The cycle of Destiny whiplash continues with Destiny 2: Shadowkeep. Like during the Destiny 1 era, we started with a lackluster opening, then got two awful expansions, got our significant overhaul, and now we’re at the stopgap. Much like Rise of Iron , it’s hard to shake the feeling that Bungie is just buying time until the inevitable next entry in the franchise. In this case, Destiny 2: Shadowkeep feels like Bungie is slow-walking to Destiny 3. The campaign ends up going nowhere, ending in an unsatisfying cliffhanger we likely won’t see resolved for a while. Meanwhile, as great as the Moon is compared to its incarnation in the first game, there’s no getting around the fact that we’ve already seen and paid for this before. The core gameplay is still the star of the show, the Moon is a fun place to play around in, the Strikes are imaginative and the new Seasonal Activity is a standout. But you can access all that without owning Shadowkeep (though the Seasonal Activity does require you to own the Season Pass). Destiny 2: Shadowkeep isn’t bad, but it also feels wholly unnecessary when most of its selling points (Strikes, the Moon, Armor 2.0) can be played without owning it. This is one nightmare we didn’t need to have.
Probably the biggest albatross hanging over the entire expansion, however, is the lack of anything new. Despite some additional areas to explore and a fresh coat of paint, this is a map players already paid $60 to explore back in 2014. Nightmares are just reskinned versions of enemies we’ve already fought and they don’t behave any differently. Two of the three new Crucible maps are remasters of old maps. The new Nightmare activities are against bosses that players have already fought hundreds of times. The new Strikes and Raid are excellent additions, but you don’t even need to own Shadowkeep to play the Strikes. For $34.99, players should expect more and Bungie should have provided plenty of new content rather than rehashing older material.
The best lesson that this strike has to offer is to be prepared and to be prepared quickly because enemies will feel endless in The Hollowed Lair strike . Players will be unable to catch their breath as they try to coordinate between various different attacks coming at them from all directions. It might take a time or two for players to get used to the energy exerted in this strike but once players find their footing, beyond the pace and amount of enemies present, this is one of the easier strikes they will f
This might be the cheesiest tip in here, but have fun. Bungie has made it a point to make Forsaken a long, drawn out affair and wants players to enjoy Forsaken not blindly rush through it and feel like nothing was gained. There is so much to do and see with Forsaken that anyone who is breezing through it in a day saying that they saw nothing probably hasn’t seen it all. Yes, the main story can be had in a day, but that’s not the hobby part of Forsaken that Bungie was pushing that was just the initial leap. Forsaken is a deep pool with so many secrets, loot and other things to be had it’s impossible to see it all within the week. Bungie has wised up to how players tackled Destiny and they want Guardians to get the most out of their play time. Whether playing intensely for hours on end day to day or logging in for just a few hours to an hour, there’s always something to do; a quest to be chased, a new piece of gear to be had or a mystery to be solved. There is no shortage of what’s in Forsaken and having only spent less than a day in it, it’s clear that the Forsaken is only showing the tip of the iceberg.
Players who are not a fan of teamwork will absolutely hate The Corrupted strike. The level on its own is one of the hardest in-game levels players will face anyway but the added need to rely on your teammates makes coordination between teams all the more imperat
Become familiar with how high DPS weapons work now. Bungie made it a big deal that the weapon system would be changing drastically and it has. While the initial roll of out of these changes was a few weeks ago with update 2.0, Guardians are seeing the full force of these changes now that Forsaken has dropped. Weapons have returned to how things were in Destiny (1) with completely random rolls while certain weapons now find themselves in entirely new slots. The same weapon can drop five times and each time will come with different stats and abilities. This makes for some fun mixing/matching. To make things even easier, if a certain perk works well for one’s play style, putting that perk on the new gun only requires the dismantling of whatever version of the weapon not wanted but getting to keep the perks in modification form that are wanted. Then it’s simple as slapping it on the weapon kept. Forsaken is all about being user friendly and wants Guardians to make the most of their toys. Now that certain weapons find themselves in new slots such as Snipers or Shotguns being in all three slots of Primary, Secondary and Heavy, mixing and matching is highly encouraged. Play around with different load-outs because the possibilities have become greater. I found myself with a Shotgun in my Primary, a Sniper in my Secondary and my trusty Rocket Launcher in my Heavy. It was a blast and while I’ve switched it out since then it was fun playing around seeing how these new combinations favor each other. Pro-tip: Bows. That is all.
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