KingBug
2019
The best thing I can say about Outer Wilds is it made me genuinely say “what the fuuuUUUCK???” (cresc.) probably a dozen times, each instance with increased disbelief. It’s a truly awe-inspiring take on the video game medium about, among many other things, finding solace in uncertainty. For every time it left me frustrated with a lynchpin mystery element (I chalk one key puzzle up to a poor design choice), I had dozens of instances left with only my own problem-solving skills to blame in the near-perfection of this little solar system (I chalk this up to, um, raw hubris). I played this game at a horrible time to enjoy the gameplay loop, given the fatigue I’m feeling from my worst semester of grad school yet; I had no desire to come home to read and solve more riddles. Ironically, that timing is exactly what made the lessons Outer Wilds teaches so impactful for me: the uncertainty in my own life feels more manageable after what I felt exploring this charming universe.
And man, I felt a lot. Both existential terror and unmitigated wonder. Haunting hopelessness and dogged determination. The centrality of community and the sheer oblivion of our singular loneliness. It also kinda makes no fucking sense and that’s okay. I never knew going places and reading stuff could elicit this range of emotions, so deeply. A near-essential22 minutes 20ish hours for anyone with a controller.
And man, I felt a lot. Both existential terror and unmitigated wonder. Haunting hopelessness and dogged determination. The centrality of community and the sheer oblivion of our singular loneliness. It also kinda makes no fucking sense and that’s okay. I never knew going places and reading stuff could elicit this range of emotions, so deeply. A near-essential
I feel somewhat bound by how I rate games here, ironically similar to the code by which Wolf is bound that incites the entire journey in question. On one hand, Sekiro is a well-crafted game with an incredible combat system. On the other... I didn't enjoy playing this game. At best, I was on enough sleep and stimulants to almost reach the flow-state it tried to create. Mostly, I struggled to get through even the most basic of tasks in Sekiro. That grueling struggle (and skill issue) isn't one I can ever hope to enjoy, or even finish, without gaming eclipsing my education or personal life.
I bought this bad boy after loving Elden Ring... and cheesing a decent bit of it, too. I wanted to git gud, and I got Sekiro for that reason. Nobody needs me to harp on how this game does that to a player. Precise, creative melee combat with zero room for error forces you to learn every possible scenario and react to it in the blink of an eye. It's as much a twitchy puzzle game as it is a combat saga, and that problem-solving element begs players to return again and again to confront challenges.
The problem is... I'm in grad school, gearing up for a career in a field with no respect for my time and effort. I do problem-solving full-time, and video games are my haven to unwind from those stresses and find enjoyable worlds to escape in. Challenging games are fun for me, up to where they begin to disrespect the sanctity of my time with them. Sekiro is so unflinching in its premise that it becomes excruciating to play; that, combined with the addictive Soulslikes formula dragging me back hoping for the high of a victory with just "one more try tonight" (it's not gambling, right?), left me a little infuriated and very, very defeated while playing this game. Sekiro demands you play a single way to beat it, and it turns out I kinda hated playing that way. Don't get me wrong, the zen you achieve when eventually memorizing every possible attack pattern, reading (guessing?) what comes next in an instant, and responding perfectly for like 8 minutes straight can feel thrilling! But I didn't find it fun.
After finally getting through a full cycle of that process and beating Genichiro, I'm content to put this one away. Some of the other elements didn't land for me, too; for instance, after even my worst Elden Ring moments, I always found the story/lore/world compelling enough to press on. I didn't feel that pull with Sekiro. The world-building is fine, but not a reason to stay. Oh also, the everyone-gets-sick-when-you-die thing is basically like kicking a puppy, given that I (the puppy) am trash and died regularly while traversing the world and like 70 times to a single boss. Nobody needed to trip my guilt by making me incite an epidemic when I was already sad from my repeated personal failures lmao.
You get the gist. I don't think I have a single, like, objective criticism to level at this game. It is very good. Sadly, I am not gud, and I really loathed playing this thing. It was punishment to play, and the few positive elements amounted more to an adrenaline rush than enjoyment. I have to remain true to this being my rating of Sekiro, and I just didn't have fun. I'll let the sea of other positive reviews outweigh my outlier negative experience. This alleged masterpiece isn’t for me and I have to respect that. Humbling.
I bought this bad boy after loving Elden Ring... and cheesing a decent bit of it, too. I wanted to git gud, and I got Sekiro for that reason. Nobody needs me to harp on how this game does that to a player. Precise, creative melee combat with zero room for error forces you to learn every possible scenario and react to it in the blink of an eye. It's as much a twitchy puzzle game as it is a combat saga, and that problem-solving element begs players to return again and again to confront challenges.
The problem is... I'm in grad school, gearing up for a career in a field with no respect for my time and effort. I do problem-solving full-time, and video games are my haven to unwind from those stresses and find enjoyable worlds to escape in. Challenging games are fun for me, up to where they begin to disrespect the sanctity of my time with them. Sekiro is so unflinching in its premise that it becomes excruciating to play; that, combined with the addictive Soulslikes formula dragging me back hoping for the high of a victory with just "one more try tonight" (it's not gambling, right?), left me a little infuriated and very, very defeated while playing this game. Sekiro demands you play a single way to beat it, and it turns out I kinda hated playing that way. Don't get me wrong, the zen you achieve when eventually memorizing every possible attack pattern, reading (guessing?) what comes next in an instant, and responding perfectly for like 8 minutes straight can feel thrilling! But I didn't find it fun.
After finally getting through a full cycle of that process and beating Genichiro, I'm content to put this one away. Some of the other elements didn't land for me, too; for instance, after even my worst Elden Ring moments, I always found the story/lore/world compelling enough to press on. I didn't feel that pull with Sekiro. The world-building is fine, but not a reason to stay. Oh also, the everyone-gets-sick-when-you-die thing is basically like kicking a puppy, given that I (the puppy) am trash and died regularly while traversing the world and like 70 times to a single boss. Nobody needed to trip my guilt by making me incite an epidemic when I was already sad from my repeated personal failures lmao.
You get the gist. I don't think I have a single, like, objective criticism to level at this game. It is very good. Sadly, I am not gud, and I really loathed playing this thing. It was punishment to play, and the few positive elements amounted more to an adrenaline rush than enjoyment. I have to remain true to this being my rating of Sekiro, and I just didn't have fun. I'll let the sea of other positive reviews outweigh my outlier negative experience. This alleged masterpiece isn’t for me and I have to respect that. Humbling.
2017
Ridiculous volume of content, the online multiplayer is essentially crack, more bangers than "ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits." My favorite way to be humiliated by 11 Japanese kids on a 1.5-second lag all cosplaying as a lanky purple psycho riding a yellow caterpillar with wheels smaller than my fist. [EDIT: nvm they patched it so now there are ~2 unique meta options instead of 1.]
Played the demo with the Mar10 sale on. What a bizarre little game! Lots of charm, genuinely amusing, makes the XCOM-esque turn based strategy feel more fluid and approachable. A bit of a loading screen simulator but not insufferable so far. More appealing than I expected off the subject matter, but also not begging me to play it now. I’d buy it but it’s basically always on sale at lower and lower prices so I’ll wait until my Switch backlog is thin.
I’m very glad this version of this game is available on my Switch. Link’s Awakening is a completely wacky game, filled to the brim with incongruous pieces that constantly keep your brain off kilter. Despite that, the completed puzzle is satisfyingly cohesive and oozes with the charm, intent, and creativity to leave a lasting impression.
The “it’s all a dream” theme of Link’s Awakening is pretty boilerplate at first glance, but the execution is so superb that I ended up forgiving it. The game delivers the dream with a tasteful degree of self-awareness: it nearly breaks the fourth wall to announce some hints, yet lets other unnerving components hang without acknowledging their absurdity whatsoever. This balance is struck tactfully to show the player that something is off here, for the entire ride. As a given from the start, the impending doom of your quest to end the dream begs you to confront the consequences of your actions—it’s not a cop-out surprise to save the narrative. The dream is a vehicle for storytelling, not the story itself, and it left me with pangs of remorse as I approached the inevitable end.
Link’s Awakening pairs those painful undercurrents with the brilliance of its colorful world, which expresses whimsy and delight around every corner. Koholint Island is chalk-full of pure and endearing friends, baddies who don’t take themselves too seriously, and a diverse array of regions and dungeons efficiently compressed into a tiny area. The Switch remaster embraces the original’s tight design and carries the intentional movement and curated precision of the Island into the current generation. It’s a shame that frames chug in so many circumstances both docked and handheld (especially given Nintendo’s track record for silky-smooth first party games), because the children’s-toy-plastic sheen applied to the 3D graphics is an absolute triumph which could be improved only with consistently buttery performance.
