“Destiny” made quite the splash when it came out, and even though the game had some flaws, many players fell in love with it and spent dozens of hours exploring its world. The unique gameplay managed to touch on many fan-favorite features, from looting to solid shooting.
And now that “Rise of Iron” is out, many players expected it to be a great addition to the content pool of the original game. However, it seems like the new expansion has some issues under the surface. Whether or not those are too major to prevent “Rise of Iron” from building a good name for itself in the long run is hard to tell, but players should be wary of some particular points.
The gameplay has been expanded, but in some cases it seems like the developers have gone for a “quantity over quality” approach. Some of the new encounters have been described as boring and uninspired by critics, and the game could apparently use some polishing in the balance department for this DLC as well.
However, it still manages to retain all important core aspects of the original, and offers an all-around good experience for those who just want to get more of the same. Players looking to go in with a more tactical approach might end up disappointed in some situations though, as it looks like the game has been made a bit simpler and more straightforward in its combat.
Whether this is because the developers want to attract a larger number of players with the expansion, or because they’ve run out of ideas, is impossible to tell. The final result is clear though, and even though the game’s style is actually not objectively bad, some players are definitely not going to enjoy it.
The storyline is another point where “Rise of Iron” is apparently a bit weak. This is actually the source of most complaints from what we can tell, and some critics have been particularly disappointed with the quality of storytelling in the new expansion.
Of course, the story wasn’t the main reason for some players to enjoy the game, but it’s still an important component for others. It’s understandable how the writers might get a little less creative with the events of the game after so much time has passed, but some critics have been particularly harsh towards this aspect of “Rise of Iron”.
We might be giving the impression that the game is a bad release as a whole, but that doesn’t seem to be the case according to most critics. Even those who’ve been expressing their disappointment with various weaknesses of the new game still claim that it’s a fun experience with plenty of strong points.
Those who want to give “Destiny” one more go should definitely appreciate what “Rise of Iron” has to offer. We don’t expect that the expansion is going to work very well for attracting new people to the game, but as long as it gives existing players a good reason to revisit it, that would probably be good enough.
There’s been a lot of discussion about a sequel, and Bungie should definitely take a step back and reevaluate some of their goals if they want to move in that direction. The journey of “Destiny” and its expansions should have taught the studio a few lessons, and hopefully they are going to use them in a constructive manner in their work on the sequel.