Destiny 2 Expansion I: Curse of Osiris (PlayStation 4) Review

By Brandon (Michael) Howard 19.12.2017

Review for Destiny 2 Expansion I: Curse of Osiris on PlayStation 4

Destiny 2 is one of those games where it just feels good to sit down and grind it out for a few mindless hours. There's a great sense of transition between patrols, public events, exploration, and good, old-fashioned, Guardian on hostile alien combat. Curse of Osiris, the first expansion to Bungie's overall excellent shooter, introduces a whole new strike zone, a new raid, and tons of new gear to collect. What could go wrong, then…apart from, well, everything?

Destiny 2 doesn't feel noticeably altered by Curse of Osiris. In fact, most players will probably find themselves going through the same motions: grinding through public events, sparring in the crucible, and completing weekly missions. The most tangible change is that they are going to be completing missions on the new planet, Mercury. They might not be doing missions there by choice, though.

Mercury isn't the most inviting of the game's strike zones. It's a relatively small area, with only a handful of quests and only a single (and tedious) public event to its name. Mercury looks barren, and that translates extremely well to how it feels to explore. It's tiny, limited, and it doesn't feel nearly as exciting to explore as any of the other planets featured.

The story included with the DLC isn't particularly impactful, either. It's a dull, planet hopping quest that takes far more time than it's worth. It's required to unlock Mercury for exploration, so it's kind of a necessity, but it doesn't feel good. It's a huge downer, too, because the story had immense potential, and the highlights of it don't make up for the monotony of the experience.

Screenshot for Destiny 2 Expansion I: Curse of Osiris on PlayStation 4

Curse of Osiris' story starts with the Warlock Vanguard commander, Ikora Rey, telling you about a distress call from her former mentor, an exiled guardian, named Osiris. Osiris has large been an important, behind the scenes character in Destiny's storyline, with his followers organising the Trials of Osiris in the original Destiny, and Osiris himself being responsible for the study of some of the more sinister races across the Milky Way.

It's kind of a shame, then, that Osiris has so little to do with the plot of the expansion that carries his name. Osiris appears in only a handful of dialogues, with most of the adventure being dictated by his Ghost companion, Sagira, instead. Sagira replaces the standard Ghost for most of the DLC storyline, and while she's fine in her own right and a great sort of exposition, she doesn't do enough to make the detours to each planet worthwhile.

The campaign starts at Mercury, and then crosses over to Earth, then back to Mercury, and then back and forth across each of the main hub worlds, sans one. Each Mercury section has the player run through the same section of terrain, slightly altered each time. The quests don't have meaningful objectives, except for "run through this hallway, and shoot these guys." It does start to mix it up near the end, with environmental hazards mucking up the arena where one of the later bosses is fought but, overall, the quest line is a huge slog to work through.

Screenshot for Destiny 2 Expansion I: Curse of Osiris on PlayStation 4

It all culminates in a final boss that has a very unique set up for the series, but still doesn't feel that climactic. The boss in question sets up a sort of mini raid, with it summoning waves of different enemies from across the entire game across a massive open area with cover strewn about. The actual boss is barely even fought, as he only takes damage around three times in short, mostly scripted segments. It makes for some cool cinematic moments, but it lessens the impact of the final fight. It's an interesting arena with some cool setup, but it definitely could have made better use of the stage's unique level design, especially its verticality.

On the other hand, in terms of new content, the new raid is confusing as heck… and it's awesome. It requires a lot less nit-picky finesse than the Leviathan raid, but requires an insane amount of multi-tasking and attention to detail. It's a great challenge for new players and veterans alike, and it's an fantastic challenge - one of the biggest highlights of the DLC. It's still a grind, but Bungie is showing that raids are one thing it nearly always gets right.


 
Unfortunately, Curse of Osiris is making it abundantly clear how broken some of Destiny 2's core systems are. So many of the unique items in this expansion are locked behind the random loot box system built into the Eververse and the engrams earned from levelling up. It feels so bad to have some of the expansion's coolest rewards locked behind random loot boxes that incentivise paying money, as most casual players will never have the time to unlock these rewards without shelling out some cash.

There are still some nice quality of life upgrades, with the addition of the new "Masterwork" weapon tier - a new level of customisation available for legendary weapons. They add a great level of personalisation to Destiny 2 that's been solely missing since launch. There's also been a small overhaul to the shops in each region, with each offering its own unique armour on a regular basis, and offering a rotating weapon week to week. It's a great time saver when trying to find a certain weapon, and great for finding that last matching piece of gear.

Screenshot for Destiny 2 Expansion I: Curse of Osiris on PlayStation 4

Xur, the travelling exotic items vendor, also sells some new toys to make finding those missing exotics in your collection easier, and increasing the drop rate, a much desired returning item from the original Destiny. There's also the distant promise of reworking some under-performing exotic weapons, which is excellent, considering what a cool and unique part of the series they are.

Curse of Osiris, for all its stylish moments and nice tweaks, feels kind of disillusioning. The grindy tendencies are exemplified in the small map of Mercury, which feels like a planet of wasted potential when so much of the unique areas of the map aren't used or revisited to their full potential. Other than the new raid, there isn't that much exciting to experience in this expansion, but it's the wasted potential that hurts more than anything.

Osiris' much-awaited debut appearance has him off to the sidelines for almost the entire adventure, and very little is done to help flesh out his role in the world. So much of the story of Mercury takes the Guardians to amazing places, but they are rarely revisited, and impossible to explore on their own. There are so many great ideas at play here, and none of them are being used to their full potential, and that hurts more than anything else about this expansion.

Screenshot for Destiny 2 Expansion I: Curse of Osiris on PlayStation 4

Cubed3 Rating

5/10
Rated 5 out of 10

Average

Curse of Osiris doesn't really do anything to enhance the Destiny 2 experience, aside from the new raid and some nice quality of life upgrades. The campaign portion is tedious and doesn't live up to its potential in the slightest. There's also an annoying reliance on the Eververse system for obtaining the expansion's new gear, to the point where it feels straight up player hostile. For hardcore Guardians, Curse of Osiris is a necessity to keep up-to-date with the latest gear and power level increases, but for everyone else, this is not a meaningful addition to the core game.

Developer

Bungie

Publisher

Activision

Genre

First Person Shooter

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  9/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

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