The Reef, the new social space that's introduced, isn't quite as rich as The Tower that precedes it - a cavernous hangar surrounded by inky black space, it's limited in size and potential for tomfoolery - but it's host to characters with a little more colour. It's a gun with real character, and elsewhere in House of Wolves there's a stronger sense of personality emerging. It still hurts that there's no new raid, but House of Wolves does a good job of diverting your attention with plenty of other things to do. Destiny's already had its fair share of iconic guns - the game-breaking sniper rifle Icebreaker, or Suros Regime with its jackhammer thud - but Vestian Dynasty calls for a place among Bungie's very best, alongside Combat Evolved's pistol or its successor in Halo 3: ODST. What a weapon it is too, whipping off rounds like a firecracker with its rate of fire through the roof, its arc damage smashing through headshot after headshot. One's gifted to you on completing the first story mission, the Vestian Dynasty, a stubby pistol that looks like it's wrought from smooth alien iron. No clearer is that heritage felt than in the snap of the sidearms, the all-new weapon class that's introduced in House of Wolves. House of Wolves wraps up what's best about Destiny, and it folds in some of what's best about Bungie, too. Running through the bulbous corridors of the Ketch ship he's holed up in, it's hard not to be reminded of the purple pathways of the Covenant's own ships, and back to Halo's warm warrens. There's some grand stage direction, and even room for a jump scare, as it places you in the chase for Taniks, one of several rogue Fallens, who leads a merry dance through some fine scenery. Many of the locations are lifted from elsewhere, though what's been lifted and how it's been used still has the capacity to surprise.Īll that's carried through to the single new Strike that, while not as spectacular as some of its peers, has a flow and pacing that's lacking elsewhere. House of Wolves leans heavily on the highlights of the shooter's first eight months, even stretching to one explicit late-game reference to the very best that Destiny has had to offer in its life to date. It's a real statement of intent, and one the rest of the campaign - which can be polished off in around two to three hours, though your mileage will vary depending on what difficulty you engage with - sees through. Within seconds you're sitting atop a purple Pike, a bloated speeder that hoarsely skims through a canyon as it spits out mines that bounce off the encroaching crevices, and then seconds after that you're face to face with a heavily armoured Walker that's spraying the air with plasma. You'll sense that in the instant spectacle of the first of the new campaign missions. What a pleasure it is to not have to dress up as a tatty goth anymore to hit the level cap. With this expansion, it feels like Bungie has remembered some of that magic that has made Bungie games so special in the past. It's somewhere beyond that, and somewhere far more exciting. What really makes House of Wolves fly, though, isn't to be found in the laundry list of what's been added. Fan grievances are addressed, the hamster wheel grind has been sprinkled with more regular treats and it's a delight to still be surprised, even after some 15 hours spent with the expansion, by new tweaks in some of Destiny's farther flung corners. House of Wolves doesn't quite do that, of course, but it does deliver an overhaul of systems and a stream of modes and features that are the best thing to happen to Destiny since its launch. All of which sets up The House of Wolves, the final expansion before - we fully expect - a more substantial overhaul that marks the beginning of Year Two, as the third act redemption, where all of Destiny's latent potential is untapped. There's certainly a neat arc there: the somewhat downbeat beginnings, with Destiny initially slumping under the weight of expectation, before it limped towards a nadir with The Dark Below's slim, far from stimulating addition. With its sweeping changes and fresh additions, House of Wolves is the best thing to happen to Destiny since its launch.ĭestiny's developer Bungie has recently got into the habit of referring to last September's release and the two subsequent expansions as falling under Year One, as if they're talking up an origins story of which this much maligned, much played massively online shooter is the subject.
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