Buy Destiny 2: Forsaken

Everyone loves a good revenge plot. Everyone also loves Cayde-6, a key character in the Destiny games. It's not much of a spoiler to say his life comes to a tragic end. The trailers have heavily advertised the Destiny 2: Forsaken expansion as a story about Cayde-6's passing and what players can expect to see on their way to revenge. The Forsaken expansion adds an incredible amount of new content to extend the story.  The level caps and the power levels have been raised, and so has the expectation to collect the latest equipment and abilities.

The story is a heavily advertised aspect of the expansion, and Forsaken delivers arguably the best Destiny storyline yet. Seeing the demise of Cayde-6 is tough, but it provides players with a deeper reason to play. The idea of fighting another enemy type has already been used, but it's only an issue when that is the only highlight. When there's a new enemy and a compelling story, it makes for a remarkable journey. In Forsaken, you will go up against the Scorn, who are essentially outlaws who were once Fallen but have undergone a mysterious transformation. They go to a familiar part of the universe known as the Reef and partake in a large-scale prison escape.

Led by Uldren Sov (the Queen of the Reef's brother from the first Destiny game), the Scorn and several barons comprise much of the combat in the story missions. The barons have distinct abilities and characteristics. When hunting them down and fighting them, players are tested to make various adjustments in order to come out alive. To detail each baron would be a review in itself, but I'll provide an overview of a few. One goes by the name The Mad Bomber, and he's an explosives enthusiast. Another notable one is The Mindbender, who controls minds as well as Hive enemies. My favorite is The Hangman, due to his Bloodborne-worthy persona and awesome-looking dungeon.

Beyond the story, the biggest change in the expansion is the addition of the Gambit mode. It's described in-game as a competitive PvE mode, but it also has a few PvP elements. The core design is a 4v4 arena on separate but identical worlds. Upon queuing for the mode solo or with up to three friends, players will be brought to a lobby located in the Reef where emote wars play out on opposite sides of a window. After the game show host character gives his speech, players are sent to their worlds via portals, and the goal is to clear out AI enemies as quickly as possible. Once killed, the enemies drop motes (little glowing pyramids) that need to be picked up. Collect as many motes as possible — 15 is the max — and deposit them in a central station. When five motes are deposited by a single player, a small yellow bar "blocker" is summoned at the enemy team's deposit station. Ten motes will summon a medium-sized one, and 15 will summon an ogre. You may think it's smart to save up and deposit 15 every time, but if you die, all of the collected motes disappear for good.

Once a team has collected and deposited nearly 100 motes, a boss is summoned. The first team to collect and deposit all of the motes and eliminate the boss wins the round. Gambit matches are won with the best of three rounds. Another major twist is that every now and then, a portal opens up near the deposit station that allows one player to invade the enemy team's world. An announcement notifies the other team to put it on high alert, but your advantage is being able to see where they all are. If your team is being invaded, keep an eye out for a glowing red guardian, who's the invader. It's a short trip to the invaded worlds, but killing opposing players helps your team since the enemy players will lose the motes they're carrying. It's a beautiful design that offers a feeling of importance for all players, regardless of whether they prefer PvE or the Crucible (PvP). There are daily/weekly rewards for the Gambit playlist, just as there are for the Crucible and Vanguard Strikes.

Additionally, there has been an amazing amount of cool content for character customization. Bows are now a weapon class. They play like snipers in the sense that they cannot be shot in rapid succession, but they hit very hard. They can be acquired as Legendaries or Exotics, and there are two for each tier. Even better, they can be placed in the primary and secondary slots, which don't require heavy ammo. They are already a popular choice in the Crucible, but I question their effectiveness in the competitive playlist. A single fully powered arrow brings down health to a small amount (not an instant kill), but if you're injured, it will finish you. They appear to be best in chaotic 6v6 matches, where every player is being shot at and losing some portion of health.

Regardless of whether you're a Hunter, Titan or Warlock, there are new subclasses for each. A total of nine new subclass trees and supers have been introduced with the expansion; there are three subclass trees for each character type. They are designed around the same elements of arc, solar and void. I only ran a Warlock, so my experience regarding the subclass abilities comes down to using three of them and getting destroyed by the other six in Crucible matches. They are not full-blown classes and subclasses, but rather a new line of abilities and supers within the existing ones.

The coolest ability includes the Warlock's Nova Warp super, which allows them to teleport and then unleash a large explosion; the Titan's Siege Hammer, which unleashes earthquake tremors and a fire tornado; and the Hunter's Whirling Guard, which enables the arc staff to block incoming projectiles and send them back at the enemies before using it for melee afterward. These are only one example each; there are two others each and a handful of complementary perks. To begin unlocking them, players need to complete some of the very early missions of the DLC and chase a couple of fetch quests. They're not too taxing.

Destiny 2: Forsaken is a true lifesaver, as is the base game being free for PlayStation Plus owners during the month of September. The game started off strong, but the Year 1 expansions were underwhelming. Forsaken has shifted my interest into overdrive, and I'm having just as much fun as I did upon the game's initial release. Regardless how far you've traveled in the Destiny universe, taking on this continued adventure is one you won't regret. The raid, which releases shortly after the Forsaken expansion, will surely be another great experience, if for no other reason than the loot it offers. Even without the raid, the rest is well worth the time and energy. The only thing holding it back is how the Destiny expansions work, which require all prior DLC to be purchased, including Forsaken, which will understandably be a turnoff for some newcomers.

Score: 9.0/10