I love the graphics vision in the remaster, but playing Links’s Awakening also made me realize I should be more open to forgoing modern graphics to spend more time on older games. The core of Link’s Awakening is a great experience regardless of how much I like how the trees look. The overkill foliage and modern conveniences like a contiguous overworld only help reinforce what a treat the Link’s Awakening remake is to play on Switch.
The “it’s all a dream” theme of Link’s Awakening is pretty boilerplate at first glance, but the execution is so superb that I ended up forgiving it. The game delivers the dream with a tasteful degree of self-awareness: it nearly breaks the fourth wall to announce some hints, yet lets other unnerving components hang without acknowledging their absurdity whatsoever. This balance is struck tactfully to show the player that something is off here, for the entire ride. As a given from the start, the impending doom of your quest to end the dream begs you to confront the consequences of your actions—it’s not a cop-out surprise to save the narrative. The dream is a vehicle for storytelling, not the story itself, and it left me with pangs of remorse as I approached the inevitable end.
Link’s Awakening pairs those painful undercurrents with the brilliance of its colorful world, which expresses whimsy and delight around every corner. Koholint Island is chalk-full of pure and endearing friends, baddies who don’t take themselves too seriously, and a diverse array of regions and dungeons efficiently compressed into a tiny area. The Switch remaster embraces the original’s tight design and carries the intentional movement and curated precision of the Island into the current generation. It’s a shame that frames chug in so many circumstances both docked and handheld (especially given Nintendo’s track record for silky-smooth first party games), because the children’s-toy-plastic sheen applied to the 3D graphics is an absolute triumph which could be improved only with consistently buttery performance.
I love the graphics vision in the remaster, but playing Links’s Awakening also made me realize I should be more open to forgoing modern graphics to spend more time on older games. The core of Link’s Awakening is a great experience regardless of how much I like how the trees look. The overkill foliage and modern conveniences like a contiguous overworld only help reinforce what a treat the Link’s Awakening remake is to play on Switch.
2017
This review contains spoilers
What a brilliant experience, and the rare one which can only be achieved through a video game. NieR: Automata pushes the medium forward while leaving your mind reeling from the creativity at your fingertips all the way through. I can't wait for play #2.
I have a grand total of two complaints with this game, which I need to get off my chest now so I can stop thinking about them. First, I can barely tolerate the worst of the anime shit going on here. The female character models & outfits are utterly heinous, and a few of the voice lines (or grunts) are distractingly cringey. Second, it's a damn shame that large swaths of the open world have bland visuals. Endless identical concrete buildings are particularly jarring given how impressive visuals in other sections of the game can be. I can't help but think of BotW, which was released the same year on platforms with lesser performance yet which adopted a visual style which has already aged dramatically better than Automata.
That's it. Those are the two problems I identified in my first run to the credits. Automata is otherwise a masterpiece of video game design. Where to begin? The story is among the most compelling I've experienced through a video game. I have endless questions after my first playthrough, but I explicitly got (and have inferred more) answers and narrative elements than I could've possibly hoped for. Moreover, I'm just dying to see what else I can glean about the story, and I really don't see how it could be left at "machines are sentient." I figured that out a while ago, man! Where are the deeper, darker secrets?? Ugh I have to find out, and I rarely feel that compulsion with games. Also it had me, like, very consciously thinking about philosophy, metaphysics, and ethics? And re-evaluating personal values?? Also the sentient robots immediately made a religious death cult to end their suffering??? Also you can say "Godzilla turtle submarine" and anyone who has played this will know what you're talking about???? What in the hell?????
The music is fucking god-tier. That's all I have to say about that.
And the gameplay, man. It is so cool. Combat is super fun, I've been wanting some good hack and slash action for a while now, and there's lots of room for customization... if you click buttons in the menu, which I didn't for an embarrassingly long time bc I was invested in the story. Game is a lot easier when you use your chip memory slots lol. I wouldn't have been such a resource hoarder if I'd known I was gonna roll credits at <9 hours though. But the absolutely slapping part is how the game just seamlessly melds perspective. There are barely traditional "levels" in NieR; the game instead warps your perspective between 2D, 3D, and combinations of the two to make easily a half-dozen+ different ways to play with almost no interruption. And your movesets very naturally but non-trivially change between them! And it happens all at once! Sometimes cutscenes happen without a cut, just spinning the camera around to indicate some narrative shit is happening now, and then it moves again and you're back in the action! What!? Oh so cool.
This horribly unedited brain-dump of a "review" is so unorganized bc this game overloaded my brain. I am overwhelmed by so much of it, but in the best way possible. Now that I've ranted my thoughts I can press "Continue" on my Xbox and get rolling again. A mind-meltingly appealing, nearly-perfect video game... so far. I will give a final star rating when I'm done done with it, as an average-ish of my logs by ending.
I have a grand total of two complaints with this game, which I need to get off my chest now so I can stop thinking about them. First, I can barely tolerate the worst of the anime shit going on here. The female character models & outfits are utterly heinous, and a few of the voice lines (or grunts) are distractingly cringey. Second, it's a damn shame that large swaths of the open world have bland visuals. Endless identical concrete buildings are particularly jarring given how impressive visuals in other sections of the game can be. I can't help but think of BotW, which was released the same year on platforms with lesser performance yet which adopted a visual style which has already aged dramatically better than Automata.
That's it. Those are the two problems I identified in my first run to the credits. Automata is otherwise a masterpiece of video game design. Where to begin? The story is among the most compelling I've experienced through a video game. I have endless questions after my first playthrough, but I explicitly got (and have inferred more) answers and narrative elements than I could've possibly hoped for. Moreover, I'm just dying to see what else I can glean about the story, and I really don't see how it could be left at "machines are sentient." I figured that out a while ago, man! Where are the deeper, darker secrets?? Ugh I have to find out, and I rarely feel that compulsion with games. Also it had me, like, very consciously thinking about philosophy, metaphysics, and ethics? And re-evaluating personal values?? Also the sentient robots immediately made a religious death cult to end their suffering??? Also you can say "Godzilla turtle submarine" and anyone who has played this will know what you're talking about???? What in the hell?????
The music is fucking god-tier. That's all I have to say about that.
And the gameplay, man. It is so cool. Combat is super fun, I've been wanting some good hack and slash action for a while now, and there's lots of room for customization... if you click buttons in the menu, which I didn't for an embarrassingly long time bc I was invested in the story. Game is a lot easier when you use your chip memory slots lol. I wouldn't have been such a resource hoarder if I'd known I was gonna roll credits at <9 hours though. But the absolutely slapping part is how the game just seamlessly melds perspective. There are barely traditional "levels" in NieR; the game instead warps your perspective between 2D, 3D, and combinations of the two to make easily a half-dozen+ different ways to play with almost no interruption. And your movesets very naturally but non-trivially change between them! And it happens all at once! Sometimes cutscenes happen without a cut, just spinning the camera around to indicate some narrative shit is happening now, and then it moves again and you're back in the action! What!? Oh so cool.
This horribly unedited brain-dump of a "review" is so unorganized bc this game overloaded my brain. I am overwhelmed by so much of it, but in the best way possible. Now that I've ranted my thoughts I can press "Continue" on my Xbox and get rolling again. A mind-meltingly appealing, nearly-perfect video game... so far. I will give a final star rating when I'm done done with it, as an average-ish of my logs by ending.
2017
This review contains spoilers
Huh. Wasn't nearly as sold on that run. Redoing stuff you already did for 75% of the second play just isn't super fun. I think the hacking minigame is supposed to tide you over but it, and I cannot emphasize this enough, suuuuucks lol. All of the highs of the first run are still there, but they feel really diluted having to redo stuff without any suspense. Losing the second heavy weapon is also just kinda punishment. Thankfully I could basically speed run the stuff I had seen before (hence this run being half the length), but still.... I imagine I'll appreciate this run in the grand scheme of things later on, and I feel like I see what they were trying to do for players in the moment too, but it was still a serious chore to push through.
Unlike the first run, I can really only think of two merits for the second one. First, the few new elements on the 2B side are decent. I liked seeing his perspective, and there were some fun gameplay times when he was alone. The highlights were his standalone contributions against Adam and Eve in the hacking platform, which leads to the second pro of the B run: once again, the story. You get some good tidbits in a cool way. Realizing who the narrator was (and watching him come to terms with what he was seeing) was great, and the Adam sequence in the copied city in particular was excellent. Still, I think that was the only moment I had the same sense of mind-melting awe that the A run inspired so regularly--even the bombshell of the run re: YorHa felt relatively uninspired compared to the insanity the early hours of the game held. You basically had to infer something along those lines by that point, and it kinda felt like the entire reason for the B run existing was to tell you that point nonetheless. Such a shame, I feel like there's a lot of wasted potential in the second run, but I still expect I'll come to appreciate it as I slowly unlock the alphabet in Automata.
