Destiny: Rise of Iron (read our first impressions here) has released for consoles and is the fourth expansion for the Destiny universe. The Rise of Iron release has a brand-new cinematic story campaign set within The Plaguelands. The Plaguelands is a beautifully drawn world located on Earth. Your new commander is Lord Saladin, and he will prepare you to face a new faction of Fallen Devils called Splicers.
As you make your way across the Plaguelands, you will uncover more details about the mystery of the Iron Lords. The Splicers have utilized forbidden technology called SIVA to transform the region into something straight out of a horror movie.The Plaguelands seem massive from your first encounter within their walls, but the world isn't as big as what we saw from The Taken King expansion. However, the map and environmental design are so well executed that the world does seem quite larger than it really is.
Players now face The Devil Splicers, fused of metal and flesh, that have the ability to self-assemble and self-replicate through nano-technology. The Fallen are known for worshipping machine gods, but with the power of SIVA, they are now able to transform into their very own machine gods. Guardians are now tasked with tracking down and facing the Fallen Devil Splicers, scattered throughout The Plaguelands, in order to find the cause of the SIVA outbreak and stop it from spreading.The SIVA storyline really gave me a nice flashback to Final Fantasy VII, and how that game utilized Mako for the overall design of the game.
As with previous expansions, Rise of Iron contains new weapons, amour, light level increase and gear to get you prepared for the battle ahead. Gamers are also introduced to a new cooperative three-player Strike, six player Raid, alongside new maps (Floating Gardens, Last Exit, and Skyline) and Supremacy mode for the Crucible competitive multiplayer mode. These new multiplayer modes were really well-designed and fun especially with the new SIVA storyline in play introducing some cool new abilities and items to the mix.
There is also a new public event called Archon's Forge which is a new version of horde mode with enemies coming at you in full force. If you take them down quick enough, then you will find yourself in an epic boss battle, where you have the chance to pick-up some cool Archon's Forge themed armor.While playing with other journalists at the Destiny: Rise of Iron preview event, I was able to test out some of the public events and how the multiplayer aspects were tweaked for the new release. I found that some of the new content in Rise of Iron was designed to create a smoother and more seamless multiplayer experience to make up for the rather short story campaign. I believe that the story campaign seems shorter than it is, because it is so much more enjoyable this time around, and that you actually want it to continue to play it for a lot longer.
The storyline for Destiny: Rise of Iron is probably one of the best plots so far in the series and is incredibly well-written. Players learn that the wall that stood for centuries along the border of Old Russia has collapsed and new enemies have made their way inside to destroy everything in their path. These new enhanced Fallen mutants have scavenged the tombs of the Golden Age, and you must now venture into The Plaguelands with Lord Saladin to stop them.
As in most games, your character learns that it's their destiny to learn the fate of the Iron Lords and do everything in their power to stop the evil forces at hand before it's too late. Of course, the whole save the world and embrace your destiny plot is nothing new in the gaming world, I would be curious to see an expansion where you have the ability to stray down some other paths instead. I mean, maybe my character's destiny is to watch reality TV and eat pizza? You never know. However, I don't think anyone would want to play that expansion where you are fighting off Splicers for the last slice of pie.
One of the best aspects of any expansion is the ability to jump back into your favorite games and feel like the entire title has been completely rejuvenated. That is exactly what Rise of Iron does for Destiny. The new content gives you plenty to explore alongside a new zone on Earth to venture through while taking on new enemy factions in intense combat sessions. There are a ton of new secrets to uncover while you complete all of the new activities and patrols alongside opening up a long abandoned fortress that becomes your new social space to answer the calls of Lord Saladin.
The new social space sets atop Felwinter Peak which is a snowy mountaintop that looks onto The Plaguelands. The story was that the Iron Lords once were scattered across the planet to battle the Darkness and protect those that survived the Collapse. Once the Iron Lords fell then their fortress was reclaimed but now you have the opportunity to fight the Splicers and make it your new base. The new social space was very easy to navigate, and I liked it a lot better than some of the previous social spaces. The beautiful mountain setting creates a serene sort of ambiance that you can't find in other spaces within the game.
A fun new addition to Rise of Iron is the new six player raid that takes you through the deep caverns beneath the earth to the source of the SIVA outbreak. The area is guarded by some of the most malicious and powerful Fallen Devil Splicers in the game. The raid has six guardians making their way into the dark world below them with the chance to gain new SIVA weapons and armor if they emerge alive and victorious.
Destiny: Rise of Iron looks and plays beautifully, alongside a ton of great new content, adding a high degree of replayability to the overall game. Rise of Iron thrusts you into a new world where you must rise to the cause in order to come out victorious. If you have been looking for a reason to delve back into the Destiny universe, then Rise of Iron is calling your name! If you are ready to join the ranks of Iron Lord, then visit the official Destiny website to learn more.
Features:
- New Story Campaign & Quests
- New Armor and Gear
- New Weapons
- New Raid
- Maximum Light Increase
- New Strike
- New Plaguelands Zone & Social Space
- New Crucible Mode & Maps
- New Enemy Faction and Bosses
Reviewed for PS4
(code provided by publisher)
Check out some of our photos from the Destiny: Rise of Iron Preview Event at Bungie on Facebook.
The new raid for Destiny: Rise of Iron is now live. Gamers will be able to experience a ton of quests and activities outside of the main storyline.
Rise of Iron Additions:
- Archon’s Forge:
- Three tiers of difficulty:
- Fused Siva Offering – 320 Light
- Enhanced Siva Offering – 340 Light
- Perfected Siva Offering – 360 Light
- Multiple encounters per tier of difficulty
- Unique armor set rewards
- Three tiers of difficulty:
- Plaguelands Patrol:
- Brand new Patrol mission type: Quarantine Patrols
- Many secret areas to unlock and Dormant SIVA Clusters to collect
- Two remastered public events to tackle
- Post campaign quest to complete:
- Exotic weapon quests:
- Gjallarhorn quest
- Khvostov 7G-0X
- Thorn
- ????
- Unlock your first Iron Lord artifact
- Exotic weapon quests:
- Record Book:
- Complete objectives in your record book and unlock the new Iron Lord Armor and other great rewards
- Destiny’s Crucible:
- Supremacy – new objective based PVP mode that can be played as 6v6 or Rumble
- New PVP maps – 3 new PVP maps to dominate, Last Exit, Floating Gardens and Skyline
- Felwinter Peak:
- Climb to the peak of Felwinter
- Unlock a few of the other secrets hidden within Felwinter Peak
- New and Remastered Strikes:
- Three SIVA themed Strikes to conquer:
- The Wretched Eye
- Sepiks Perfected
- Abomination Heist
- Three SIVA themed Strikes to conquer: