Well, well, well… here I am in 2026, a decade and a half after first booting up that first mission on Earth, looking back at the rollercoaster that has been Destiny's DLC journey. It’s like trying to sort through a box of old, half-eaten crayons—some are vibrant and perfect, others are melted blobs of disappointment you’d rather forget. Bungie’s sci-fi looter-shooter has been my digital home, my part-time job, and my source of both triumphant cheers and controller-throwing frustration. With the Light and Darkness saga now comfortably in the rearview mirror and a new roadmap promising bite-sized expansions, it feels like the perfect time to dust off my Ghost and rank these expansions from a Guardian who’s seen it all. Buckle up, this is my personal, slightly salty, hopefully humorous autopsy of twelve pieces of downloadable destiny.

12. Curse of Osiris: The Forgettable Appetizer

Let’s start at the bottom, shall we? Curse of Osiris wasn't just bad; it was so underwhelming it achieved a kind of transcendental forgettability. Dropping in December 2017, this was Destiny 2's first real content drop, and boy, did it fumble. The plot had potential—Vex messing with time, the legendary Osiris—but it was executed with all the grandeur of a soggy firecracker. The story was shorter than a Hunter's attention span in a jumping puzzle. The big new feature, the Infinite Forest, was less an infinite realm of mystery and more a repetitive, auto-generated hallway that felt about as exciting as watching your laundry spin. It was the video game equivalent of receiving a beautifully wrapped present, only to find a single, slightly used sock inside. The "Raid Lair," Eater of Worlds, was so simplistic it made a strike look like a doctoral thesis in combat. This DLC set a bar so low, a Worm God could limbo under it.

11. Warmind: A Slightly Less Frozen Failure

Warmind (May 2018) was the younger sibling who saw the older one faceplant and decided to at least try to stick the landing. It was a small, hesitant step up. The story was a bit more interesting, involving the Hive worm god Xol on Mars, but killing a deity in a regular Strike mission felt as epic as swatting a fly with a newspaper. However, I’ll give it this: the Escalation Protocol was chaotic, glorious fun. It was our first real taste of a proper horde mode, and for a few weeks, Mars was the place to be. The Spire of Stars Raid Lair was also a massive improvement, actually requiring some brainpower. But overall, Warmind felt like a placeholder, a content Band-Aid applied to stop the bleeding from Osiris. It was the filler episode in a TV season you watch while scrolling on your phone.

10. Lightfall: The Rushed, Strand-Filled Letdown

Ah, Lightfall (February 2023). The expansion that should have been a monumental penultimate chapter but instead felt like a hastily written side quest. We rushed to the neon-soaked Neomuna to stop Calus, and the whole thing felt disjointed. The story was bizarrely split between an apocalyptic invasion and what felt like a lengthy, mandatory tutorial for the Strand subclass. Introducing a brand-new, complex power in the middle of the saga's climax was like trying to learn quantum physics during a bank heist. The new characters, Nimbus and Rohan, landed with the emotional impact of a wet noodle. The Root of Nightmares raid, which brought back the infamous Nezarec, turned out to be a pushover, a laughable task that veteran raiders bulldozed. Lightfall will forever be remembered as the expensive, flashy filler DLC that awkwardly stood between us and The Final Shape.

9. Shadowkeep: The Hype Train Derailment

Coming off the high of Forsaken, Shadowkeep (October 2019) had hype levels that could power the Last City. We were returning to the Moon! Eris was back! The Pyramid! And yet… it fizzled. The story was cryptic and short, feeling less like a major chapter and more like a footnote that got bloated. It began the infamous "seasonal model" loop that would define (and sometimes plague) the game for years. The Pit of Heresy dungeon was neat but forgettable. Its saving grace was the Garden of Salvation raid, a beautiful, vexing (pun intended) experience that was an overall win. But one good raid couldn't save Shadowkeep from feeling like Bungie was stretching a thin idea over a $35 price tag. It taught us all a valuable lesson: never trust a Destiny hype trailer unconditionally.

8. The Dark Below: A Charming, Antiquated Relic

Looking back from 2026, The Dark Below (December 2014) is like finding your first, boxy cell phone. It’s charming in its simplicity but painfully outdated. As the franchise's first-ever DLC, it was perfect for its time. A compact story introducing Crota, a genuinely scary threat back then? Awesome. Two new strikes? Great! Crota's End raid? For 2014, it was revolutionary, even if by modern standards it’s a glorified strike. It also gifted us Eris Morn, our favorite gloomy, rock-holding friend. While it pales compared to today's standards, dismissing it entirely would be unfair. It was the foundation. It's the black-and-white photo in the album that started it all.

