After two extremely disappointing expansions, it was looking as if Destiny 2 was starting to end its life-cycle. Destiny 2 just wasn’t the sequel players were hoping for. While it did start off fairly positive with a more cohesive campaign and accessible structure, the shooter just wasn’t retaining players the way the first game did. Everything soon became repetitive, and Bungie’s attempt create a more accessible grind turned away some veteran players who preferred the more hardcore MMO style that was in the original. The Curse of Osiris expansion was universally panned by critics and players, and while Warmind is a little underrated, it wasn’t enough to bring players back. Bungie needed something to bring the sequel back to life. It’s obvious that Bungie is approaching The Forsaken the same way they did with Taken King expansion in the original Destiny. After 40 hours in, it seems Bungie has provided a worthwhile expansion that is, in some ways, a reboot of Destiny 2. Not only that, it’s a sincere apology to its dedicated fans who felt betrayed by the recent sequel.

Prior to Forsaken’s releases, Bungie released a massive update that completely overhauls Destiny 2’s User Interface, while also making changes (some questionable) to other aspects such as weapon slots and weapon infusion. I do appreciate the way the UI has changed when viewing the solar system. While it really didn’t need any changes, it’s still easy on the eyes to see the planets slowly moving within the menu. As for weapon slots, many players will now notice that they can equip shotguns, sniper rifles, and fusion rifles in their top two slots, which I’m glad they finally addressed this issue. The most questionable design choice that irks me is the weapon infusion system. Instead of just spending glimmer and a few Legendary Shards, players will additionally need to collect resources from around the planets, as well as collect the hard to come by Masterwork cores. All of this together makes weapon infusion extremely inconvenient, especially in the endgame. I struggle to determine Bungie’s logical reasoning behind this change. I know they would want players to test out the new gear being released, which is completely fine. Yet, I may still find an awesome gun from the expansion with a Power Level 500, but it costs too much to infuse it later when I collect more powerful items that I may not particularly like.

With all that being said, the overall structure of the game is the best it has ever been. Now let’s get to the actual review of the expansion. The Forsaken’s campaign takes place on a brand-new area, The Tangled Shore. Since the campaign’s narrative is essentially a western style revenge story, the new location is a gritty and barren wasteland. I wouldn’t say The Tangled Shore is the best area Bungie has created for the series, but it certainly isn’t the worst. The area has a dark violet color palette throughout, which definitely stays consistent for the overall tone. After the beloved fan-favorite Cayde-6 is killed off in a prison break by Uldren, Forsaken’s Big Bad, our character is seeking vengeance. At first, it was awesome to finally hear our main character actually speak dialogue. The nerd in me got so giddy when our character speaks the words, “Uldren is mine.” However, this excitement soon wore off as I could literally count on my fingers how many words they actually say throughout the 10 hour campaign. Those opening cutscenes really made this feel personal for our character, so it would’ve been nice if they maybe had said more throughout other cutscenes. The game’s multiple bosses had such unique personalities with menacing (and sometimes hilarious) dialogue, so it’s a shame that our character couldn’t contrast that with some dueling words.

Speaking of bosses, the campaign offers some of the most enjoyable boss fights the series has to offer…except for the final boss (we’ll get to that). While not as difficult as the game’s raids or strikes, these boss fights offer some nice variety to the mix. Instead of just a bullet spongey enemy like most bosses in Destiny, these new bosses require other objectives to change up the formula. Some of these even include some exhilarating chase sequences. This is the meat of the actual campaign. It essentially comes down to doing all the adventures that are scattered throughout the map, but all of them are memorable in their own way. It makes it all the more satisfying to take down a boss who’s been trolling me the last ten minutes. While I had a blast during these sections, the same can’t be said about the abysmal ending. The story builds up to this massive and epic showdown, but sadly falls flat on its face with an insulting boss fight that comes out of left-field. After I defeated the final boss, I had déjà vu from the first time I beat the original Destiny, where I asked myself, “That’s it?”

The Forsaken does finally do what fans have been asking for, which is present a new enemy faction. However, new does not always mean good. The Scorn is the new enemy faction that players will take down during the campaign. Aside from one certain enemy type, The Scorn feel extremely similar to the Fallen, who they stem from. Aside from one enemy type, they don’t really offer anything new to the gameplay. This seems like a missed opportunity since the Scorn are supposed to be some of the universe’s most malevolent criminals. With that context, The Scorn could’ve been extremely chaotic and unpredictable, but sadly all they really do is teleport constantly before I shoot their faces off.

Now we all know what keeps Destiny players shooting for hours, the endgame. The original Destiny 2’s endgame is where many players ended up giving most of their complaints. The hardcore grind was taken away to create more accessibility. While that’s all good and well to bring in new players, it took away the very core foundation of what made fans fall in love with the first game. The original Destiny did have issues, but it’s consistent challenges and Light Level climbs were enough to keep players invested for hours. The Forsaken brings back Bounties from the original Destiny. The Bounties did make me feel more productive in the long grind. For instance, I could have a daily challenge to complete three strikes, which can maybe take up to an hour. Well in this hour, I also may have several bounties from various NPCs that I can only achieve within Strikes. So I’m achieving multiple tasks while doing only one thing. It boils down to killing multiple birds with one stone, and that’s something I love to feel when playing an RPG. I want to know that every action I’m performing is leading to an overall goal. That goal, as we all know, is sweet, sweet loot.

