Destiny 2 - Curse or Osiris Review - New Strikes, maps and laser gaming

lyra.roberge (56)in #gaming • 7 years ago (edited)

Destiny 2 appeared in early September. Only in the course of time did the criticism of the second installation in the series increase, and we noticed that the replay value in particular and that certain changes had a negative effect in the long term. Especially if you play Destiny 2 very actively and weekly, the experience can be repeated. Bungie has recently indicated that they have received the feedback and they will soon make more adjustments to make the game more versatile in different areas. The studio also came last week with the first expansion, called Curse of Osiris. You might think of new content, but unfortunately this expansion also shows the weak spots of Destiny 2 despite the good new layer of the Raid.

Osiris and the apparent infinite forest

In Destiny the competitive mode Trials of Osiris was introduced, but the man to whom this was named was not seen once. With the new expansion you come behind the fate of the legendary Warlock Osiris and what he means within the story of Destiny. His Ghost is found on Mercury and a new danger rises. The breed, the Vex, wants to orchestrate an attack via the Infinite Forest through simulations on the future of the Guardians and humanity. Thanks to the good voice-acting, it is a nice way to show what the relationship is between Osiris, his Ghost and the Warlock of the Vanguard, Ikora Rey.

Furthermore, you have a new social hub on Mercury with The Lighthouse, which was also the location for the winners of Trials of Osiris in the first Destiny. Now you can also go outside to the Infinite Forest and you can do small activities on Mercury. There is also one Public Event where you have to beat a big Vex boss. As a destination, this is nonetheless quite small compared to the other planets. The adventure of the new expansion starts with a campaign about Osiris and the Vex. It is a nice campaign, but soon we noticed that it is a bit repetitive.

In particular, we got the idea that much more could be taken out of the campaign, as well as the subsequent activities. With the campaign you will be sweet for about two and a half hours and in itself this is reasonable, but here are some hooks and eyes. The story ensures that you come to different locations where the shootouts are entertaining and two new Strikes are introduced via the campaign. There are only missions in which we got the feeling that Bungie has been recycling. So you have to go to a location in a mission which is a Strike from the original game. The campaign gets a nice extension, but of course it is easy to fill it in that way.

Where is the change?

The campaign is also not really spectacular, because although it is fun, it actually serves as a kind of tutorial for the Infinite Forest. The last mission is really active, but the rest is a bit flat. Once you are done with this, you can enter the Infinite Forest via three Adventures on Mercury. This can be seen as alternate missions with natural loot as a reward at the end. The alternation must occur because the Infinite Forest brings simulations of the past, the present and the future, which has been shaped by the Vex and is partly influenced by Osiris.

The road to the end goal must therefore be different every time, but after a while little is left of that so-called change. If you play these Adventures a number of times, you will notice that there is not much difference. The environments are very similar and you can also run along enemies as you want, because you only need to open doors for the next simulation. Occasionally this is only possible if you have defeated a stronger enemy, but that is by no means always the case. It is certainly not challenging and it is very linear in spite of the design, also because you often still fight against the Vex, Fallen and Hive, which we have often seen passing by in Destiny.

In short, it actually does little news and you have only three new Adventures available which is downright scanty. In terms of replay value, the infinite - what the Infinite Forest has to offer - unfortunately also remains few. That is unfortunate, because it is a source for the materials you need for the 'Lost Prophecy Verses'. You can pick them up when you have completed the campaign and they will provide a variety of weapons that you can make if you have the necessary materials. You get these materials from various activities, such as Adventures, Strikes, Crucible and more. Obtaining this is completely random and although it is not bad to grind in the game, it becomes somewhat monotonous in the long run due to the repetitive actions. Whether the weapons are really worth it is still a matter of waiting, because you can make three new weapons per week.

