Highlights
- The article highlights that open-world destinations in Destiny 2 have evolved with each expansion, offering a variety of encounters, secrets, and bosses for players to enjoy.
- The Earth patrol zone, The EDZ, suffers from a lack of unique content and direction, making it important only for veterans seeking nostalgia.
- The Moon, despite its gray landscape, offers a wealth of golden-age technology, replayability with activities like Alters of Sorrow, and collectibles sought out by Guardians.
The aftermath of Destiny 2's Season of Arrivals might mean open-world destinations are no longer what they once were in Bungie's first-person online shooter, but that doesn't mean the current content is in any way lacking.
One expansion at a time, the game adds a new world to touch down on, offering a more relaxing experience that the solo player can take advantage of. From lost sectors to world events, each patrol zone adds a variety of encounters, secrets, and bosses for players to seek out, occasionally rewarding such endeavors with triumphs or even exotic loot, if they know where to look.
8 The European Dead Zone (EDZ)
The EDZ has suffered a lot in recent years, mainly due to the sunsetting of The Red War campaign, which diminished its relevance to just two remodeled strikes and a spot for Xur. Many past rewards, such as emblems or weapons, became unobtainable. With the release of the Beyond Light DLC, Destiny 2 introduced another Earth patrol zone with a strikingly similar aesthetic: The Cosmodrome.
Against this newer destination, The EDZ suffers greatly due to its strong lack of direction or unique content. With nothing much to offer but nostalgia, The EDZ is a place of importance only to veterans who seek to relive days past with Devrim Kay.
7 Nessus
Like The EDZ, Nessus holds much less value than it used to, losing content and story relevance in the 2020 sunsetting, but gains a slight edge over the Earth-set patrol zone for its unique environment. Bright red and ominous, Nessus is filled with unusual geometry and fascinating structures, courtesy of the Vex, who attempted to transform the planet into a Machine World.
Nessus also plays host to fan favorite vendor Failsafe, a malfunctioning AI continuously switching between two contrasting personalities. Although relatively untouched since the game's release, Failsafe remains an entertaining factor in the few strikes she still appears in, elevating what could have been just an irrelevant destination into a vacation from the intensity of most modern activities.
6 The Moon
The first revelations of Destiny 2's big bad, The Darkness, were made on The Moon during the Shadowkeep expansion, revealing the true strength of this enemy as Guardians moved around defeating 'nightmare' variants of their fallen foes.
Outside the story, The Moon offers a wealth of golden-age technology showcasing a Starfield-esque future of ruined NASA-like bases and haunted outposts. It's certainly not to every player's liking, especially given how gray the landscape is, but it's certainly the first step in the right direction, offering replayability in the forms of the Alters of Sorrow activity and collectibles that are still sought out by Guardians today.
5 The Cosmodrome
Added permanently to Destiny 2 with Beyond Light, The Cosmodrome replaced The Red War campaign as the new player experience, initially as a mission-only location with 2019's New Light update, before becoming a fully-fledged patrol zone in 2020.
Although strikingly similar to The EDZ and offering just as limited an experience for veterans, The Cosmodrome is a critical place for newcomers to Destiny 2, allowing them to learn the ropes whilst fighting the series' iconic Hive and Fallen factions among apocalyptic ruins and remnants of Earth life. Alongside this early game importance, The derelict shipyard hosts more than a few steps in the acquisition of a popular returning exotic, making it a desirable location for players of all statuses.
4 Europa
Jupiter's frozen moon, the setting of 2020's Beyond Light DLC, had much to live up to, coming in immediately after Bungie's sunsetting removed masses of content from Destiny 2. In some ways, Europa struggled against the diversity of some previous destinations, offering an endless frozen wasteland interrupted only by the occasional Vex structure or Braytech installation.
However, the patrol zone becomes thoroughly rewarding when hunting for secrets, with collectibles hidden in every nook, and a powerful exotic waiting for those seeking the truth about one of Destiny's longest-serving allies. Coming out only a year before The Witch Queen expansion revamped how players interacted with patrol zones, Europa's relevance is quickly slipping, but for those still seeking Penguins, exo-bodies, or an absurd number of Fallen Brigs, there is plenty to do.
3 The Dreaming City
The second location from the Forsaken expansion, The Dreaming City is one of the few remaining elements from one of Destiny 2's most celebrated DLCs, suffering from the same aimlessness base-game patrol zones like The EDZ and Nessus feel in the aftermath of sunsetting.
What makes The Dreaming City one of Destiny 2's strongest patrol zones, however, is the fascinating time loop at its center, altering the destination over a three-week cycle that repeats indefinitely. Secrets, NPCs, and events all move around according to the timetable, giving players a reason to return to this patrol zone even if its story value has been lost to time.
2 Neomuna
Although the 2023 Lightfall expansion didn't quite match its expectations at launch, it did give players one of the best patrol zones in the game. The Neptunian city of Neomuna is a welcome departure from the crumbling ruins and alien structures of most patrol zones in Destiny 2, instead heralding Guardians into a cyberpunk city rife with the invading forces of Darkness.
Neomuna builds on the newer destination and vendor systems introduced throughout 2022, rewarding players who navigate its events and lost sectors with secrets and loot. It's a huge improvement over most prior patrol zones, but not flawless; the lively city is, curiously, very empty. It's not a huge issue, given that Destiny 2 patrol zones aren't usually littered with allied characters, so if fans can get past that, Neomuna's sky-high towers and bright neon lighting are something to behold.
1 Savathun's Throne World (Court Of Savathun)
The Throne World of the Witch Queen herself is a triumph. With its release in 2022, it revised destination vendors into a functional progression system that would unlock new parts of the map over time, allowing access to a huge amount of secret content that took full advantage of the Hive Lightbearer enemies introduced in The Witch Queen expansion.
The diverse selection of swamps and white gothic castles make the Throne World one of the most beautiful destinations, giving it an eerie atmosphere perfectly channeled into the events and campaign. Of all the patrol zones in Destiny 2, it is Savathun's Throne World that makes the most of past successes to craft a truly wonderful destination for players.
Destiny 2 is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.