Copy, paste and repeat seems to be the way of life when it comes to Destiny 2. Just when I think I was out, Bungie pulls me back in… but only for 2 to 3 hours though.
Curse of Osiris is the first expansion of Destiny 2. Even though I liked Destiny 2 for a brief moment, it quickly became the same but reworked version of vanilla Destiny. The game only implemented 3 new class types, new guns to grind for and some new updates on the activity system. Destiny 2, should be called Destiny 1.1 because that’s all to it. Now, after seeing the trailer of the first expansion, the game got me interested just because the cinematic video was cool, and I also wanted to see the developer’s future plans for this game. I was hoping they would launch a topnotch expansion that would erase all doubts from our minds and build up their gaming community because they lost a lot of fans over the past few months. Just playing this expansion, I can be sure of it that they’ll lose a couple of more…
“This story is really forgettable…”
With this expansion, Bungie tried to bring a couple of things on the table to expand their beloved universe by adding a new zone “Mercury”, a couple of new activities, new gear and a story that would continue the main story by saying the Vanguard will be ready for every single threat that the universe throws at them, sadly the “threat” isn’t really new, it’s just the Vex trying to be innovative by replaying the movie “Edge of Tomorrow” but with their own group of actors. Oh no, I forgot to mention! Spoiler Alert, if it really can be called a spoiler.
The DLC’s story is all about an exiled member of the Vanguard called Osiris that reappeared in the current world to defend us against a vague threat… A threat that wants to lead the Vex through space and time to a future where the Vex consumes all living things in the solar system and be the supreme leader of this dark world. So the bad guy, Panoptes creates the Infinite Forest, a place where different scenario’s from the past and future are rendered, hoping to find the best outcome for the Vex. It’s up to this exiled Vanguard (and mostly you) to stop the Vex before it’s too late. This “amazing” journey takes you about 2 to 3 hours to complete, and is spread out over a couple of missions.
“The planet Mercury could have easily been a great PVP map.”
This story is really forgettable… It starts off by finding Sagira, the ghost of Osiris that leads us back to Ikora. Ikora finds the ghost very interesting because it belonged to her master Osiris, during the time Ikora was an apprentice. She feels like it’s her task to find Osiris and help him with his cause. Osiris has split itself up in different versions of himself to wander off the Infinite Forest, to find his way to Panoptes. You don’t see the guy until the end of the story. The whole campaign just feels like a dungeon crawler to me. Sections of the forest only appear once you’ve unlocked the door, this door can only be opened, once the enemies within this section have been killed. After a door has opened, the whole process starts over again until you’ve reached Panoptes. There are some sections that are really cool looking, like the beginning state of Mercury before the Vex even arrived. It has a colorful panel and lots of light has been implemented into this section, but your time within this section is very limited. Then it’s off again to the Infinite Forest, which isn’t anything like you’ve already seen before. The end boss also wasn’t very challenging. Defeat 3 waves of enemiesand once a wave of enemies has been defeated, Osiris stuns Panoptes so you can grab an overcharged bolt of lightning which can be used to stun Panoptes even more and to reveal his EYE. Then it’s just unloading your ammo into the eye until the eye can’t take it anymore. BOOM! You’re done. Osiris, the main character in the preview cinematic, only joins your story for 2 scenes and then he’s off. What?
I do have to say that the female voice of Sagira, made me think it would be pretty sweet if we could change the voice of our ghost. There are a couple of missions where Sagira takes over your ghost and it’s a nice touch for a moment but that moment quickly dies out when Sagira is ripped out of your ghost after 2 missions.
“Even though the game offers new weapons, it’s just a “too grindy” way to actually get your hands on them.”
Curse of Osiris also offers a new planet “Mercury”, from what I’ve seen the environment looks amazing, but it’s too small. Even some PVP maps look bigger and that’s not good. The planet Mercury could have easily been a great PVP map. The Infinite Forest can also be played after completing the main story but like I said it’s just a place where the environments randomly generated. The environment just doesn’t look that interesting because the randomly generated blocks repeat themselves very quickly, so you can’t really talk about a unique world. You also don’t have the feeling like you’re playing in a big world, even though the story tries to make the Infinite Forest seem like a place of Infinite possibilities, but the opposite seems more likely. It’s just boring because there aren’t any other Guardians running around in the same area as you, except on the planet Mercury which btw only offers one Lost Sector and ONE public event.
The game offers 2 new strikes, but these strikes are a reworked version of the main story’s chapters. Yes, Heroic adventures are more challenging, but it quickly becomes repetitive. The Crucible also includes a couple of new PVP maps and the World Eater Raid would probably be the best excuse, to buy the DLC because it offers your fireteam some interesting puzzles and a new boss to figure out and eventually defeat. But other than these things, the game doesn’t give your money’s worth. I mean, even the grinding doesn’t really offer you a lot of interesting rewards. I even didn’t gather a lot of new DLC items during my first playthrough, I actually finished the DLC with almost everything from my gear that I’ve collected at the end of Destiny’s 2 campaign. It’s really going downhill with Destiny.
Even though the game offers new weapons, it’s just a “too grindy” way to actually get your hands on them. For all of these new legendaries, you’ll need to do different public events since these materials only drop during these “missions”. Curse of Osiris only has one public event on Mercury so you’re actually returning to the planets of vanilla Destiny 2 to gather your rare materials. So you’re actually doing the exact same thing as the grind you did for those exotic weapons from Vanilla Destiny 2. It’s literally the same grindfest and all of the other “interesting looking” items can only be found in the Eververse store, which isn’t free by the way. You do get a bright engram once you leveled up and you get a sweet taste of these bright engrams since the level cap has been raised to level 25 but other than that, it’s all about paying real money to get the “awesome” gear, emotes or ships you want.
“Curse of Osiris is a poor excuse for a DLC expansion.”
These items are of course cosmetic, the equipment that really matters can be acquired by playing Destiny 2. But if these cosmetic items are more than the real game has to offer, it’s just a system that doesn’t motivate people to actually play the game. You should be getting these skins through completing the main story or public events. It should be more of “acquiring items by playing” rather than “acquiring items by loads of real money in this sort of slot machine” because with these microtransactions you’ll never know what you’ll get. It’s the system that takes away all the fun in a game.
Conclusion:
Curse of Osiris is a poor excuse for a DLC expansion. The story is flat and forgettable, I mean even the protagonist can only be seen during the introduction to the game and the ending. The Mercury map is beautiful but it’s too small which makes it an empty arena where you can roam around a couple of hours before boredom swings in. The items that you want can only be acquired by grinding the same vanilla public events over and over again or you could take your chance by spinning the Eververse wheel of fortune, hopefully getting something out of it. Only the raid would be an okay excuse to play the DLC but other than that, it’s a DLC full of disappointment. Especially after such a weird release of Destiny 2 in September. If you’re waiting for something groundbreaking, you might have to wait for the next game within the franchise.
