Posted by Destiny 2‘s final Episode “Heresy” is what all of the Episodes should’ve been like. When I first took a look at “Heresy,” only the first act was out and I can’t deny that I was suffering from some serious Destiny 2 fatigue. After taking a little break before diving back into the final Episode to finish it off, I can say with confidence that it’s the best Episode we’ve gotten, and it makes me very disappointed to see how wasted the other two were as a result.
SPOILERS FOLLOW
Act one ends with the Echo of Navigation revealing itself. At the time of my first review, I don’t think the act had concluded yet, and I think the early story beats dragging coupled with fatigue led to my more negative perception. While my opinion of the Episode as a whole has changed, I still think that act one was the most lackluster. The Nether is a cool activity with a lot of hidden secrets and replayability, especially seeing as in act three it got updated with a new area, new encounters, and a new faction being present. Act two saw us establishing communication with Eris Morn on her throne world, reforging Oryx’s sword Willbreaker, and capturing the Echo of Navigation and locking it up in Eris’ throne world. I really like the direction the story took, especially with the Echo believing itself to be Oryx and holding to his sword logic. As a result, the Echo respects us for killing Oryx, and shows disdain for his sisters and their failures. It’s a really interesting and well-executed concept for an antagonist. It’s also so refreshing to do something meaningful in the story at the end of act two. In any other season or Episode, capturing the Echo would’ve been the climax. The fact that it isn’t shows a serious improvement in this Episode’s storytelling. Act three sees Savathûn and Xivu Arath going to war with each other and Eris over possession of the Echo. We do our best to hinder both of their efforts, but the Echo eventually escapes back to the Dreadnaught on its own. The act ends with us using a fully reforged Willbreaker to destroy the Echo, which has also come to accept that if it’s Oryx, then it’s dead, and if it’s alive, then it’s not Oryx.
The storytelling and character writing is a serious step up from “Revenant” and “Echoes.” It feels like our actions actually impact the story and we aren’t just passive observers waiting for the next story beat to happen. It also seemed like the amount of random “go talk to the holoprojector/NPC” steps were largely absent, instead replaced with actual quest steps. Sure there was some “busy work” type filler quests, but they were at least flavored to not feel as egregious as previous iterations. If “Revenant” and “Echoes” had been structured more like “Heresy,” this easily would’ve been the best year in terms of Destiny 2 content.
Some other additions include the reprisal of the Sunless Cell strike from The Taken King. It’s a cool Strike that seems to stay faithful enough to the original while updating segments here and there with new enemies. I’ll never say no to free permanent content like a new Strike. “Heresy” also has two seasonal vendor reputation tracks in the Path of Resolve and the Path of Ambition. It’s cool having two seasonal vendors to gain reputation with and unlock unique upgrades for, though I can’t deny that it can be a little tedious, especially with the Barrow-Dyad quests being tied directly to these reputation levels.
SPOILERS ENDS
Another element of “Heresy” I didn’t touch on in my last review was the new Dire Taken subfaction you encounter on the Dreadnaught. The Dire Taken are fantastic. They have a slightly different appearance from regular Taken, in part because they use newer models, and they have new abilities. They’re interesting and fresh to fight. Way more interesting than the Choral Vex and Revenant Scorn that were effectively just the same enemies with a new visual flair (and annoying resurrection mechanic in the case of the Revenant Scorn Barons). The Dire Taken are yet another example of “Heresy” implementing a new subfaction correctly while its predecessor Episodes failed miserably.
The final piece of content I want to touch on from “Heresy” is the Court of Blades activity introduced in act two. Court of Blades is a timed boss gauntlet where your goal is to get through as many encounters as possible. It’s a decent activity, though sometimes I think the modifiers, handicaps, and challenges can be a little vague and obtuse while also not mattering enough to hinder progression. Despite the ever-changing modifiers, you can still brute force most encounters. The end result is a messy, chaotic, and usually fun time (except agains the Lucent Hive and their exploding moths), though it raises the question of why include all of the modifiers and challenges if they can just be ignored? Court of Blades also allows you to purchase temporary upgrades for that run of the activity using a rune currency you accumulate during each pair of encounters. There is a maximum limit of thirteen encounters per run regardless of the timer, but if the timer runs out first, then the run ends. There’s enough variation between arenas, enemy types, bosses, modifiers, challenges, and handicaps that each run doesn’t get old, even if they all tend to feel the same, or at least close enough to it. Court of Blades is fine as a seasonal/Episode activity. I don’t hate it by any means, but it’s nothing groundbreaking.
Overall, “Heresy” is the best Episode. Sure it faltered a little in the beginning with act one, but acts two and three more than made up for it. Unfortunately, it’s been no secret that Destiny 2 has been having a rough go of it lately. Lightfall was a disastrous expansion that had way more negatives than positives. Even if The Final Shape was one of, if not, the best expansions, Bungie dropped the ball hard with “Echoes” and “Revenant.” Sure they recovered big time with “Heresy,” but the damage has already been done. My experience with this game is not universal, and I won’t pretend that it is, but I also know that my experience isn’t unique. I’ve played Destiny since the beginning (with a break here and there), but come the release of Beyond Light, I was able to keep up with the game and its content. My friends would pick up the game around the time an expansion or big event released, then lose interest a season or two later. I stuck with the game, but I just can’t do it anymore. Bungie has shown that they can deliver incredible, unforgettable expansions and meaningful supplemental seasons/Episodes, yet they’ve also shown unforgivable incompetence. “Heresy” is good, but after “Echoes” and “Revenant,” I don’t think I have it in me anymore to wait around and see what “Frontiers” brings.
Broad Scope Entertainment 