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| Release Date | Gameplay & Story | Pre-Order & DLC | Review |
Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate is the latest DLC expansion to Bungie’s space-age exoplanetary shooter. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth adding to the base game experience!
Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate Review Overview
What is Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate?
Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate is the latest expansion for Bungie’s 2017 class-based looter shooter. Set on the exoplanet Kepler, it follows the events of The Final Shape and acts as an epilogue to one of the game’s most significant story arcs. Alongside new campaign missions, the expansion introduces additional PvE and PvP content, as well as major gameplay and system overhauls.
Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate features:
⚫︎ New 14-mission campaign set on Kepler
⚫︎ New Matterspark mechanic
⚫︎ Overhauled armor and gear systems
⚫︎ New mission select menu "The Portal"
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate's gameplay and story.
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 Epic Games |
 PSN |
 Xbox |
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| Price | $39.99 | ||||||
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Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Sights and Sounds are as Good as the Base Game’s Beginner Friendly Gear and Armor Overhauls are Amazing The Portal Elevates the Game’s QoL |
Matterspark Mechanic is Pointless Bog-standard Story All Improvements are Incidental "Beginner Friendly" |
Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate Overall Score - 52/100
Destiny 2’s eventual decline has been a long time coming, and if The Edge of Fate isn’t the final proof, it’s definitely another step toward it. A bland, forgettable story tacked onto a directionless epilogue pairs all too well with clunky, unwanted mechanics—perfect if the goal was to hammer another nail into the game’s coffin. The incidental overhauls may be the only meaningful thing to come out of this release, but that’s not really thanks to The Edge of Fate itself. It just happened to be there when the good stuff dropped.
Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate Story - 4/10
Dedicating an entire DLC expansion’s campaign to an epilogue was a bad endeavor from the start; it doesn’t help that the story itself is neither compelling nor consequential. You’re not going to play this expansion for the campaign and what it has to tell, but at least you can forget about it.
Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate Gameplay - 6/10
Gameplay-wise, The Edge of Fate brings with it a sort of revolution for Destiny 2’s pre-existing systems, although it’d be more accurate to say that The Edge of Fate was released alongside a major update. By itself, especially with the Matterspark mechanic in mind, it actually brings down the quality of the base game’s loop by a small amount.
Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate Visuals - 7/10
Same as the game’s audio, The Edge of Fate gets most of its merit from the base game and its established futuristic visuals. As it is, The Edge of Fate is neither unique nor intriguing with its visual presentation, but I can’t call it awful-looking.
Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate Audio - 7/10
Destiny 2’s base sound design is already very solid, although this DLC does not get any additional points on top of that. It isn’t because the sounds are awful, or because anything sounds cheaply made, it’s just completely unremarkable, padded well by the quality of Destiny 2 by itself.
Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate Value for Money - 2/10
This DLC is absolutely not worth your money, even if you can find some way to make it worth your while. Less so for the more expensive versions. Destiny 2’s base game is free, and it’s ten times more enjoyable than this expansion’s drab storytelling and frustrating mechanics.
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Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate Review: At the Edge of Mediocrity
Ah, 2017. What a year that was for gaming. Destiny 2 had just launched, Breath of the Wild was the shiny new obsession, and Kratos was busy spreading the gospel of his fists somewhere up in Scandinavia. It was a golden time to be a gamer, no doubt—but why bring it up now?
Well, all those heavy hitters have since moved on—except one. Breath of the Wild already got its sequel, and even that’s starting to show its age. Kratos wrapped up his Norse saga with a bloodied, world-ending bow. And yet, here we are, with Destiny 2 still kicking, delivering yet another expansion hot off the digital press for the fans who’ve stuck around through eight long years.
You can probably see where this is going. Destiny 2 feels like it’s outstayed its welcome, and its newest expansion, which teeters right on the edge of mediocrity, might be the clearest sign yet. So let’s dive into this review of The Edge of Fate, Guardian.
Singularities and Tangled Timestreams on Kepler
Let’s start with the main draw of any Destiny 2 expansion: the new campaign missions. The Edge of Fate delivers a namesake set of missions set on a brand-new explorable planet called Kepler, where, in the aftermath of the Witness’s defeat, singularities and temporal anomalies have started cropping up, threatening the stability of the entire Sol system (that’s our solar system, for the uninitiated).
Naturally, as a Guardian, it’s up to you and your Ghost to investigate and set things right. It’s business as usual on the narrative front, though it’s worth noting that both the story and setting are heavily dependent on events from the previous expansion, The Final Shape. This stands a bit at odds with Bungie’s stated goal of making The Edge of Fate more accessible to newcomers and returning players, but I’ll just go and consider that a minor hiccup in execution.
Setting gameplay aside for now, the story itself is about as standard as Destiny 2 campaigns come. It’s essentially a dynamic shooting gallery on a new planet, punctuated by the usual helping of Destiny’s well-established—but-often-overbearing—world-building. The new characters mostly serve as mission vendors, pointing you toward the next objective, and they’re far from memorable, even when the plot tries to do something more with them.
