Posted by Destiny 2‘s next Episode, “Heresy,” released about two weeks ago. This is the final Episode that we’re getting before the release of “Frontiers,” so let’s see what it has to offer.
SPOILERS FOLLOW
The story consists of the guardians investigating Oryx’s Dreadnaught, which has suddenly reactivated and now has Taken and Dread flocking to it for something. According to the Bungie website, the Echo of Navigation is to blame, though the Echo has yet to even be mentioned in the seasonal story, which strikes me as a strange narrative decision because it’s clearly no secret what’s powering the Dreadnaught, yet it’s being presented as if it is. During an initial reconnaissance, Drifter and Eris encounter a Taken Subjugator, and it kills both of them. Drifter still has his Ghost, so he comes back to life like it’s nothing. Eris, however, lost her ghost long ago and isn’t so lucky. At least, that’s the direction the narrative wants to take. Immediately after Eris is killed on-screen, she’s shown alive and well, presumably in her throne world. This scene completely undercuts the emotional weight of a character death and makes it so that you can’t take the reactions to her death seriously, even if Todd Haberkorn does as fantastic job as Drifter. Now, it would be one thing if she reappeared in the narrative shortly thereafter, but she’s still absent two weeks in. That’s not a bad thing per se, but showing that she’s still alive and then not doing anything with it while doubling down on the “she’s dead” message in the story just doesn’t work. Similarly, not a whole lot has happened thus far in the seasonal story. We’re exploring the Dreadaught, and that’s about the extent of it. Also Sloane’s back and helping us harness Taken power, but half the time her dialogue isn’t voiced so I tend to forget she’s there despite having subtitles turned on.
In terms of the story, I honestly find this one a bit lacking. With the previous Episodes, it was pretty clear from the beginning what was going on, what we were doing about it, and why we were doing it. With “Heresy,” I honestly found myself a little confused as to what all was happening in the beginning and why it was. It felt like a “Somehow Palpatine has returned” moment where somehow the Dreadnaught had returned and was operational. There’s no big bad pulling the strings, at least not yet, which raises the question of what the Taken and Dread are doing on the Dreadnaught. No one knows, so I guess the story’s current objective is answering that question. I can’t quite put my finger on why the Episode’s narrative direction seems off so far, but something about it definitely feels lacking.
SPOILERS END
The first new game mode offered by the Episode is called The Nether, and it basically consists of exploring the Dreadnaught and completing encounters. It reminds me a lot of Overthrow in the Pale Heart where you run around an area completely three or so mini-encounters before fighting a boss and moving on to the next area. There are four areas, and each have a few differing possible encounters, but only one boss per area. A typical run of the Nether goes through three of the areas. The Nether is unique compared to other activities because health regeneration is very limited, though your total health pool is vastly increased. It sounds worse on paper than in practice. In practice, it actually changes the typical gameplay loop up in a way that isn’t overly unfair. While completing encounters, you can also get boons that provide buffs ranging from damage increases to unique grenades acquired after performing a finisher to increasing ability regeneration speed; it’s your typical Destiny 2 roguelite elements that we’ve seen before. I do like the Nether activity. It’s a fun and fairly relaxed activity that you can play casually either in groups or privately by yourself. There are limited revives with revive tokens, but I tend to find those limited resources rarely mattering. Having both of these options is great because if you want to grind out the loot, you can load up the matchmade version and run through it in twenty or so minutes. If you want to complete quests or find secrets, you can load up a private run and take your time. The loot is pretty solid in terms of quantity, so it feels rewarding enough to run.
Supplementing the Nether in the chase for loot is the Tome of Want system. It’s kind of similar to the tonic system implemented in “Revenant,” but the Tome streamlines some of the annoying snags present with the tonics. The Tome of Want’s focusing system allows you to easily target specific loot without jumping through annoying hoops to unlock the specific weapon focusing and materials to do so. There’s some focusing progression and material acquisition, but it’s not as complicated and time-consuming as the tonics were.
