiny guns and armor pieces you just unlocked? Yeah, they might be functionally obsolete within a few weeks. Or not. Who knows anymore. So, have fun for a few days with that fancy purple loot while you figure out how to navigate the menu system before it all changes on you and makes no sense again.
Look, Destiny 2 is fun when it wants to be. The shooting mechanics are second to none, and every once in a while you’ll stumble across a moment so epic you’ll wonder why you ever left. But for new players? This is like jumping into a TV series that’s 10 seasons deep with the first two seasons removed from the streaming service, and forces you to watch YouTube videos to understand just what in the flying f*ck is going on in the remaining eight seasons.
But hey, it’s free. Just try not to get crushed under the weight of it all, and be careful not to get tricked into buying anything with the convoluted storefront offerings out there.