I’ll steer clear of spoilers, not that there’s much to spoil. The few twists the story does offer are broadcast so clearly they barely qualify as foreshadowing. All in all, the narrative feels largely inconsequential in the grand scope of Destiny’s lore. It’s an epilogue—by nature, the story’s already wrapped up—and this expansion does little to suggest otherwise.
Kepler’s also a pretty underwhelming setting for the expansion. It feels like a bland exoplanet with that unmistakable Destiny 2 gloss hastily applied over what looks suspiciously like something out of High on Life. Sure, aesthetics are subjective, but when you stack it up against other expansions—like The Witch Queen, which channeled serious Warhammer 40K energy—Kepler just doesn’t measure up. It’s a forgettable backdrop in a game known for its striking environments, and that’s a lot of wind out of the expansion’s sails already.
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Classic Destiny 2 Mechanics, Plus a Couple of Underwhelming Ones
Now, let’s talk gameplay—because there’s a lot to unpack here, and not all of it’s good. First off, the core loop. Despite the countless overhauls Destiny 2 has seen over the years, its core gameplay remains largely unchanged. It’s still as build-focused as ever, with archetypes that remain both diverse and well-rounded.
Players still kit out their Guardians with the best gear for what they're trying to accomplish, and sometimes, they take what was made for the game's PvE content and point at each other for the fun of it in the game's PvP mode. It's a dynamic looter shooter then, it still is now.
Unfortunately, The Edge of Fate doesn’t introduce any new archetypes to the mix. What it does bring, however, is an overhauled system for gear and armor. Dubbed Armor 3.0, it’s a net positive for the game, streamlining specialization stats, scrapping tiers, and allowing for more focused, refined builds.
For the loot chasers out there, all gear now comes in distinct power tiers, with higher tiers boasting enhanced stats and traits. So even if grinding isn’t your thing, a lucky drop might still put you ahead. In many ways, The Edge of Fate gives Destiny 2 a mechanical facelift—but not every addition hits the mark.
Take Matterspark, for example. This is a new ability you unlock during the expansion’s very first mission—and I absolutely hate it. No way around it. Matterspark turns you into a crackling ball of energy, and while it’s clearly meant for traversal, it’s so clunky and awkward to use that I found myself genuinely frustrated—sometimes even raging—without a single enemy in sight.
It’s meant to help you navigate the expansion’s more winding level design, but that just makes its inclusion in nearly every major combat scenario early on all the more baffling. It offers no real tactical value, and worse, it dictates how levels are structured. The cramped crawlspaces it allows you to pass through are small, hard to spot, and generally unhelpful mid-fight. But they're their, so you need to use them sometimes, and it's the worst feeling ever. It’s a gimmick that hurts more than it helps.
Somehow, that’s still better than what The Edge of Fate does with teleportation and progression—because the former feels like an afterthought, and the latter is a confusing mess of vague waypoints, often strung together by those same Matterspark-only crawlspaces.
Honestly, you’ll probably spend more time trying to figure out where to go next than you will actually using Matterspark in combat, engaging with the teleportation system, or appreciating the revamped gear mechanics.
It’s disorienting even for returning players—let alone newcomers—which, once again, flies in the face of Bungie’s stated goal to make this expansion more accessible for lapsed or first-time Guardians.
Is Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate Worth It?
Absolutely Not, Even if It Was Half Off
Destiny 2 is free-to-play, The Edge of Fate absolutely isn’t, and I wish it were the other way around. The base game feels worth $40, while this expansion would need to pay me that much just to sit through it. It only scrapes by on the strength of Destiny 2’s foundation—but that’s not what you’re paying for, is it?
Don’t buy this expansion. Just enjoy Destiny 2 as it is. It’s not perfect, but clearly, it could be worse.
| Digital Storefronts | |||||||
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| Steam |
Epic Games |
PSN |
Xbox |
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| Price | $39.99 | ||||||
Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate FAQ
How Do You Access the Edge of Fate Campaign Missions?
If you’re a new player, you will have to finish the tutorial missions to gain access to The Tower, the game’s main hub, and start The Edge of Fate missions from there.
If you’re a returning player who already has access to The Tower, you may access the Edge of Fate campaign missions from there.
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Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate Product Information
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| Title | DESTINY 2: THE EDGE OF FATE |
|---|---|
| Release Date | July 15, 2025 |
| Developer | Bungie |
| Publisher | Bungie |
| Supported Platforms | PC (Steam, Epic Games) PlayStation 5 PlayStation 4 Xbox Series X|S Xbox One |
| Genre | Action, Shooter, RPG, Multiplayer |
| Number of Players | Massive Online Multiplayer |
| ESRB Rating | ESRB Teen |
| Official Website | Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate Website |
