Major Spoilers for Lightfall, obviously In terms of gameplay, I enjoyed Lightfall and the new Strand subclass. The story, however, was another matter. More specifically, the vibe of game. For those of you with memories longer than the average Tiktok, you may recall the start of the Red War. The Red Legion walked throughout at least the tower, killing frames, citizens, Guardians, and probably family pets. For the first time, an enemy showed us they were a direct threat to the city, not some imaginary distant threat setting up a road block on Mars. Earth was in danger. The city was in danger. No enemy was able to get under our skin until probably Forsaken. Even then, the Awoken were being directly killed by the enemy. For the most part, throughout Destiny, one of my problems with the narrative is that the stakes never feel like they are there. The Hive on Luna have seemed like the most conventional obvious threat, with the ability to launch ships down and invade the Earth, not that they ever did anything with that. Here we are approaching the end, and did Lightfall give me any sense of dread? Was I shocked by the brutality of our enemy? No. The Shadow Legion come across as more of a mild inconvenience than an actual danger to the people of Neomuna. None of the Neomuni dialogue expresses anything other than the frustration over property damage or the mild inconvenience to their lives. The Shadow Legion show up and lay siege to the city, losing thousands of their soldiers and killing a total of one Cloudstrider -blam!- was a heart attack away from death anyway. I didn't care about the people of Neomuna, and I don't think anyone else did. Why would we care? They didn't really seem to be in any danger at all. Even the big "Lightfall" of the Witness creating the link at the end really didn't come across as tragic, mostly because nobody knew what the Veil even was. I had an idea because I actually played Season of the Deep first but I can see anyone playing at launch being completely disconnected and lost. Which I'd like to point out here the inconsistency in the narrative: at the beginning, we are trying to stop Calus from DESTROYING the Veil. At the end of the campaign the Witness links the Veil to the Traveller, which, according to the season of the Deep, was the Witness' goal all along. So why are we told Calus is trying to destroy the Veil at all? Moments in Lightfall slightly reminded me of Halo: ODST. Though for what similarities I could see, the most obvious difference was tone. ODST was a compelling story with a general dark vibe you are constantly reminded of as you explore the city and come across scenes of massacres. The game keeps hitting you in the face: humanity is losing. At the most, the Cabal kill the Vex which is arguably helping the people of Neomuna who often seem more bothered by the Vex than the Cabal anyways. Sadly, I feel like story and vibe have become an afterthought. Lighfall came across as too light-hearted and I feel if the game continues with this tone, it's really not going to sell the finale.