Unlike the first run, I can really only think of two merits for the second one. First, the few new elements on the 2B side are decent. I liked seeing his perspective, and there were some fun gameplay times when he was alone. The highlights were his standalone contributions against Adam and Eve in the hacking platform, which leads to the second pro of the B run: once again, the story. You get some good tidbits in a cool way. Realizing who the narrator was (and watching him come to terms with what he was seeing) was great, and the Adam sequence in the copied city in particular was excellent. Still, I think that was the only moment I had the same sense of mind-melting awe that the A run inspired so regularly--even the bombshell of the run re: YorHa felt relatively uninspired compared to the insanity the early hours of the game held. You basically had to infer something along those lines by that point, and it kinda felt like the entire reason for the B run existing was to tell you that point nonetheless. Such a shame, I feel like there's a lot of wasted potential in the second run, but I still expect I'll come to appreciate it as I slowly unlock the alphabet in Automata.
2017
whoa
2017
This review contains spoilers
A Raw Expression of Unadulterated, Unbridled Creativity
You can't accuse Nier: Automata of not trying. Despite many flaws, this game lived up to the lofty expectations it set for itself (and blew those expectations out of the water) unbelievably often.
Things I hate about N:A:
1) The combat isn't nearly interesting enough to justify the ludicrous balancing spike in Route C. Enemies take just eons to kill. I switched to easy to keep the gameplay time reasonable & not die endlessly. The fighting is fun when fights are more high stakes, high reward. Trying to break my right trigger for 15 minutes isn't that.
2) Route B, while a cool concept, is a chore to play and should be half the length it is.
2.1) This also makes me feel the game's pacing is imperfect. Route A is just immaculate, but in retrospect I wish it was a bit longer... so much of B could be folded into A to really flesh out the relationships, especially between 2B and 9S.
2.2) There's still more time-sucking fetch-questing than I'd like (>0) in N:A, but it's an acceptable level given when this was developed and the vast majority of quality quests.
3) Way too much anime shit. Character models are downright perverted, good voice actors are coopted by atrocious yelling/grunting, the emotion and gravity of some situations are just way over-dramatized from a narrative standpoint on occasion.
Things I love about N:A:
1) Unbridled game-design creativity, implemented without restraint. NieR: Automata stresses the bounds of what 0s and 1s can achieve. So many moments stick out. The godzilla turtle fight. Seeing your own menu screen bumbling again in Route B. The cinematic start of Route C. Everything in The Tower. Ending E. N:A presents as a normal video game, yet it constantly reminds you how much it very much is not.
2) The most god-tier music ever put in a video game. Just a heavenly arrangement of sounds, dynamically implemented into every scene and elevating every single experience in the game.
3) Video game stories usually suck. I'll admit that many games I've downright loved had mid stories with mid implementation, or a good story which hides behind traditional storytelling tools--in essence, a (very enjoyable) interactive book. That's bc it's hard to make a good story in a video game which also takes advantage of the unique limits and opportunities of a video game. To that, N:A says fuck you and launches headlong into a full-blown, unapologetic sci-fi epic. It weaves that epic into the aforementioned creative game design to create an experience only accessible through video game. This tale is essential. It is heavy and introspective, yet often genuinely funny to break the tension when needed. A 20-hour game should not have me questioning my own mortality like this, and it certainly shouldn't have me this attached to characters I've only known for less than a day, yet it does all the same. Any flack N:A catches for trying to be too deep is instantly neutered by bits of self-awareness upon closer inspection. Moreover, you just want to be swept away by it. This story, told how N:A tells it, is a marvel of the medium.
Like with Sekiro, I feel bound by my own rating system here. NieR: Automata is flawed to the core in some respects. I dislike essential elements of this game. Yet despite those flaws, I was absolutely blown away by this game. It left my jaw on the floor time and time and time and time again. A flawed masterpiece which earned my respect, appreciation, and gratitude for existing.
You can't accuse Nier: Automata of not trying. Despite many flaws, this game lived up to the lofty expectations it set for itself (and blew those expectations out of the water) unbelievably often.
