New content for sci-fi shooter adds more co-op activity.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Violence & Scariness
a lot
Players use futuristic guns, explosives, swords, bows, magic-like abilities to attack, kill a range of alien, robotic, and -- in player-versus-player combat -- human enemies from both first- and third-person perspectives. Spurts of black liquid/energy burst from some enemy bodies, and red blood occasionally splashes on the screen when the player's character is injured.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.
This is a paid expansion to Destiny 2, which is required to play.
Ease of Play
some
An accessible, intuitive interface makes it easy to begin playing, but success requires plenty of practice and -- in some modes -- a team of reliable, experienced teammates. New players will need to level up enough in the base game simply to access the new content.
Positive Messages
very little
Rewards teamwork and cooperation while fostering a friendly competitive atmosphere. But the story focuses on seeking revenge for the death of a friend and ally by the relentless and unhesitant hunting down and slaughtering of those responsible.
Positive Role Models
very little
The protagonists solve all problems with guns and make light of dangerous situations. They debate whether or not to carry out an act of vengeance, not because they question the morality of it, but because they're not sure it's the best use of their time as Guardians.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know Destiny 2: Forsaken is a paid expansion to Destiny 2, which can be played on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PCs, and the basic game is required to play. This is a first-person sci-fi shooter focused on gun, melee, and magical combat against a range of alien, robotic, and -- in competitive modes -- human enemies. The expansion's story is focused on carrying out vengeance for the death of a close friend and ally, with little discussion about whether or not eye-for-an-eye justice is the moral or proper response. Fights are accompanied by screeches of pain, spurts of black blood/energy from aliens and robots, and splashes of red blood that appear on the screen when a player-controlled character is injured. But the depiction of violence stops well short of showing more graphic content. Multiplayer modes demand cooperation and reward teamwork while fostering a welcoming atmosphere of friendly competitive play. Keep in mind that this is primarily a multiplayer game, and that kids will need to play with others to access some content and have a real chance of success in certain modes, potentially exposing them to inappropriate content through chat.
Improvements to the core game also have a downside.
The basics of the game are all fleshed out in my other Destiny 2 reviews prior. What this expansion does for the franchise to attempt to move it forward is make a deliberate story with a single player campaign that's FINALLY truly worth doing. The ONLY spoiler I will give is that there are 7 sortof 'mini bosses' you will be going after in your quest and it's a nice change after the short lived campaigns of the past. It's a nice touch.
Aside from this, things get opinionated in the community. The 'grind' is back as infusion fuel is rare but needed "in bulk" with mastercores being essential for this once simplistic process making 'busywork
out of a once simple leveling up system. This seems to be implemented to compensate for the skill trees that are missing from destiny 2 to synthetically pad out the game. Alot of tedium has been introduced and the drop rates of the best weapons are nill and are not for purchase at vendors like Xur as they were before. Some players say they like this new slowed down system, others find it frustrating and too time consuming, many of which have attested to progress hitting a wall or items dropping consistently below current charecter levels.
There are 2 adequate new areas to explore and 'bounties' are back to move the game forward and will be the bulk of what you do to level up with 'powerful' gear as your reward. these will be repetitious in nature and send you back through the same story missions and strikes as well as Player Verses Player "Crucible" and world exploration details.
To top it all off you will need to be 560 light, attained through the aforementioned grinding process, to do the new raid. There are, once again, very familiar enemies and twists on old concepts like "cleansing", relics that shoot stuff and plates that require some expert standing upon all accompanied by the redundant waves and waves of ads (additional enemies that constantly respawn). This time , however, the complexity has been ramped up throughout and the mechanics are a bit more complicated. The "Last Wish" raid has already been touted as the hardest and most complex raid to date. So if that sounds enticing to you, this one is all about THAT. If that sounds daunting, well, then it rightfully should. Because teams that used to get first week clears are STILL struggling with it a few weeks in.