New Strikes, maps and laser gaming

In addition to the somewhat disappointing campaign and new activities, Bungie added more news via Curse or Osiris. This is how the Heroic Strikes return from the first part, which contains existing Strikes and two new Strikes. Both Strikes are fine, play in a new setting and are challenging enough because you as a team have to play well together and you have to pay attention to the environment, which sometimes wants to change. These Strikes get a lot of loot, but it does produce a bit of an annoying aftertaste, because players who have not bought the new extension are excluded. Bungie also brought this trick to Destiny and that is a shame, because in our opinion the playlist should be accessible to everyone. This was a popular feature from the first part and was missed a lot in the sequel.

Outside the PvE section, the competitive multiplayer also received some new content in the form of new maps. The maps 'Wormhaven', 'Pacifica' and 'Radiant Cliffs' are the new additions to the Crucible. The first two maps are both on the planet Titan, but they are very different from each other. Wormhaven is not very big and contains a number of corridors where most battles will take place instead. A successful folder without more and Pacifica is a different story in terms of dynamism. This map is quite large and contains many small corridors where a lot of close combat will take place. Radiant Cliffs is located in the Infinite Forest and is a mix of both previously discussed maps. Although we liked the maps, we would have liked to see a new mode.

As far as lottery and new weapons and armor are concerned, fortunately there is enough to collect. But here is also a remark to place, because both arms and armor we see acquaintances back from the first Destiny. In a certain sense, you therefore pay again for items that you have already paid in cash and we have our reservations about that. Apart from that, the new exotics continue the trend of Destiny 2, namely that they all have something peculiar, which makes them worthwhile to obtain. They are not very strong though, although the Prometheus lens is now famous, because this Trace Rifle (which fires a constant beam) has a bug which makes it quite strong.

The result of this bug is that the Crucible is completely out of balance. Fortunately Bungie quickly realized that they made a mistake and while they are working on a solution, the weapon is temporarily available to everyone at Xur, who sells exotic items. The result at this moment in the Crucible, however, is that it is one big chaos, because everyone is laser-powered. The weapon will of course be adapted soon, but it is a little crazy that this was not noticed before. After all, you would expect Bungie to subject the weapons to extensive tests before the release. A bit sloppy and especially unnecessary, especially because it brings the Crucible out of balance.

Eater of Worlds is very nice

Fortunately, we can end with a positive note, because the new layer within the Leviathan Raid is the strongest part of Curse or Osiris. This new layer is called Eater of Worlds and is shorter than the normal Raid, but no less entertaining. This starts with some puzzles in which you have to jump smartly to different platforms, resulting in some confrontations. Then you get a few phases for an end boss where teamwork and communication are central. What is particularly cool here is the visual style. The scale is great and it seems like the ship of Calus has swallowed everything up, because as a player you run for parts of different planets and that is displayed in a clever way.

The challenge lies in the fact that you have to do different actions as a team to get to the boss. You have to take into account the fact that you often do not have a solid surface, so you especially have to look closely where you are walking and jumping. That is completely different from the normal Raid and the final boss you now encounter requires good tactics and efficient cooperation. If everything goes smoothly, then you are waiting for a nice fight that you will certainly stay up to date. In that respect, the new layer is definitely a successful part of this expansion.

Conclusion

Curse of Osiris adds a fair amount of new content that you can use for a few more weeks. However, the balance is not good and it is a good indication of the current status of Destiny 2. The new layer in the Raid, Eater or Worlds, has been successful, because it looks great and the confrontations and puzzles are great. The story about Osiris and the Vex is pretty good and the style of the new locations is fantastic, but in terms of missions in the campaign and further activities it is mediocre because it quickly becomes repetitive. Infinite Forest does not feel like infinite and varied, but actually just lazy. It does nothing new and the activities around it are scanty. That is really a shame, because there could potentially have been a lot more out of it. The expansion has its downsides and that is a bit of a shame. It's fun to play, but it could have been a lot more. Hopefully Bungie will enrich the game with updates, because Curse of Osiris does so in only a limited form.