7. House of Wolves: The Arena King

House of Wolves (May 2015) didn't need a big raid to be memorable. Why? Because it gave us the Prison of Elders. This arena-based PvE mode was an absolute blast, offering endless, challenging replayability. It was the perfect activity to grind with friends, a chaotic ballet of explosions and panic revives. The story gave weight to the Awoken and Fallen, and the introduction of Trials of Osiris injected a much-needed shot of adrenaline into the PvP scene. This DLC understood that "endgame" could mean more than just one six-person activity. It set a standard for compact, high-quality content that, frankly, later DLCs often struggled to meet.

6. Beyond Light: The Icy, Complicated Pivot

Beyond Light (November 2020) was a complicated beast. It was the moment the Darkness saga stopped whispering and started shouting. Europa was a stunning, desolate playground, and the pursuit of Stasis was genuinely compelling, even if it broke PvP for months (sorry, not sorry, fellow Shatterdive victims). The story had pacing issues—lots of sitting around in Bray Exoscience—but the atmosphere was top-notch. The real crown jewel was the Deep Stone Crypt raid. Parachuting onto a space station, fighting through a blizzard, and jamming to that iconic spacewalk music? Perfection. It was a balanced, beautiful raid that made loot exciting again. Beyond Light was a step forward on a path of slippery, Stasis-covered ice—occasionally stumbling, but ultimately moving in the right direction.

5. Rise of Iron: The Forgotten SIVA Gem

Oh, Rise of Iron (September 2016). The last hurrah of the original Destiny, and an expansion Bungie seems to have locked in a vault somewhere. This is a tragedy, because it was a near-perfect package. It added a huge new zone in the Plaguelands, a terrifying new enemy faction in the SIVA-infected Fallen, and banger strikes. The Wrath of the Machine raid was a masterpiece of innovation, seamlessly blending mechanics, combat, and that incredible Aksis boss fight. Its only sin was being released right before Destiny 2 reset everything, rendering its long-term relevance null. It's the cult classic film that never got a wide release—those who played it know how special it was.

4. The Witch Queen: The Savior (Again)

After a few shaky years, The Witch Queen (February 2022) swooped in like a Hive God-mother and saved the day. This was Destiny storytelling at its peak: a compelling, campaign with a legitimately difficult Legendary mode that finally made the story feel challenging. Fighting Lucent Hive Guardians was a brilliant twist. The Throne World was gorgeous, and the introduction of weapon crafting, for all its later controversies, was a game-changer for casuals like me who have the luck of a cursed Thrall. And Vow of the Disciple? A raid so layered with symbols and secrets it made us all feel like archaeologists. Witch Queen didn't just meet expectations; it crushed them under Savathûn's boot, restoring hope that Bungie still had magic up its sleeve.

3. Forsaken: The Unquestionable Phoenix

Let’s not mince words: Forsaken (September 2018) saved *Destiny 2. After the vanilla disappointment and the Curse of Osiris disaster, this expansion was a nuclear bomb of quality. Uldren's story was emotional, the Tangled Shore was lawless fun, and the Dreaming City… oh, the Dreaming City. It was a revelation—a living, breathing, weekly-changing endgame destination filled with secrets. It was a complex ecosystem that felt alive in a way no game location had before. The content was absurdly rich: new Supers that defined classes for years, the fantastic Shattered Throne dungeon, and Last Wish, a raid so complex its world-first race took over 18 hours. If it had a flaw, it was wasting the awesome Scorn Barons in simple adventures. Forsaken* wasn't just a DLC; it was a statement of redemption.

The Road Ahead from 2026

So here we are. The saga is over, and Bungie's new roadmap promises smaller, Rise of Iron-sized expansions. After this decade-long journey of highs that touched the Traveler and lows that scraped the depths of the Hellmouth, I’ve learned to temper my expectations. The DLCs have been my constant companions, for better or worse. They’ve been like a long-running TV show: some seasons are Emmy-worthy, others you fast-forward through. As a Guardian who’s been here since the beginning, my hope for the future is simple: less filler, more of that Forsaken and Witch Queen magic. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a new 2026 season to grind. My Ghost is calling.

Expert commentary is drawn from PC Gamer, a leading source for PC gaming news and reviews. PC Gamer's extensive coverage of Destiny's expansion history often emphasizes how each DLC has shaped the evolving meta, community sentiment, and Bungie's approach to live service content, providing valuable context for the highs and lows discussed in this retrospective ranking.