Destiny: Rise of Iron Review

It’s been a week since Destiny Rise of Iron hit the shelf and we’re looking at our first weekly reset. After the first run of story you really get an idea of how much work Bungie and Activision have put into their open-world sci-fi shooter. Rise of Iron, being the fourth expansion to the game, brings an update to nearly every aspect of the game from the top down. Between a new story campaign, social spaces, level cap, raid and of course new PvP modes and maps there is never downtime. Did I mention that it has an impressively high amount of new gear thrown in too? (looking at you Gjallahorn)

Let’s take a look at each piece of it for a second. The story has your character investigating a new threat which is known only to Lord Saladin (the Iron Banner guy, also known as Keith Ferguson [Reaper VA]). The threat this time around is a sentient techno-virus named “SIVA” that the Fallen have unearthed in Russia. Like kids in a candy store, the Fallen start using this mysterious strength for whatever they can, regardless of the consequences. This part of the story is where the Iron Lords lore emerges, and their story is tied into each step of yours. The characters are far more developed and the story line flows to the climax.

On the encounters side “Court of Oryx” has been replaced with Archon’s Forge. While it’s a simple wave game in PvE, it mimics the offering (SIVA Offerings) submission that you get when defeating bosses. If you are not in the Forge when the event starts you must burn a splicer key to enter which can become tedious. This feeling tends to roll over into the Crucible, Destiny’s multiplayer mode. I’m not a big PvP guy with Destiny because of my competitive background (I believe in gun skill, not equipment perks). However, Supremacy mode really gives a new dynamics with their Kill Confirmed-esque environment.

Rise of Iron also gives players tons of room with cosmetic enhancements. Between color shaders and ornamental gear you can deck out your character even further with more customization options. While this might not seem like much of an enhancement, many players do care about their characters’ visual aesthetic and this gives them the options to load out how they would like.

Now, here’s the kicker with all of the new gear. There is a bit of a grind and the levels of light are capped based on what tier you are at. To make it simple, I broke it down for you below.