Posted by Forsaken has added in three new strikes to Destiny 2 and they’re all pretty good. The first Strike, The Hollowed Lair, involves tracking the Fanatic down again and killing him because he came back to life. As a Strike it’s fine for the most part, but the boss fight at the end can be incredibly annoying, because the Fanatic tends to become immune to damage rather frequently. Because of this, The Hollowed Lair is the weakest Strike added in Forsaken, but it’s still miles better than the recycled ones in Curse of Osiris and Warmind. The next Strike, Warden of Nothing, is great. In Warden of Nothing, you travel back into the Prison of Elders to kill Variks the Loyal’s servitor–the same one that he talked to you through in Destiny. But this strike isn’t only great because of the boss, it’s great because of all of the great throwbacks to Destiny, like needing to defuse splinter mines while fending off waves of enemies, then fighting a boss at the end. Some of the bosses from Prison of Elders, like the Overmind Minotaur, even make an appearance. All in all, Warden of Nothing is a satisfying strike that’s actually fun to play and isn’t annoying. The final strike, The Corrupted, involves hunting down and defeating one of the three Taken Awoken Techeuns. The Strike is fun and interesting, in part due to how you frequently switch between the normal world and the Ascendant Realm. All of the strikes added with Forsaken are strong additions to the game and feel as such.
Forsaken also adds in a new skill tree for every subclass in the game. Titans: Strikers get a single use Fist of Havoc with the damage and blast radius of a ballistic missile; Sunbreakers get a bigger hammer that they can spin around with or slam into the ground; and Sentinels get a shield that blocks more damage and lets teammates shoot through it (Note: I haven’t even started my Titan yet so my knowledge of the new Titan abilities is incredibly lackluster). Hunters: Gunslingers get a single use Blade Barrage that launches throwing knives everywhere and people always use in a panic if they don’t want to lose a gunfight; Nightstlkers get dual blades and can go invisible and see through walls; and Arcstriders can deflect projectiles with their arc staffs and they get a crappier version of shoulder charge. Warlocks: Voidwalkers get Nova Warp, which lets them teleport around and explode constantly, which is incredibly good in Crucible, and they can turn their grenade into a second melee that kills in one-shot at the right range; Dawnblades get Well of Radiance, which is basically a better Warlock rift that heals and empowers teammates, grenades can turn into health packs, and melee hits give you and teammates a damage buff; and Stormcallers get a high-powered arc laser and a melee that can actually hit you from across the map, whereas the normal Stormcaller melee could only hit you from half-way across the map. All of the new skill trees seem interesting and add a lot of variety to the game.
And now that I’m done talking about everything that’s new, I can talk about the different quality of life changes. Shortly before Forsaken dropped, the weapon system got completely overhauled, and it makes Destiny 2 so much better. It’s so nice now being able to use shotguns, fusion rifles, and snipers as primary and energy weapons instead of power weapons, but you can still use two scout rifles, auto rifles, etc. if you want to. This change with the weapons really does add a lot of variety to the game, as does random weapons rolls. Now that weapons can have random perks, it adds a lot of replayability to the game, because you’ll always be searching for that one gun with the perfect set of perks. This can lead to some really interesting weapon choices that completely alter how the weapon performs, like a two round burst sidearm that can be fired in full auto and every time you pull the trigger you get bonus stability and handling. It also helps that most of the perks in Destiny 2 are actually useful and do something, unlike half of the perks in Destiny.
There is also a new PvP/PvE hybrid mode now in the game–Gambit. In Gambit, you kill enemies and pick up the motes that they drop, then deposit the motes. Once your team has 75 motes banked, you summon a boss and have to kill it. All the while the other team is doing the same thing, and they can invade you to try and kill you so you drop your motes, but you can do the same to them. And during the boss fight, if you invade the enemy and kill them, you heal their boss. As for me, I’m mixed about Gambit. It’s fun enough, but I feel like it’s shoved into every exotic quest to the point that it’s a little ridiculous. It also doesn’t help that invasions can feel incredibly unfair and obnoxious, because everyone and their mother uses Sleeper Simulant, which kills everyone instantly. Still, Gambit has potential and it can be pretty fun.
I would also like to mention that exotics actually feel exotic now. Not only are they incredibly rare, they actually feel unique and powerful.
Unfortunately, for the all the good in Forsaken, there is one terrible flaw: infusion. The original infusion system was incredibly cheap so you could just infuse whatever you wanted whenever you wanted. But now infusion involves a lot more than glimmer and legendary shards. Now you need planetary materials, which is totally fine, and masterwork cores, which isn’t. The issue with masterwork is this: in year one of D2, masterwork cores were used exclusively for upgrading weapons, and they were only obtained by dismantling masterwork weapons, which were decently common. Now you need tons of masterwork cores for infusion and upgrading weapons, but already masterwork weapons are difficult to get, and they’re still the primary method of obtaining them. Yes you can buy masterwork cores from the Spider, but the exchange rate only increases as you buy more, but the price does reset each day. I personally feel that masterwork cores shouldn’t be a part of infusion, because as of right now, masterwork cores are needed for more things but they’re far harder to obtain. The cost of infusion can also make it incredibly difficult to play the game. For example, at one point my loadout consisted of two sidearms and a grenade launcher, because they were my strongest weapons. I would have infused them, but I didn’t have enough mastwork cores.
Forsaken has its flaws, but every game and DLC does. But the positives added in with Forsaken far outweigh the negative. If you enjoy Destiny 2, you’ll love this DLC. If you want to get into Destiny 2, now is the time. If you were dissatisfied with Destiny 2 or were waiting for it to get better, it has. Forsaken is everything that Destiny 2 needed and then some, and it finally makes the game worth playing. I highly recommend this DLC, easily giving it a 9.5/10.
Broad Scope Entertainment 