I do like to wait until I feel I know or have experienced it enough to talk about it The it being the first Expansion Pass for Destiny 2, But here’s my catch twenty two I can ramble about how endlessly about how I think the first expansion pass just isn’t worth it cost wise until I am blue in the face; unless you snagged it off the Humble Bundle sales recently, simply because my friends and I have sped run both DLC’s in about five hours each and unless you are huge into PvP outside of the stories there really isn’t anything else to do. But, I’m a person who loves stories, telling stories, experiencing stories and since I have had a good while to go through each story several times I wanted to break down the stories in The Curse of Osiris and the Warmind downloadable content for those of us who are equally enveloped in the story and lore that is Destiny 2. Now without any further adieu let us get straight to the point of this article.
First and foremost the Curse of Osiris DLC; now despite owning the first game and not getting a chance to really play it due to numerous issues my Inivixs and the glory that is Wikipedia helped fill me in; on the time traveling robots known as the Vex in this DLC you enter into what can only be described as an ongoing simulation so that the Vex can plan out the best possible ways to conquer and destroy the universe; however like all stories with a protagonist you the player are the only one capable of changing the destined futures because for whatever reason the Vex have no plans that accommodate your interference in their grand scheme. During this DLC you are reunited with a Warlock known as Osiris who was banished from the tower during Destiny due to his actions in believing they should take the fight to the Vex; and has since become casually obsessed with fighting them at every corner of the Universe given every chance he can get. He is essentially your guide into whats better known as the Infinite Forest the place where the Vex run all these simulations.
However from a story perspective, I have to say I am a bit disappointed at how lack luster it was, not at how short it was. Because you are told this is how the Vex will conquer the universe and how they ultimately destroy everything yet when you are going through the simulations leading up to the pretty awesome boss fight with Panoptes it doesn’t show anything you would expect. There are no flash forwards to the tower under siege how you would expect Zavala and the rest to be dying at the hands of the Vex as they wipe all Light from the Universe itself.
You are just guided through the same platforms that repeat endlessly with little to no deviation in what can only be described as misleading; because with a name like the Infinite Forest it doesn’t hold Infinite Potential. Now don’t get me wrong visually the stage is very appealing but from a story perspective its weak and this is coming from a writer also. It fails to address how the Vex actually bring ruin to the universe, what the biggest threat is from the Vex outside of Panoptes and then how the Vex win at the very end.
Instead we are told that the only way to solve the problem is to defeat Panoptes before the simulation is complete not taking into account that if the simulation has already seen its resolution you can’t alter what has already transpired, and from a writing perspective it would have just better easier to say we must find where all the data is stored destroy it, and then destroy Panoptes who is the one in control of the simulation before he gains to much power.
Is the downloadable content The Curse of Osiris any good? Well, if you enjoy a quick run through a new vibrant stage and are okay with a lot of loose ends from a story perspective because Activision is contractually obligated to keep making Destiny games for a considerable amount of time then yea; But all jokes aside it is nice to get some degree of story to build on and add more depth to the game. But for a lot of people they are going to be lost in this story because Destiny only released on consoles and so there is a lot of manual effect involved in learning more about these characters and their backstories to help and better understand the current story.
Now let’s examine The Warmind downloadable content; this one focuses more heavily on the Hive which are aliens who really love dark magic, and worms but right away lets get to the biggest plot element of the story that I wasn’t aware of until this DLC, that Guardians protectors of the innocent and light don’t really remember their past and so Ana Bray has had to dig through her past which leads us to the facility on Mars; and that is where the story takes place around the Warmind known as Rasputin. Rasputin is known as a Warmind, and in terms of lore a Warmind is a sentient computer that has been created to take care of humanity and help come up with strategies to help defeat anything that might threaten humanity as it reaches beyond the stars. Ana Bray also happens to be one of the creators of Rasputin and its thanks to her that Rasputin is even around, the player is guided through the facility fighting hordes of Hives who are under the command of their worm God known as Xol. However this branch of the Hive however is considered more or less necromancers because their focus is upon reviving the already dead Hive and while also slowly taking over Mars.
One of the things I enjoyed about this DLC is that it takes a more liner and direct approach with the story telling with Ana Bray guiding you through as you progress talking about Rasputin and her connection to him and the connection that he has to the Bray family, her family we also have the new Hive discoveries and the secrets about them, notably how the ones on Mars differentiate themselves from the ones you encounter early on during the story on Titan. Given they are still creepy as all hell, and out of all the enemies I have encountered so far in Destiny they’re the only ones who make me shiver at the thought of interacting with them in any way shape or form. However like the Curse of Osiris DLC the Warmind DLC is short; and I mean very short my friends and I beat it in about five hours without grinding up except to help develop the story further, what remains afterwards is a glorified public event called Escalation Protocol that is incredibly challenging by yourself and the only way to yield the rewards from it is to get a big party together after doing a lot of mini-quests on Mars to get encrypted cache keys.
If you are like myself and you just enjoy the lore, the stories, and the experience with friends then the DLC’s are pretty good even with their flaws, I can play Destiny 2 for hours when I am with a group of friends forgetting about the grind but when I play solo, I go for the experience and there was little experience to be had with it afterwards. It didn’t help deepen my understanding of Destiny lore but it did let me enjoy myself for a while.
For its cost, I would say just wait until a new Humble Bundle comes out the stories are too short and it doesn’t change the overall experience and feeling of Destiny 2 the downloadable content in it of itself is fun and my biggest complaint is simply the cost of it ten hours of gameplay is not worth it. If you are playing with your friends, and you have a varying opinion than my own by all means invest in it. This is just how I feel. The great thing is that everyone can have a different opinion on it; I did enjoy the Warmind downloadable content despite it being short, and the Curse of Osiris downloadable content was also visually breathtaking. But I wanted more from it, I wanted more stories, my quests more adventures and less grinding. A great example of this is Borderlands you can progress through the game and not be under leveled because of side quests they set up; you will always be the level you need to be as you progress through the game.
-Daniel Clatworthy
An autistic gamer with opinions on games who also enjoys making dumb videos on the internet!