As for the loot itself, I think it’s probably on the higher end of seasonal/Episodic gear so far. The auto rifle is a support frame, which is the second one we’ve gotten since they were introduced in The Final Shape, so that immediately makes it stand out. The other stand out weapon is the area denial grenade launcher that can roll with a new arc elemental perk. The heavy machine gun and linear fusion rifle can both roll with some interesting rolls, but they’re a bit less appealing than the auto rifle and grenade launcher. The last Episodic weapon is a sword, and it’s a sword; it’s rolls are fine but don’t look too crazy or meta-defining.
“Heresy” also introduces the new Lodestar primary ammo exotic trace rifle. When aiming down sights, it fires in bursts, and while firing from the hip it’s a normal trace rifle. While using the gun, you build charge that you use to jolt targets while in hip-fire mode. It’s fine. As someone who loves arc, probably more than the average player, it’s nothing crazy.
Unlike in previous Episodes, “Heresy” has already released its exotic mission and accompanying quest to get the new strand SMG Barrow-Dyad. I need to use it more, but it’s pretty unique in its mechanics. While using the gun, you build up a charge of Taken energy that you can convert into Taken seeker projectiles. If you stop firing, the Taken energy decreases and automatically reloads the gun. And while firing it, it will always stay at one bullet until you manually reload it, which then creates the seekers. It’s an interesting gameplay loop and I really like it because it’s been a minute since we’ve gotten a new exotic SMG worth using (I don’t count Manticore). It’s also refreshing having a strand exotic that isn’t just “insert strand mechanic here the gun.”
As for the mission itself, my opinion’s a little mixed. The first half of it treads through familiar Dreadnaught locations featured in the Nether, which is fine, albeit a little uninteresting. The second half of the mission takes place in a brand new zone that is quite visually impressive, but navigating it quickly becomes annoying due to the stupid wall pillars that shoot our from little holes and send you flying across the map and into the abyss below. On their own, the pillars would be an inconvenience, but the navigation made it even worse. The absolute worst part, however, comes at the end when you have to shoot three crystals that feel haphazardly placed with little thought to the level design. The final boss is fine, and I’m curious what the implications will be because the mission doesn’t seem as narratively relevant as in past Episodes and seasons.
Another stand out area where “Heresy” excels is with the aesthetics. The Dreadnaught is now covered in Taken corruption and strange tentacles. During missions you encounter these strange floating eyeballs that debuff you. The aesthetic strikes me as very Lovecraftian, which I am a massive fan of. The weapons look cool too. Overall, I’m a big fan of the art direction “Heresy” took.
Finally, the last piece of content to discuss is the new dungeon Sundered Doctrine. It’s a Dread and Hive dungeon set in Savathûn’s Throne World with two boss encounters and a puzzle encounter. The main mechanic is a combination of connect-the-dots and the symbols from Vow of the Disciple. It’s a decent dungeon that’s definitely easier than Vesper’s Host. Clearing the encounters is far less tedious too. The first encounter is a good introduction to the main mechanic, and while it may overstay its welcome a little bit, it’s easy enough. The second encounter, and first boss, is probably the most difficult, confusing, and complicated of the three. Even after clearing it I don’t have a perfect understanding of it, but it’s also the kind of encounter that you can stumble through just fine. The final encounter isn’t too bad. It’s not overly complicated and can be completed pretty quickly. The most annoying part about it is dealing with strand and stasis debuffs. The loot is decent enough, with the dungeon bringing a strand heavy burst hand cannon, a strand trace rifle, a strand scout rifle, and a void shotgun, all with some cool rolls and new perks to play around with. The weapon and armor aesthetics are definitely some of my favorites, and the dungeon features some really cool moments.
Overall, “Heresy” isn’t a bad Episode. The story is a bit lacking and underdeveloped, but unfortunately that’s just par for the course with Destiny 2 seasonal/Episodic content. As for the content itself, it’s all pretty solid. Nothing revolutionary, but not terrible either. The Episode has only been out for around two weeks, so there’s still plenty of time for improvement, or the opposite. Only time will tell.
Broad Scope Entertainment 