[2] The Taken King and its associated patch received positive critical reception, with reviewers citing the more coherent storyline of the content contained within, as well as other changes across Destiny as a whole that improved its overall systems and gameplay mechanics.

[3][4] In comparison to the previous two expansions of Destiny, The Taken King features a "full campaign", three new multiplayer "strike" missions, and seven new Crucible maps.

[11] The Dreadnaught, a Hive ship situated within the rings of Saturn, serves as a new playable environment in The Taken King; Bungie described the location as being "an inscrutable loot-filled fortress", emphasizing secret treasures and bosses contained within.

[16][17] Beginning December 1, 2015, the raid also contains a weekly bonus challenge, in which defeating one of the bosses in a specific, specified manner will yield additional rewards.

[24] New "Collections" interfaces allow players to track the exotic items, emblems, shaders, emotes, sparrows, and ships that they have found, and view clues for obtaining those they do not currently possess.

The story begins with Oryx bringing his Dreadnaught and armada to the Solar System, where the Awoken, led by Queen Mara Sov, ambush him.

He convinces the Tower's shipwright, Amanda Holliday, to attach it to Eris's ship, as it has the scent of the Hive from her many years spent on the Moon.

In order to reach Oryx, the Guardian must steal what remains of Crota's soul from his tomb on the Moon so that they can pass through a portal on the Dreadnaught called a Rupture.

The mid-credits scene shows Eris Morn touching Oryx's sword and then watches it crumble, taking the crystal that was inside of it.

Eris Morn then constructs a rifle using Oryx's tainted heart, as well as a collection of elemental blades imbued with the core of his prized sword to aid the Guardians in their continued war against the Taken.

Destiny had historically been panned by critics for its repetitive mission structure and disjointed narrative—a side effect of having changed the initial story late in original development.

[35][36][37] Noseworthy stated that Bungie was "definitely trying to improve the storytelling" of Destiny, and that with The Taken King, their goal was to "deliver a story that players can really sink their teeth into.

Unlike the previous raids, "King's Fall" was designed at its harder difficulty level first, and then scaled down for its easier mode, rather than vice versa.

Bungie community manager Eric "Urk" Osborne justified the increased price, owing to the amount of content in The Taken King and the quality of its presentation.

[46] Per an ongoing exclusivity agreement with Sony Interactive Entertainment, certain content in The Taken King was exclusive to PlayStation platforms until October 2017,[47] which included a strike ("Echo Chamber"), a Crucible map ("Sector 618"), an exotic scout rifle ("The Jade Rabbit"), and a legendary gear set for each class: Hesperos (Titan), Azoth Bend (Warlock), and Neuroghast (Hunter).

[51][52][53] On October 5, 2015, Bungie announced the addition of a microtransaction-based cash shop, the "Eververse Trading Company", which allows players to purchase premium cosmetic items (such as special emote animations) with a paid currency known as Silver.

[56][57] In late-October 2015, a Halloween-themed "Festival of the Lost" event was held, introducing cosmetic mask items, associated quests, and the introduction of the new Crucible map Cathedral of Dusk.

[58] On December 5, 2015, Bungie announced the Sparrow Racing League event as part of the version 2.1 patch—which introduced a racing minigame utilizing the game's Sparrow vehicles, associated quests and bounties provided by NPC Amanda Holliday, and the possibility of earning exclusive items at a high SRL reputation level.

[61] On January 27, 2016, within that week's Iron Banner event (which, for the first time, was played in Rift mode), Bungie began to experiment with modified matchmaking procedures for multiplayer games which include connection quality as a factor.

New bounties and exclusive items were offered, and new emotes (including a fist pump and a dance inspired by the music video for the song "Hotline Bling") were also added to the Eververse Trading Company.

New "Freelancer" playlists were added to Crucible, offering assorted games with 3-on-3 (Elimination, Salvage, Skirmish) and 6-on-6 (Clash, Control, and Rift) modes respectively, which can only be joined by players that are not in a party.

Additionally, players will no longer spawn holding special weapons ammunition in 3-on-3 modes, and there will also be changes to "give you a better experience in the Crucible when there are Internet problems outside of your control".

The Light level cap was raised to 335; King's Fall, Court of Oryx, Trials of Osiris, Iron Banner, Crucible Weekly matches, the Weekly Nightfall Strike, and the Vanguard Heroic Playlist activities were modified to give out higher-level gear that meets the new cap, in addition to Prison of Elders.

PlayStation platforms also have access to an exclusive quest line, an exotic sniper rifle ("Zen Meteor"), and a legendary gear set for each class: Barkhan Dune I (Warlock), Long Tomorrow 9G (Hunter), and Jovian Guard (Titan).

IGN praised the variety of changes across Destiny, as well as the revised direction of the game seen with the expansion, such as an increased focus on characterization and a storyline with clear goals and narrative.

In conclusion, giving the expansion a 9 out of 10, The Taken King was dubbed "an awesome upgrade that's addressed most of my biggest problems with Destiny over the past year.

The rewarding loot system, fun enemies, new subclasses, and many quests have kept me busy long after the strong story missions ended.

"[3] Game Informer was similarly positive, acknowledging the more dynamic strike formats, the campaign being a "fun and coherent romp that finally gives the characters of the world personality", the various secrets within the Dreadnaught area, among other changes.

In conclusion, it was felt that "the improvements to the user interface and quest system alone make the game so much more playable, but they quickly fade to the background once you dig into the content.

"[85] Two days after its release, Sony announced that The Taken King had broken the record for the most-downloaded day-one game in PlayStation history, in terms of both total players and peak online concurrency.