Existing as the last season as we know it before the game transitions into its Episodic model, Season of the Wish had the job of paving the way for The Final Shape, whilst effectively continuing on from the previous season, all on top of retaining waning player interest and combating the growing negativity towards Bungie who were hit with a number of layoffs prior to the season's release alongside. This was alongside a delay for the upcoming expansion. It was a tough time back at the launch of the season, and the future felt pretty unclear - in fact, in many ways, it still is. However, with its own seasonal content and in combination with the release of the free Into the Light update, sentiment is back to being on the increase - with solid playercounts to boot.

Speaking specifically about Season of the Wish, the setup for this season pays homage to long-running speculation and theories around the fifteenth wish. In the end, whilst the story doesn't quite hit any massive highs, there are some strong character backstories delved into alongside the core narrative that leads into The Final Shape pretty succinctly. The season alone doesn't really do much outside of the final cutscene, but it's not bad and only really second to the previous season when it comes to ranking.

The true star of Season of the Wish is its headline activity - The Coil. There is also Riven's Lair - a condensed and shorter version of the Coil - but the full-length variant is where it's at, becoming arguably the game's best activity to-date, successfully building on those iterative roguelike elements further with an in-activity currency used to buy a rotating selection of buffs and bonuses. Complete with a bonus room available to those who achieve the highest scores and complete the full run of the activity, it not only showers you in rewards, but also features a solo option and a decent amount of variety to keep runs feeling fresh.

A notable quality of life feature I didn't see really any chatter on for Wish is how it includes a destination into part of the season's focus, going as far as not only updating its associated rewards, but also its activity too. Specifically, I'm referring to the Dreaming City which grants reputation gains for engaging with more or less any aspect of the locale, whether that be a public event, lost sector, material node, or Blind Well run. The updated rewards will of course even drop from the Shattered Throne dungeon too, meaning as a whole, Season of the Wish not only features an entirely new set of weapons and its own set of reprisals, but also an additional updated set, all of which the game is very keen to give out from nearly all of its sources. Taking this approach builds on the design that lets the season feel like it extends across the larger game, and revitalises some of that less played content in the process.

As for new content, there's also new Exotic mission, Starcrossed, that returns us to the Black Garden and explores Riven's past, whilst the new dungeon Warlord's Ruin pushes beyond the bounds of Destiny's existing environments, taking us to a castle overrun with all manner of Darkness-imbued enemies, and a unique boss of a kind we've not seen before. There's also a new weapon type - a rocket-assisted sidearm that has quickly become a fan favourite.

Taking a step back and looking at this season as a whole, it really is yet another one of the game's best to be completely honest. I don't think the story ends up amounting to a whole lot ultimately, but despite a very rocky start, the seasonal content in Year 6 has probably been some of the best and most consistent and innovative to-date. It's hard to predict if this will continue in Year 7, but with the reduced output of three Episodes a year instead of four Seasons a year, considering Bungie seem to be promising a similar amount, it's very possible we're looking at this kind of quality continuing.

Even with all this greatness however, the future and overall state of Bungie is still something that's still difficult to predict, and per previous reporting, it looks like much of how things shake out is reliant on the success of The Final Shape. Thanks to a pretty brilliant marketing cycle, solid player numbers leading up to launch and - what look like - strong pre-orders (sitting at number one on the PS Store for weeks now), things do look positive. All we can do is wait, but as for Year 6 overall, it's been one of the best when it comes to content, even if it lacks the same, consistent narrative quality of Year 4. For now, we look to The Final Shape, and after all the reveals, I'm very much ready to see how this 10-year saga comes to its conclusion, and how the game continues with its new Episodic model.

Still 5 months left in the season but effectively the season is over and sadly we are ending on a rather poor note. The discussion around the game is at an all-time low, but also Bungie really painted themselves into a corner by making these seasons so deliberately lead into The Final Shape. All the seasons have done this since the launch of Shadowkeep, and perhaps part of the problem is that i am just tired. But I feel this was one of the less inspired lead ups to a DLC they have done.

We have always known since the end of Lightfall that we have to get inside the Traveler, but it feels less like we have fought to make that a reality and more like things just kept falling into our lap. Season of the Witch was the only time it really felt like we did something to push the story forward, and did so at some risk to losing Eris. Nothing else this year has had any stakes, and that is a big reason I have never cared less about the story and lore this year.

Sad to say, since the Coil is one of the better activities this year. But when combined with all the half-baked Forsaken nostalgia grabs and wrote story, this season drowns itself in mediocrity