My personal complaint is that the basic 'new' enemies don't really feel new, they are old concepts with just different "animations". They are 'types and shadows' of things that already exist in the game, so you won't be changing any of your current strategies or being forced to do anything you haven't been doing all along. This feeling spills over to the raid as well which doesn't look different enough with more of the samey type concepts and a light level that it extremely time consuming to attain. And to me, without actual skill trees to constitute the grind and a daunting amount of rare items to attain just to progress, all based on slot machine style random loot, it seems a bit stale compared to where the original Destiny thrived with the Taken King expansion and truly NEW ideas. Alot of fun has been replaced with 'busywork' instead of meaning and a sense of incremental progress beyond more than just a numbers game. The smooth game play and excellent mechanics are all there, but the execution is lacking . But.....like I said that's all subjective opibion, but as a Destiny player who has completed almost every raid prior multiple times, I'm kind of burnt out on even the idea of baring another cycle of tedium and repetition with yet another soft reset of 90% of my gear. My 2 cents.
What’s It About?
DESTINY 2: FORSAKEN, a paid expansion to Destiny 2, continues to grow the story of the player's customizable character, a futuristic Guardian sworn to protect the remnants of humanity from all galactic evils. This chapter in his/her story begins with the death of one of the series' most beloved protagonists at the hands of a group of bad guys being led by Uldren, the pasty-skinned prince of an area of the solar system known as the Reef. Fueled by rage and sadness, our hero turns his/her back on the duties of being a Guardian to embark on a quest to kill everyone responsible. This story adds a brand-new destination -- the Awoken homeland -- to the selection of large, free-to-explore realms already available to Destiny players, as well as a dozen or so new missions and adventures. It also adds a pair of new co-operative strike missions, a new raid for larger groups of friends to tackle together, an almost endless array of new weapons and gear pieces (including several that require quest steps to earn), plus three new superpowers for each character class. Also new is Gambit, a cooperative/competitive mode that involves taking on waves of enemies as a team, collecting orbs they drop, banking them without getting killed, and then sending a teammate through a portal to the opposing team's map to invade and wreak havoc. Players should note that accessing much of this content requires a character that's been properly leveled up playing the base game and previous expansions.
If you were to rank the many pricey expansions Destiny and its sequel have had over the years, this one would be near the top. Destiny 2: Forsaken provides a wealth of content that gives players good reason to play for a couple more weeks or months to reach the newly raised level and power caps, now 50 and 600, respectively. The new missions and adventures lead players on hunts to take down a series of nine new memorable bosses, each with its own special abilities and tactics. One particularly gleeful mission even involves driving a Halo-style tank through hordes of swarming enemies toward the final target. Earning new gear -- like the surprisingly quick and extremely powerful Legendary bow -- and superpower abilities that can knock off a third of a boss's health in one blow are satisfying rewards for the time players put in. Forsaken plays it pretty safe for the most part -- there are no revolutionary changes to game systems or narrative direction -- but successfully delivers more of the frenetic, habit-forming action that series fans enjoy and expect.
A bigger change can be found in Gambit, a new multiplayer mode -- with its own collection of objectives, bounties, and rewards -- that combines elements of several popular genres of competitive modes ranging from MOBAs (multiplayer online battle arenas) to Gears of War's Horde-style play. Players experience the camaraderie of working as a team to take down waves of enemies as well as the competitive thrill of sending AI foes -- and sometimes even one of their own players -- to another team's map to sow destruction. It's fast-paced and a bit confusing to start, but once you get a sense of the teamwork and strategy required, it becomes deeply compelling. It's one of Destiny 2's best multiplayer modes to date. Taken alone, Gambit probably isn't enough to justify investing in Destiny 2: Forsaken, but add in the new campaign, gear, superpowers, and cooperative strikes, and you have a very worthwhile expansion that ought to satisfy most series veterans.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about violence in the media. Is the impact of the violence in Destiny 2: Forsaken affected by the unrealistic robot and alien opponents that you defeat? Would the impact of the violence be intensified if the visuals were more graphic?
Some modes in Destiny 2: Forsaken require players to cooperate and demonstrate teamwork with other players. Do you feel stronger and more capable when working with a reliable team?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
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Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
By Chad Sapieha
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
