DESTINY 2 – FORSAKEN

Latest DLC delivers the Guardian goods

Good news, Guardian: this is comfortably the best expansion Bungie has released since the first Destiny’s The Taken King. Compared to Curse Of Osiris and Warmind, the latest DLC offers a far meatier, more compelling tale that kicks off season four of the shooter sequel in style. If you’re a lapsed fan who hasn’t touched the base game in months, this satisfying, surprising campaign should rejuvenate your burnt-out Guardian’s enthusiasm.

First, though, you’d better ask Hawthorne for some hankies. As teased throughout the pre-launch campaign for Forsaken, everyone’s favourite quip-cracking robot does indeed bite the big one. But it’s all in a good cause, as far as the storyline goes, at any rate.

Cayde-6’s untimely demise at the hands of the returning (never more scheming) Uldren Sov (last seen in The Taken King, coincidentally enough) fuels a revenge quest that sees your Guardian hunting down not only Sov, but his psychotic Barons across the new Tangled Shore area. These bulky Scorn generals provide Destiny 2 with its best boss fights yet. Whether entering into a pike-on-pike smackdown with The Rider, or diffusing The Mad Bomber’s array of explosives, these assassination quests feel bespoke and varied.

GAM-BITTEN

With a couple of notable difficulty spikes as you try to reach the new soft power level of 500, ranking up your Guardian feels less grindy than it did in past expansions. It helps that the headline new Gambit mode is a pleasure to blast through again and again.

A super-smart marriage of PvE and PvP, these heated matches ask each team to collect motes by killing enemies. The first side to bank 75 of these can then summon a Primeval boss, and whichever team kills this beastie first wins the round. The twist? One player from each side can invade the other team’s area every minute or so, adding PvP chaos and competition into these superbly thoughtout skirmishes.

Though the Last Wish raid wasn’t live at time of writing, Forsaken’s cracking campaign, trio of tight Strikes, and compelling end-game – the journey to unlock the Dreaming City hub is a hoot – ensure Destiny 2’s latest DLC is already worth the price of admission.