Things I hate about N:A:
1) The combat isn't nearly interesting enough to justify the ludicrous balancing spike in Route C. Enemies take just eons to kill. I switched to easy to keep the gameplay time reasonable & not die endlessly. The fighting is fun when fights are more high stakes, high reward. Trying to break my right trigger for 15 minutes isn't that.
2) Route B, while a cool concept, is a chore to play and should be half the length it is.
2.1) This also makes me feel the game's pacing is imperfect. Route A is just immaculate, but in retrospect I wish it was a bit longer... so much of B could be folded into A to really flesh out the relationships, especially between 2B and 9S.
2.2) There's still more time-sucking fetch-questing than I'd like (>0) in N:A, but it's an acceptable level given when this was developed and the vast majority of quality quests.
3) Way too much anime shit. Character models are downright perverted, good voice actors are coopted by atrocious yelling/grunting, the emotion and gravity of some situations are just way over-dramatized from a narrative standpoint on occasion.
Things I love about N:A:
1) Unbridled game-design creativity, implemented without restraint. NieR: Automata stresses the bounds of what 0s and 1s can achieve. So many moments stick out. The godzilla turtle fight. Seeing your own menu screen bumbling again in Route B. The cinematic start of Route C. Everything in The Tower. Ending E. N:A presents as a normal video game, yet it constantly reminds you how much it very much is not.
2) The most god-tier music ever put in a video game. Just a heavenly arrangement of sounds, dynamically implemented into every scene and elevating every single experience in the game.
3) Video game stories usually suck. I'll admit that many games I've downright loved had mid stories with mid implementation, or a good story which hides behind traditional storytelling tools--in essence, a (very enjoyable) interactive book. That's bc it's hard to make a good story in a video game which also takes advantage of the unique limits and opportunities of a video game. To that, N:A says fuck you and launches headlong into a full-blown, unapologetic sci-fi epic. It weaves that epic into the aforementioned creative game design to create an experience only accessible through video game. This tale is essential. It is heavy and introspective, yet often genuinely funny to break the tension when needed. A 20-hour game should not have me questioning my own mortality like this, and it certainly shouldn't have me this attached to characters I've only known for less than a day, yet it does all the same. Any flack N:A catches for trying to be too deep is instantly neutered by bits of self-awareness upon closer inspection. Moreover, you just want to be swept away by it. This story, told how N:A tells it, is a marvel of the medium.
Like with Sekiro, I feel bound by my own rating system here. NieR: Automata is flawed to the core in some respects. I dislike essential elements of this game. Yet despite those flaws, I was absolutely blown away by this game. It left my jaw on the floor time and time and time and time again. A flawed masterpiece which earned my respect, appreciation, and gratitude for existing.
Uninspired, banal design. Can’t believe I’m saying this but this was the final straw to convince me that Horizon should be a live service game, with yearly content additions to a growing, somewhat contiguous world. At least that way there would be some incentive for Playground to make something (anything) new. The formula is way past stale.
Also I never want to be called “superstar” ever again, which automatically disqualifies this DLC.
Also I never want to be called “superstar” ever again, which automatically disqualifies this DLC.
2021
Is it good? Not really, no. Is it fun? Most often, yes.
Decent campaign! Not a knockout package, but a solid offering with plenty of enjoyable content to work through. The moon is a meh setting, but the Hive creations within it are great. Story is… fine, and I didn’t love the structure of the grind to the final mission. As usual, gunplay, visuals, and especially audio are immaculate. A few standout moments, particularly in the last mission. Fun playthrough and a worthy addition to this universe.
Some great high points are held back by widespread mediocrity. I had more fun playing through this than Shadowkeep. I think the lore-ish parts of this story are quite good, and the villain has some excellent moments accompanying what should be a good angle for a story. Level design is sublime, gameplay is fantastic per the usual and the stasis subclass is a fun twist. Still, it’s a travesty that the story is primarily told through the terribly unappealing Variks, and Europa feels more than a bit barren compared to other locations. It gets most of the endgame elements right, but the campaign itself comes off as a bit lackluster for the most part.
An all-around good Destiny expansion wowza.
2023
Holy hell this story is bad and Nimbus can shove it. But actually playing Lightfall—the level design, new subclass, and excellent boss fights in particular are quite good. Fun to play, though I’m worried for the story in the Final Shape.