Bungie opened up earlier today about Destiny 2’s first expansion, Curse of Osiris, and there are some truly juicy bits that have come onto the fold.
The reveal event was live streamed on Twitch and while more information is sure to come between now and its December 5th launch, any info is worth salivating over at this point.
Destiny 2 has been dry, bone dry, for a couple months and die hard fans have been wanting something, anything, new to play.
I certainly consider myself one among said fans due to my disappointment with the overall handling of Destiny 2’s endgame and nearly complete annihilation of anything resembling depth.
But let’s not veer into the specifics of Destiny 2’s shortcomings and instead talk about some of the coolest new information that has come about with this reveal stream.
Cool Collective of Curse of Osiris
Let’s first discuss some of the basics concerning the first expansion to the shared world looter shooter called Destiny 2.
The events surrounding the Curse of Osiris expansion take place some months after the events of the Red War experienced in vanilla Destiny 2. After the Red War, the Traveler woke up and embellished Mercury with light, something that the Vex had been waiting for.
The main character of this expansion is Osiris, an exiled Vanguard leader, who is in the Infinite Forest of Mercury looking for something to reveal the Vex’s greater plan.
What exactly is the Infinite Forest?
Simply put, it’s a construct created by the Vex that simulates reality. Conceptually, it’s nerd paradise, or at least a simulation thereof.
I’ve never dug too deep into the story of Destiny although I do have an appreciation for some of the lore. But the concept of the Infinite Forest sounds really, really cool and it even melds with a new activity that has lot of potential.
Now that we’ve gotten the preamble affairs of the Curse of Osiris out of the way let’s take a look at some of the coolest features of the expansion that we learned about today.
Infinite Forest and Endless Gameplay
The absolute coolest new highlight of the info to come out is about the Infinite Forest on Mercury. As we mentioned, it already has a boundless conceptual mystique going for it which is already pretty awesome.
But what’s most interesting about the Infinite Forest is what players can potentially tap into gameplay wise.
This new area will change each time that you enter it and will feature different periods of time (past, present, and future). There are different combinations of enemies and set pieces that are made use of in order to accomplish this.
It was clarified that the Infinite Forest does not make use of procedural generation which admittedly is a bit of a bummer.
But the idea of a dynamic and changing play space is genuinely exciting amidst the stale nature of Destiny right now.
We can only hope that the Infinite Forest leans more towards something like Diablo 3’s Nephalem Rifts rather than something like the original Destiny’s Prison of Elders.
Nephalem Rifts are procedurally generated but if the Infinite Forest can emulate even a sliver of that we’ll be in a great place regarding the replay value. This will also be determined by how well the live team handles the restructuring of Destiny 2’s overall end game over the coming year.
What’s Found on Mercury
We’ve already known that Curse of Osiris would feature a new playable space in the form of Mercury but a few new pieces of info regarding specifics have been released today.
There will be a new type of public event found on the planet and it is said to be the biggest yet of the activity type. This is a bittersweet piece of information because while it could hold promise, it is rather vague.
And when Bungie stays vague and speaks in generalities it usually precedes being let down.
Hopefully with this expansion we see something that makes replaying public events more compelling in the form of a reward loop or something to chase.
Lost Sectors will also be handled a little bit differently on Mercury. Before the campaign is completed they will not show up on the map to encourage organic exploration.
While not the most Earth shattering change, it does pull Destiny 2’s exploration in a direction that could offer a greater and more sincere sense of discovery.
New Raid Old Raid
Raids have historically offered some of the best gameplay experiences of Destiny and thankfully a new raid will be served up with the first expansion.
Players were worried that Curse of Osiris’ raid would come with a travesty of a catch due to the new raid being referred to as “new raid content” prior to the reveal.
And while the new raid, called Eater of Worlds, does take place on the Leviathan ship, it will offer completely new encounters, new loot, and new places to explore according to Bungie.
I absolutely wouldn’t slight anyone for still being wary of Bungie’s promises considering they have reskinned and revisited so much “new” content over the franchise’s life, but it’s their word against ours until we can see Eater of Worlds for ourselves.
Other Notable Mentions
Above is what we find most promising in terms of entirely new content but there was other new expansion info bits mentioned on today’s stream.
The Heroic Strike Playlist is making its Destiny 2 debut with Curse of Osiris and it’s a great first step towards making Strikes in Destiny relevant again.
It would be something else if they lock the addition behind a paywall but it’s a step in the right direction nonetheless.
The Lighthouse is also returning to Destiny 2 in the form of a social space, first appearing in the Destiny universe in the first game upon completing a flawless card in Trials of Osiris.
Will it only be relevant for a short amount of time like the forgotten dust enraptured farm of Destiny 2?
Only time will tell but it’s a cool addition and nice little throwback for veteran Destiny players.
Other new or returning characters we will get to see more of with Curse of Osiris include Osiris’ female ghost (Sagira), Ikora, and Brother Vance.
Waiting Out the Honeymoon
The new info that has surfaced does shine a glimmer of hope on Destiny 2’s bleak present state but it’s a matter of really sinking gamers’ collective teeth in and waiting to see how this first expansion will truly stack up.
I really hope that we will see some major endgame changes with Curse of Osiris or any added depth at all in order to massively bolster the reward loop of Destiny 2.
Most players were completely enamored with Destiny 2 upon its launch but quickly found that it was akin to a body of water a mile wide and an inch deep.
For a loot game, there really weren’t very many compelling reasons to venture on with the virtual chase soon after launch. And this is no good no matter how you spin things for a game centered around the concept of extrinsic rewards.
We will have wait and see if any of the outlined changes stated by the live team make their debut in Destiny 2’s first DLC because the game is sorely lacking at the moment. Curse of Osiris could be the first step towards creating growth and a game ripe with near endless replay value instead of the disappointment we have today.
Big thanks to reddit user dulfy for compiling information on today’s Destiny sream.