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Limited edition gaming accessories are like M. Night Shyamalan movies. Even when someone tells us they’re good, we’re instinctively skeptical (looking at you, Split), especially when the reviews suggest otherwise. The Alexa-compatible Destiny 2 Ghost device released to a vitriolic response when it came out last year for $89.99. For that price, you’d expect it to have the functionality of an Amazon Echo Dot built-in, in addition to bearing a resemblance to the robotic drone character from the online shooty space game.
Instead, the Destiny 2 Ghost turned out to be more of a desk ornament than a functional smart speaker. But for its current price point of $9.99 on Amazon, that’s perfectly acceptable. While it does have a speaker of its own, the official Destiny 2 Ghost accessory from Activision requires that you also own an Amazon Echo product of your choosing to use as a microphone. If you don’t own one already, we suggest the $29.99 Echo Dot.
Once paired with an Echo, you can use the Destiny 2 Ghost – via the downloadable Alexa Ghost skill – to learn more about the game world and hurl commands such as, “Alexa, ask Ghost to equip my most powerful weapon.” Of course, you could accomplish this just as well with the Echo by itself, but what fun would that be? When the Ghost audibly replies, it lights up, too, because if there’s one thing gamers need, it’s more LEDs.
Upon its initial launch, the Ghost accessory was criticized for having a finicky setup process that didn’t work for everyone who tried it, rendering the product useless for some ardent Destiny fans. Disappointing, sure, but as someone who bought one at full price, I can say with complete certainty that the instructions on Bungie’s site are sufficient as long as you carefully proceed through the steps, keeping in mind along the way that the Ghost, the Echo and the PC you’re using to set them up have to all be connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
At $90 the Destiny 2 Ghost speaker was immensely overpriced considering its many flaws. You might say it was the Fallout 76 bag of yesteryear. But at $10, it’s one hell of a stocking stuffer for the esteemed Destiny player in your life. Regardless of whether they’re on PS4, Xbox One, or PC, the Destiny 2 speaker is equally suited for all three platforms. Although it does have to be plugged in at all times in order to take advantage of the Alexa capabilities, the price is low enough now that it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to buy it for decoration alone.
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