Once players hit Power Level 500, the soft cap officially hits, meaning only loot from Powerful Gear can provide something higher than 500 onward. It must be stated that the grind this time around is long and tedious. Now this may turn some people away, but fans of the original may see this is a huge positive. It’s not an understatement to say that Destiny is not a game for everyone, which is what I think Bungie has been trying to counter-act. Some gamers absolutely love the constant grind to new gear, while others simply just don’t have the time nor the patience. That being said, Destiny shouldn’t be criticized for being grindy. Instead, it should be judged on the content that’s provided. Luckily, there is an abundance of activities that are consistently being added into Forsaken, with many providing the promise of Powerful Gear. The Forsaken also adds Prime Engrams into the mix, which are basically random drops of Powerful Gear, usually from bosses. The constant hope that a random yellow-bar enemy would drop a Prime Engram was quite a thrill, and could make the even the most generic activities worthwhile. The Powerful Gear this time around is generous in quantity, but not quality like Destiny 2 originally was. One of my biggest gripes in Destiny 2 was how often Exotic Weapons dropped. Don’t get me wrong, I loved getting that new awesome piece of gear, but constantly getting a new piece of Exotic Gear takes away that excitement. If half my inventory is made up of Exotic items, then are they truly Exotic anymore? So it was a pleasant surprise seeing that I wasn’t getting an Exotic drop every other challenge. When I eventually did, I was immediately stoked to use it, meaning I was no longer taking them for granted.

One of the newest additions players can partake in is the new Gambit mode. This mode has been highly anticipated by players since it’s the first PvPvE game mode for the series. Now it must be stated, this is definitely more PvE focused than PvP, but there is still a strong sense of competition. It is essentially a race to the finish, but of course players can throw in some roadblocks to other team. Gambit is actually a lot more fun than I expected, as the intensity of finishing before the other team is enthralling. This is coming from someone who doesn’t care much for Destiny’s PvP activities, as I’ve always found them to be a hollow experience as a whole. The only reason to do these activities is to achieve a Daily or Weekly challenge for some Powerful Gear. Luckily, the Crucible activities have more motivation this time around with a ranking system. Aside from the bounties, which add some layers to the Crucible, there’s more incentive to win this time around due to the ranking system. Every time a certain plateau is reached, players are awarded with great gear. I still personally believe PvP needs to be rid of entirely with Destiny, but that’s another conversation for another day.

Forsaken’s greatest asset for the endgame is the Dreaming City. This is an entirely new area that can be unlocked after beating the campaign. The Dreaming City is a beautiful location that’s brimming with secrets to discover, with new content being rolled out each week. This is the first time that Bungie has created an entire area for high level players, so the game’s biggest challenges prior the Raid can be undertaken here. The Dreaming City location is structured similarly to the all other planets in the game, with Public Events and Patrols to take on, but these activities are much more difficult and require more teamwork than previous events and patrols. I do appreciate this because it helps with the difficulty curve leading into the Raid (which takes place in The Dreaming City) since players will now have practice on what’s to come. The Blinding Well is where players can get a great challenge for the best rewards. These are broken up into Tiers I, II, and III. They do boil down to taking down aggressive waves of enemies and bosses, but there is a certain puzzle element to them. The higher the Tier, the greater the challenge, but also the reward. Having nine guardians in one event makes for some extremely chaotic moments, but be prepared for those frames to get wrecked at some points. This didn’t happen too often, but when it does, it’s very noticeable. One thing I don’t like about the Dreaming City is the lack of direction. This is something that’s a problem in all of Destiny’s locations since players can’t place waypoints for every section, such as Lost Sectors. Since the Dreaming City is full of secrets and easter-eggs, it would be nice if players had a better sense of direction to find these once discovered. Nitpicks aside, the Dreaming City is without the doubt the best addition to Destiny. As each week goes on, there are new missions to take part in and the Dreaming City makes some slight variations to the formula, so there’s always an incentive to keep coming back (well that and the loot).

Playing Forsaken, I had this ironic thought in my head. When Destiny 1 was first released, it was lauded with mediocre reviews. As the game went on though, it grew a dedicated fan-base and became a success. When Destiny 2 released, it was met with critical praise throughout. Contrary to Destiny 1 however, as the game went on, fans started to loathe the game and it was starting to fail. Forsaken brought back the long but rewarding climb that fans of the original loved so much. There are tons of activities, challenges, triumphs, and bounties to achieve. This is what really increases the playtime and brings out that cathartic gamer sensation of always getting something new. At first, players may be thrown off by the $40 price tag, but patience is key to fully enjoy The Forsaken. There truly is $40 worth of content here. Within the last five weeks, Bungie has been consistent with the content drops, and they are promising even more as the months go by. Destiny is a title that’s constantly evolving, which makes it really hard to actually review it since Forsaken is technically not finished. That also shows why players are addicted to this game though. It’s a game that they simply just don’t finish, and they don’t want to. Is Destiny for everybody? Absolutely not. It’s simply a loot fest with tons of activities to keep players busy. Even still, the top notch gameplay, promise of exceptional gear, and challenging raids is why they love it. I’d say this is the best version of Destiny that we have gotten so far, and with the release of a new Annual Pass, they’re just getting started. I almost don’t even want to give Forsaken a full score at this time because who knows what the state of Destiny 2 will be three months now. Generally, it isn’t right to critique a game based on its lifespan, but the way Destiny is structured and it’s weekly content drops, this is the exception. Bungie has promised to keep up with this game as the months go by, so Destiny isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.