Heresy

Destiny 2’s latest episode, Heresy, launched earlier this week. After the rough experiment that was Revenant’s story delivery and other scandals in-game and out, community morale has been at an all-time low. Even I, with my love for the buildcrafting depth in this game, have grown tired. Heresy is the last content drop before the new Frontiers expansion releases, and many of us wonder if we will continue playing.

There are three points I would like to cover today: “Gameplay,” “Story,” and “Is This Enough.” My first impressions of Heresy will dictate how I engage in the game going forward, and I need to be honest about all of it. I cannot avoid spoilers for the Story segment, so feel free to skip over that part if that’s a concern for you.

The Gameplay

The core activity of Heresy is the Nether, where we return to the Dreadnaught from the first Destiny and complete a series of objectives. These objectives range from capturing zones to destroying targets to delivering items to certain locations. Each run consists of three rounds, each round containing three objectives. Each successful round increases enemy strength, but you can also acquire special boosts and boons to enhance yourself.

Bungie warned us ahead of time that our usual sources of healing would be severely limited within the Nether game mode. I normally build my Guardians with healing options, so I figured that I would still have a decent chance even if the potency was reduced. Since Arc seems to be the flavor of the episode, I donned An Insurmountable Skullfort, grabbed the new Loadstar exotic trace rifle, and dove in.

Well…that looks familiar…and also doesn’t…?

Round 1 went fine. Round 2 was a nightmare.

Even with the healing Skullfort gave me, it was useless against the tankier bosses and distant enemies. I even tried switching to my Solar builds to make use of Restoration and Red Death, but those fell short, as well.

I will not deny that I suffer from a terminal case of Skill Issue. As a casual gamer, I prefer playing with others over running things solo. However, the story quest marker showed up on the Solo version of the Nether, not the Multiplayer version with matchmaking. I didn’t want to risk playing an entire mode with no progress, so I stuck to the Solo version and grew increasingly frustrated. I was tempted to complete the first round and then back out every time, but that meant I would lose certain rewards.

The thing that saved my bacon was retrieving an old reliable weapon: Crimson.

Kills with Crimson regenerate health, and precision kills refill the magazine to full.

I’ve loved the Crimson hand canon since its release back in Curse of Osiris, and, for some reason, it served me far better than its big brother Red Death. Teamed with Prismatic, the Facet of Grace, and a Stoicism with the spirits of Assassin and Canon Brace, it carried me through the harder rounds. It felt good dusting off an old friend for something other than PvP.

Bungie did mention in their latest TWAB (sorry, “TWID”) that some of the healing options were not working as intended and that they would take a second pass at how the Nether works. That is one thing I appreciate about live-service games: developers can see metrics in real time and adjust things accordingly.

Yes, I made my Titan look like the Traveler. It was the only way I could work with the diaper that is Stoicism…

Instead of new exotic armors for each class, Bungie introduced a new Arc ability called Bolt Charge and either reworked or created new abilities and weapons to synergize with it. I was bummed at first, but I realized that this has created more buildcrafting opportunities than just releasing three pieces of gear. And here I thought they blew all their budget on the Star Wars collaboration ornaments.

You know…collaborating with Star Wars would explain why I got “Somehow Palpatine Returned ” vibes when they teased Oryx’s return. Speaking of which…

The Story (final spoiler warning)

As an author, the quality of the story is paramount for me. The Final Shape felt like it tied off a ten-year narrative journey. The last two episodes, Echoes and Revenant, have not hit the desired notes of “there may be more on the horizon,” although I will admit the mirrored dynamic of Osiris and Saint versus Maya and Chioma back in Echoes was well done. Heresy’s story needs to be at a level that makes us want to keep playing, to hold out for Frontiers.

Based on the first week, Heresy is…off to a good start.

Looks like Eris has learned to “Trust” again! Don’t look at me in that tone. I’m not apologizing for puns.

We begin by boarding the Dreadnaught with Eris and the Drifter, dealing with a sudden surge of Taken activity. Guns are shooting. Aliens are dying. Pretty par for the course for an opening act. However, as things escalate, Eris is killed by a Subjugator, sending everyone, especially Drifter, reeling in grief.

I have to applaud this plot twist, not because I have something against Eris, but because this was never hinted at in the trailers. Unlike Forsaken, where Cayde’s death was paraded before us as the major trailer info, Eris’s death was kept under wraps. It was a genuine surprise.

Granted, I shouldn’t have been as shocked as I was at first.

Aside from the fact that the teaser trailer showed much more of Eris than this week’s story release, we see Eris wake up in what looks like a Hive throne world. While the rest of the cast weeps over her loss, she is alive and kicking somewhere. Although this made her sudden “death” feel cheapened, it was cool to see what her face actually looks like without the blindfold.

Back to the Guardian’s side, the story is currently focused on us discovering the Dreadnaught’s changes and learning how to harness Taken energy. There have also been hints at a new Main Antagonist, but they’ve all been in the separate lore texts. It may not be much right now, but again: it’s a good start.

That being said, the launch of Heresy was littered with bugs. That should be expected by now, but one of the issues included voice lines not playing. Bungie force-activated subtitles so we could still tell what was going on, but it did still pull us out of the experience. I may be used to subtitles when watching anime, but when I also have to pay attention to things shooting at me? Yeah, no bueno.

You? You are also no bueno.

Is This Enough?

Based on my first experience with Heresy, my feelings are mixed at best. I still love coming up with new loadouts, and the story looks promising right now, but, as much as I hate to admit it, I’ve grown exhausted. There hasn’t been enough presented to determine whether or not I continue playing into Frontiers. This is honestly a scary position for me, especially as someone as loyal as I am, who holds out for hope and the bright side of things.

However, by that same token, Bungie still has a chance to draw us back in because not much has been presented yet. It is only the beginning of the episode. There are still plenty of opportunities to surprise and inspire us, like the Finality’s Auger exotic fusion rifle from the new dungeon possibly hinting at a new Darkness subclass.

It’s make-or-break time, Bungie. We’ll let you cook. Please serve us something good.