Let's go to Prison! Destiny 2: Forsaken Review
- Ben Stembridge
- Sep 6, 2018
- 5 min read
When Destiny 2 hit the market exactly a year ago, we were all extremely pleased to experience what seemed like a fully formed Destiny game. It’s predecessor, rife with disjointed quality v. quantity issues, was panned in many respects while luckily maintaining a pretty impressive following. Destiny 2’s stellar balance between story and gameplay reinvigorated Bungie’s weary playership, giving them something substantial to hold on to as they dove back into their Guardians. Destiny 2 brought context, depth, and stakes. Along with a ton of cool stuff to do and blow up, so it was quite a comeback.
However, players lost some interest roughly a month or two into the game’s release, spelling a bit of struggle for the online multiplayer space adventure. Pair that with two very unimpressive expansions (Curse of Osiris and Warmind), and Destiny considerably lost its edge. Over the past month, Bungie and Activision have promoted their fourth expansion and the primary product of their fourth season. Destiny 2: Forsaken dropped this week, and we spent some time getting to know the ol’ girl. Let’s begin.
As a reset for some of you, Destiny is a third-person shooter, online multiplayer that takes place centuries after a mysterious Space God/bowling ball called “The Traveler” blessed the Solar System and humanity with a centuries-long Golden Age. Suffice it to say, some nasty shiznit followed the bodacious celestial deity and tried to kill it and all of human life in the galaxy. Players take the role of their own personalized Guardian, who act as stewards of the near dormant Traveler as defenders of The Last City on Earth. You battle alien monsters, soar across the Galaxy, and claim piles and piles of cool guns and armor. Got it? Good.
Destiny 2: Forsaken is less of an expansion, and more of a compartmentalized sequel to the first Destiny 2 campaign (much more than Osiris or Warmind were). Players’ Guardians travel to the familiar Prison of Elders in the Reef at the edge of the Solar System. It’s the first time we’ve seen the Reef since Destiny 1, so it’s a good feeling to be back. We travel with the beloved Vanguard Commander and resident cool/funny guy, Cayde-6 in tow. Players get into a bit a bind with some vicious new enemies, and a very bad, not good thing happens to Cayde. The tone of Forsaken is serious, somber, and courageously determined. Upon our Guardian’s completion of the opening mission, an entirely new region is open to us: The Tangled Shore, a wasteland of pirates and ruffians. We even have access to a new endgame location called The Dreaming City, which finally brings some answers (and interesting new mysteries) about the Awoken people.
Our journey in this Destiny 2 Campaign is a quest for revenge, which is a dark yet tantalizing turn for the series. It’s easy to become dark, but to employ those brooding and somber themes effectively is more challenging. We’re pleased to report that the tone of Forsaken is appropriate and investing at all times. From the deep atmospheric purples of the shattered surfaces of the Tangled Shore, to the music throughout missions and strikes (including the social space, The Tower). Guardians are challenged to engage their new enemy in the Reef to track down Cayde’s killers. Speaking of enemies…
The Scorn are reanimated and mutilated Fallen aliens and are the face of the opposition in Forsaken. Don’t be fooled - these are not just another version of the Fallen, like in the Destiny 1 expansion Rise of Iron. The Scorn are nasty and incredibly various in their appearance, making fights with them pretty darn thrilling Led by a troubled and familiar face, The Scorn monsters under direct command of the Barons. Fascinating and severely tough, the Barons are really interesting enemies that make themselves known in pretty unique ways. From a relentless bombardier to a real dick of a marksmen, these baddies provide a good challenge for Destiny players.
Another new feature of Forsaken is the “Wanted” enemies. As previously mentioned, the story begins in the Prison of Elders during, you guessed it, a prison break. A strangely agreeable Fallen leader called Spider doesn’t want these troublesome hoodlums ruining his enterprises on the Tangled Shore, so Guardians can pick up bounties on these guys. You can find them in the Wild, or even right in the middle of strikes. You can get to killing these escapees with your brand new Super variables, which I did not expect to fall in love with so quickly. Titans using their Solar powered supper can now hammer enemies away with a massive mallet, and Warlocks can teleport and destroy Scorn with a massive blast of Void energy. Following the new variables of the initial Destiny 2 campaign, I honestly didn’t think they could do any better with Supers. But let’s shift gears real quick to something that is absolutely crucial to Forsaken.
Gambit
Gambit is a new hybrid PVP/PVE game mode that pits two teams of four against each other in a race to kill as many alien monsters as possible. Run by the fun new NPC called the Drifter, Gambit features three rounds and best two of three take the cake. Each team has their own version of the game map chock a block full of enemies. But just blasting away a bad guy won’t do the trick. For each enemy killed, a mote is dropped. Players need to collect motes and deposit them in a bank at the center of the map. Once players kill enough enemies to bank 75 motes, they can call in a Primeval.
The Primeval is a the game mode’s final boss, and killing it will win you the round. Now you may be wondering if the PVP portion of the mode is just team’s competing for more motes? Nope! Each player can hold fifteen motes, but you can deposit any number of your motes at any time. However, if you save up for fifteen, depositing them all at once will send a blocker to the enemies side, giving them yet another big monster to fight and ultimately slowing their roll to summoning and vanquishing their own primeval. The mode is simply riveting and is just what the game needed.
Great new strikes, a deeply intriguing campaign and awesome new features like Gambit are what make Forsaken a similar situation to Destiny 1’s The Taken King expansion. But in our opinion, the context and deep dive of gameplay in Forsaken makes it so much more. Oh! They also added in-game lore articles, so no more grimoire PTSD. For you Guardians out there thinking about making the plunge back into Destiny 2, now is certainly the time to do it.
Ben Stembridge, Editor-in-Chief
Ben leads the reviews and news coverage for Game Chop. He also offers opinions on games and the industry, covering a wide range of genres and platforms. Ben especially enjoys discussions on game narratives, design styles, and independent titles.
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