Episode: Revenant Shows That Destiny 2 is Turning Into a Revenant Itself

With Destiny 2‘s “Revenant” Episode nearing its conclusion, it’s time for a retrospective on it and its effects on Destiny 2 as a whole. Before I get into spoilers, “Revenant” has a surprisingly satisfying ending, but unfortunately everything leading up to it is anything but.

SPOILERS FOLLOW

Unlike the letdown that was “Echoes,” “Revenant” actually ends with its antagonist, Fikrul the Fanatic, getting defeated. Eramis is freed and takes the Echo, then leaves Sol to rebuild Eliksni society elsewhere. In the process, Mithrax becomes Kell of Kells and has the shadow of Nezarec that’s been haunting and nearly killing him finally removed (for the most part). “Revenant” wraps up a lot of loose ends–Fikrul, Eramis, and Mithrax’s curse. And frankly, it’s a satisfying conclusion.

Unfortunately, everything else in the Episode is not satisfying. Act One was a setup Act that dragged its feet as it established Fikrul and the threat he and his revenant scorn posed. Or at least the opening moments of the Act did, then the rest of it repeated that there was a threat while really never showing or emphasizing it. Act Two was somehow worse. It starts with Fikrul going into the Prison of Elders looking for something, then ends with him resurrecting Skolas. Skolas never actually does anything, and literally nothing happens in-between Fikrul entering the Prison at the beginning of the Act and resurrecting Skolas at the end of it. And it’s not like we do anything as players or characters to even hinder him. As a result, Act Three has to finally introduce the alchemist and tonic that can make Fikrul mortal, confront him, wrap up Eramis’ story, and wrap up Mithrax’s story. I appreciate how it wraps up, but the result is that Act One and Act Two don’t really do anything or push the plot forward at all. We just sit around waiting while the villain doesn’t really do anything substantive either. Nothing happens until everything gets resolved in a whirlwind in the last few steps of Act Three.

SPOILERS END

Now for the content. Onslaught: Salvation failed compared to regular Onslaught. Onslaught: Salvation runs take about an hour to complete, and the rewards just aren’t worth it. With the removal of crafting and its replacement with the tonic system and focused farming drops, it just doesn’t work and brings the Episode down as a whole. Seasonal gear is always decent at best, so when it’s craftable, the community is willing to grind out the gear to have it as an option to use down the line. When the seasonal gear becomes a random drop again, it’s not a better alternative to what a lot of players already have, so there isn’t much of a reason to spend hours grinding for mediocre loot. When there’s an end-goal of getting five red borders to craft the weapon, there’s a reason to grind it out. Contest of Elders is a bit better because runs are only about thirty minutes, the quantity of loots feels roughly the same, and it’s a little less mindless than Onslaught. It’s at least a change of pace in terms of environment and what you’re doing there. Lastly there’s the exotic mission. It’s fine. I didn’t mind it the first time I ran it, but the other two times I had to run it for the story, my friend and I ran it on the harder difficulty. It was a lot less enjoyable this time around. The exotic weapon, the void shotgun Slayer’s Fang, is just as fine as the mission. It’s a slug shotgun with some decent add clear and high-value target damage potential, but it’s still worse than Choir of One from last Episode, which is a weapon Slayer’s Fang is in direct competition with. Both fulfill the same roles in the same weapon slots, but Choir of One is just better.

So what’s the end result of “Revenant?” The end result is a surprisingly solid conclusion to a bunch of threads and character arcs. Unfortunately, getting to this end point was a slog that felt pointless and tedious more often than not. The quality of the ending does not compensate for the lackluster, mediocre content and story it took to get there. If “Heresy” follows the trends established by “Echoes” and “Revenant,” I don’t know what future Destiny 2 may have left. It’s no secret that the game is in a dry spot right now with a declining playerbase. I’m steadily growing more and more burnt out with the game, and I know I’m not alone.