Destiny 2: Forsaken Review in Progress | Gaming News

By Destin Legarie

So far, Destiny 2: Forsaken is everything I could have hoped for in an expansion to Bungie’s shared-world shooter and more. With impressive cutscenes and strong writing, the death of the Hunter Vanguard Cayde-6 during a grandiose and wise-crack filled prison-break sequence adds drama and a darkness to the story which also evokes a new sense of turmoil amongst the survivors, who turn to you to you to seek vengeance for your fallen comrade. I’m invested and definitely want to see it through to the end, but I took a detour from the story missions after the first few to level up and ended up engagingly sidetracked by the plethora of options at my disposal: PVP, Gambit, the new Strike system, all the bounties, the Wanted hunts from Spider – all of it feels overwhelming, in a good way.

The excellent storytelling extends to the new Strike mission I’ve had the chance to play so far, in which you visit a new area of the prison where Cayde died. Rebellious inmates need to be put in check, including an impressive sequence in which you have to dodge a train system while enemies lay in wait. But as you dive deeper in you’ll also be greeted with moments of nostalgia designed to catch the attention of a longtime player of Destiny.

Potentially the best piece is an entirely new enemy type. No more re-skins here, for once. The Scorn weren’t initially that exciting to me because at first glance I figured they would be a remade version of the Fallen, but that’s not the case. Each character type reacts in a new way and visually it’s quite clear that the new models got some tender loving care. For example, you can shoot the weapon the flame-wielding Ravagers wield, causing a large explosion of fire that engulfs them and anyone nearby.

All of these additions are complemented by a complete rework of the sandbox, with refinements that bring back what my crew and I loved about the first Destiny but found sorely lacking in Destiny 2 until now. Bungie has taken its old playground full of confusing mods, armor with boring perks, and bland PVP and revamped all of it to make everything more interesting. If you want to wield any crazy loadout, like three shotguns, you can do that now, which adds more flavor to the mix instead of mandating more practical options. Armor and weapons of the same type will have unique mods that encourage you to keep different sets until you get that perfect drop. This makes Destiny 2 feel mysterious again, and each drop is exciting right now as it could be that perfect roll, or bring you one light level closer to the max.

The Crucible benefits the most from the sandbox changes. Not only has Bungie addressed the time-to-kill issue so many fans have been asking for adjustments on, but with the weapon and armor changes your rewards are better than ever and could directly impact your PVP performance. This will give fans new things to strive toward should a particular weapon shine, or encourage them to figure out new counters which could prompt even more time in-game to earn said weaponry. Team up with a small group and you’ll fare much better with coordinated attacks, but it’s also rewarding to go solo into something like Rumble, where it’s a free for all.

Gambit mode is another new addition and it truly is superb. Facing off in a mix of PVP and PVE challenges is exhilarating, and planning the appropriate strategy with my team which results in success gives me a great feeling of camaraderie and accomplishment. The goal is to kill enemies, grab the motes that drop, and throw them into a bank as fast as you can to spawn enemies and mess with the progress of your opponents. Deposit enough motes and a extremely powerful Primeval will spawn which your team needs to full full of bullets before the opposition. During this entire ordeal the opposing side will be able to invade and try to murder you. WHen successful this will make the tricky Primeval regain its health. Gambit is unlike anything I’ve seen before and Bungie has again created one of the best experiences out there.

I believe, however, that one of the best ways Bungie has improved the Destiny 2 experience is by respecting your time. With Forsaken, you can do whatever you enjoy the most to level up, and it all of it feels like it’s in a great place right now thanks to all the system changes. Also, the collection system allows you to see what you still need to acquire to complete a set of armor or weapons and it can all be grabbed from your inventory for some resources. Hopefully they extend this to all of the new armor and weapons.

That Triumph tab has also finally brought lore into Destiny 2 with compelling stories you can read at your leisure as you discover scannable items or dead ghosts in the wild. Bungie has even implemented a system called Bungie Rewards to give anybody who completes enough in-game challenges some real-world rewards. This incentive system links to the Bungie store where you can now sign up for the chance at items for completing in-game challenges. For example if you complete the Forsaken campaign before the end of September you’ll get a copy of the soundtrack for free. There are also a ton of future rewards teased with “Coming Soon” text and a description of new challenges. For example acquiring the Ace of Spades weapon will be next, but the reward is obscured for now.

With all of that, the first 12 hours of Destiny 2: Forsaken have gone above and beyond my expectations. Thus far Bungie has delivered on all fronts and even admitted its mistakes with the launch and first year of Destiny 2. Now it’s not only brought back what made me love the first Destiny when it was at, but also added a ton of requests that fans – myself included – have wanted for years.

Stay tuned to Tech for more on Destiny or checkout our weekly show Fireteam Chat dedicated to all things about Destiny.

Destin Legarie is a Senior Features Producer at Tech. You can follow him on Twitter if you feel like it.