Destiny: Rise of Iron: Your Light is a Dragon.

Back when it was originally released Destiny wasn’t the game that many were expecting Bungie to release. It’s managed to see much success despite that however, attracting some 30 million players, a number that’s grown steadily over its 2 year lifetime. As a long time player myself it’s easy to see why as Bungie has been fervently dedicated to its player base since day 1, working hard to improve the experience and retain its fiercely loyal player base. Rise of Iron, which rumour has it will be the last expansion before Destiny 2 is released next year, brings us more of what made the previous expansion great but I’m not sure it’ll be enough to keep players coming back for another 12+ months.

Rise of Iron explores the history behind the Iron Lords, a group of guardians who formed shortly after the collapse to do battle with guardians who decided to subjugate humanity rather than defend it. After they brought down those early warlords they sought to rebuild civilisation and did so using any tools they could find. Once such tool was SIVA, a self-replication technology developed during the golden age. Despite Rasputin’s attempt to disuade them otherwise (including orbital bombardments on their armies) the Iron Lords almost unleashed a plague upon themselves. It was only through the sacrifice of all the remaining Iron Lords, save for Saladin and Efrideet, that they were able to seal it away. However the Fallen have found their way into the SIVA bunker and are using it to rebuild their machine gods, posing a dangerous threat to humanity once again.

As you’d expect from a console-based expansion Rise of Iron doesn’t bring with it any graphical improvements, looking just the same as it did on launch day. The UI elements have been given an overhaul once again, making things just a touch more usable and intuitive. The majority of the new content is in the Plaugelands which, being right next to the Cosmodrome, means it’ll feel familiar to any year 1 guardians making their return. The aesthetic is very much of the “future technology plague” vibe with vibrant reds and pitch blacks dominating the colour palette. This is a welcome change to the Taken King’s muted colour palette, something which tended to wear you down after spending so many hours trapped inside the dreadnought. All in all it’s still a very pretty game but it is starting to show its age, especially when compared to some of the latest PC titles.

The core game mechanics are unchanged, save for the few tweaks that have been made in the numerous patches since the previous expansions release. You’ll still be running around, shooting things and ducking for cover to regenerate your health. The light level progression remains the same however the routes to maxing yourself out are more varied, making the grind a little more palatable. There’s a few little quality of life improvements which make things a little easier like the infusion system now giving you all of the light level of a piece of gear rather than a fraction, saving on the grind considerably. Other than that Rise of Iron will feel very familiar to long time players and, honestly, I don’t think there’s much wrong with that.

Rise of Iron’s campaign is probably half as long as the Taken King’s was which, if I’m honest, was a bit disappointing. I had managed to convince my friend who originally got me into Destiny to come back for this expansion and we managed to knock the whole thing out in a single afternoon. Sure I’ve definitely got my money’s worth given the amount of time I’ve spent on it since completing it but I felt the Taken King expansion was around the right length. That and the fact that it tied much more tightly into the overall narrative and raid whilst Rise of Iron has it as a kind of aside. It wouldn’t surprise me if some of the story has been held back for use in content releases over the coming months to keep everyone coming back.

I have to admit that I felt the light grind was a little harder this time around than when compared to previous expansions. This is possibly because I couldn’t cheat my way to a higher light level with exotics like I did previously. However after talking to my brother he put me onto a few methods to get me the light levels I needed. Sure it was still a grind but at the very least I was seeing gradual progress. Combine that with a few raid runs, completing the incredibly complex Outbreak Prime quest and a few exotic engrams and I’m back to feeling like the guardian I was in expansions past. Of course I’m still very far away from the cap (now at 400 thanks to the recent patch) but at the very least I don’t feel like a guardian running around covered in tissue paper armour with a BB gun.

This expansion’s raid is probably the easiest I’ve ever played through although I think that has more to do with the maturity of the community and game more than anything else. Previous raids were plagued with cheese strategies, mechanics that would break at a hint of lag or mechanics that many people just failed to understand. This particular raid seems to be free of any such things, focusing instead on team work, co-ordination and communication. Sure the raids I’ve been in have still had their share of problems but they’ve all been recoverable, unlike the numerous hours I spent in Vault of Glass.

I also managed to find time to play through the recent Iron Banner which was a much more streamlined experience. Rather than having to get emblems, class items and boosts to make sure you’re getting all the rep you can it’s all done automatically now. It took me a couple afternoons playing to get to max rank which also netted me a few good boosts to my light level. Indeed it seems the theme of Destiny’s latest expansion is streamlining, something that all mature MMORPGs have been taking on board of late. For an old hat like myself it’s a welcome change, allowing me to spend the little time I have left on games and still make meaningful progression.

As always the Destiny told during your play through is only scraping the surface of game’s lore with all the good bits being held behind grimoire cards. For certain games I don’t mind this however I do understand how many would see Destiny’s story as shallow and unfinished. To be sure there are many things Bungie could do to improve it, and honestly should have done by now, like making the grimoire cards readable in game or simply fleshing out more things in cut-scenes or in-game dialogue. Still it’s enjoyable to see more of the world revealed to us, even if that’s through walls of text you can only read on Bungie’s website.

Destiny: Rise of Iron is another helping of what long time fans of the series wanted: more missions, another raid and a bevy of new loot to lust after. The base game which kept me playing for so long remains the same, Bungie intent on not fixing what isn’t broken. The various aspects that have been streamlined are welcome additions, making playing the game of Destiny just that much easier. The campaign could have been longer and more tightly integrated into the overall narrative of this expansion. The storytelling in the game could use some love as well; something that, done right, would elevate Destiny well beyond its current station. Overall Rise of Iron is an evolution of the franchise and time will tell if there’s enough meat in it to keep players coming back until the next expansion, or Destiny 2, drops.

Rating: 9.25/10

Destiny: Rise of Iron is available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One right now for $44.95 on both consoles. Game was played on the PlayStation 4 with around 40 hours of total play time reaching light level 373.