I fell in love with Destiny 2 and obtained the Platinum Trophy on PlayStation 4, but since achieving that goal, I have barely picked up the game since. I don’t know if it was playing too much at one time, or a lack of compelling content to keep me engaged, but my interest in Destiny 2 dropped very quickly.
When Destiny 2’s third expansion, Forsaken, was announced with a new game mode titled Gambit, I was intrigued and excited for the first time in a while to jump back in to Activision’s shooter.
Gambit is a mix between PvE and PvP and is a unique take on multiplayer that was, most importantly, a ton of fun to play.
Two teams of four are called by a character named The Drifter and before the game starts you are on his ship and can see the other team and taunt them to your heart’s content. Shortly after, he flips a coin and when it lands, it determines which enemy type you’ll be facing off against.
You are then transported to a game where it is up to you and your team to destroy as many enemies as possible. When you kill an enemy, they drop “Motes” and you and your team must collect them and return them back to your base. This mode is completely PvE at the start and you don’t even see the other team.
The interesting wrinkle in this is that you can bank these Motes, and if you turn in 5, 10 or 15 at a time, you spawn a small, medium, or large blocker/enemy at your opponents base that they have to destroy before they can deposit anymore motes. However, while you may be trying to bank a lot of motes, if you are killed in action you lose all the motes you were carrying, so there is a high risk-reward that keeps things interesting and tempting you to go just a little bit farther.
Each team is attempting to deposit 75 Motes and when that is accomplished, a Primeval arrives and you and your team must be the first to take down your Primeval to secure victory.
As for the PvP aspect of the mode, at certain points in the match, a portal will open up where one player of an opposing team can invade your world, or vice-versa. This one player glows red and has some buffs and is attempting to wreck havoc and prevent you from accomplishing your mission. To make matters more dire, if you or your teammates are killed while the Primeval is in play, your demise will heal a portion of the massive foe’s health.
I had a ton of fun with this mode and it has shaken up the Destiny 2 formula in a way that has me wanting more for the first time in a while. I look forward to seeing what rewards you can unlock and what different maps/enemies will bring to the table, and September 4th can’t come soon enough.
