Reviews & Impressions: Destiny 2: Forsaken, Shadow of the Tomb Raider & Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition

Note: As a little experiment, in order to try to cover more things to write about (unless it’s something I do a deep dive with like my recent Spider Man review), I will sometimes write smaller reviews or general impressions of things that I’ve played recently and put them all together. These are games I’ve either finished, played a significant amount of or am early enough to give some initial thoughts. Let me know what you think.

“Destiny 2: Forsaken” Review (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

Is Bungie's ambitious shooter back in the upswing?

In this console generation, I don’t think I’ve seen a new franchise go through so many peaks and valleys like Bungie’s Destiny. Initially an incredibly promising new IP from the revered creators of Halo, Destiny promised a new breed of game only possible in the new generation of console hardware (never mind the fact it would also appear on the last generation consoles, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360). Combining a classic shooter interface with an ever connected world akin to an MMO, Destiny sure had sky high ambitions. Unfortunately, those ambitions were not met in its initial 2014 release.

 

With talks of a troubled development and a rushed release, Destiny just wasn’t the game it was initially promised, and made it to the top of many gamer’s most disappointing releases of all time. But that didn’t stop Bungie. Through continuous patches and one meaty expansion later with 2015’s Destiny: The Taken King, Bungie managed to turn its ambitious game around, becoming an addicting game with a fervent, hardcore following. 

It’s interesting to note this narrative because it is crazy how in 2018, Bungie ended up almost in the same predicament with the sequel, Destiny 2. Originally pitched as the product born from the feedback learned from the original game plus three years of updates, as well as a sequel which would make for an easy entry to newcomers, Destiny 2 had all the markings of being the game the original should have been. Initially it felt like that. With a more cohesive initial structure in its main campaign and great quality of life improvements, things were looking up for Bungie’s shooter. 

The return of the Year of the Bow

Unfortunately, in an effort to try to cater more to the mainstream to bring them onboard, Bungie forgot about the things that got millions of players hooked for the long term with the original game. Destiny 2 was a great game to play through its campaign once and move on. But for people looking for long term engagement, Destiny 2 was a massive disappointment, and its two mini expansions Curse of Osiris and Warmind didn’t do enough to help the sequel become the long term hobby they loved back with the original game.

When you look like a villain from Ant Man & The Wasp.

In that sense, the first big meaty expansion for Destiny 2, Forsaken, is cut from the same cloth as 2015’s Taken King. Just like it happened with the original game, this new expansion is Bungie’s mea culpa: the game it should have been. The phrase “Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me” can come to mind if you’ve been a long-time fan of the franchise, but regardless of how it came to be, at this moment, there is no denying that Destiny 2: Forsaken is truly Bungie’s strongest release in quite some time, and possibly the current high point of the entire Destiny franchise to date.

Destiny 2: Forsaken truly is the moment that all fan feedback has been taken to heart. Bungie listened to a lot of its fans about features they wanted to see included in the game (think a Collection menu or even a lorebook). The weapon slot system that was changed unnecessarily for the sequel was given a better overhaul with this expansion, allowing for true weapon builds for different gameplay styles. The story campaign finally reached a sweet tonal spot of great moments of humor balanced by complicated moments of darkness, a fix from the vanilla release’s relentless focus on comic relief. Multiplayer is finally morphing itself back into being a fun power fantasy again, and Bungie even shows they still can innovate in the realm of multiplayer with the intro of the fun new PvPvE mode “Gambit”. And finally, FINALLY, Bungie has figured out how to more properly keep players engaged in the long term with a more elaborate endgame (represented by the constantly evolving Dreaming City, home to all endgame content and the raid).

The Dreaming City, home of the raid and the fix to Destiny 2's endgame woes

Because this is Destiny, of course the expansion still has problems. Bungie tends to always swing too hard from one pendulum to the next when updating the game, which means that as of this moment, Destiny 2: Forsaken is a punishing game for people that want to play casually like the vanilla release. This means that the investment game now favors people that want to play the game more as a hobby than anything, so things like player progression and the economy will be a slow burn for casuals. Also another big problem seems to be a couple bugs creeping as the game hums along, which can stall progression from time to time. More importantly, as of this moment the game’s servers have become increasingly unstable, which is very frustrating for a game I had no problem connecting to over the last 4 years. These problems can be fixed at some point, but so far they hold the game back.

 

Bungie has promised this is the time where all player feedback is here to stay, which should inform the philosophy of the game’s design going forward. Despite some nagging flaws, Bungie once again has done a great job turning its initial release to make this a game worth investing again, provided this is finally their true inflection point for how they’ll approach this thing. 

Now Bungie, stabilize your servers for God’s sake!

85%

★★★★
  4/5 

Great

“Shadow of the Tomb Raider” Review (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

Is Lara Croft's latest adventure a treasure or a dank tomb?

Ask me what is one of my favorite game genres, and I’ll immediately say action-adventure. There is just something about a game that mixes third person action with either a linear path or exploration that just speaks to me. It’s one of the reason’s Sony’s Uncharted series is a personal favorite of mine. It is just nice to have a well crafted contained experience, especially in a generation overloaded with open world games. For a while, the Uncharted games were my go-to series to scratch my action-adventure itch. But with the series ending in 2016 with Uncharted 4: A Thieves End, the itch needed to be scratched by something else, and that’s where Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics’ reboot trilogy of the classic Tomb Raider franchise fits the bill.

Lara Croft is back and selfishly brings the Mayan Apocalypse with her!

 

With the first game initially released at the tail end of last generation (and then re-released a couple of months later on the then next-generation consoles), this Tomb Raider reboot is a fun one to compare and contrast with the Uncharted series, especially how one has influenced the other. Let’s not forget, Tomb Raider is around 20 years old at this point, and Uncharted was inspired by it and elevated the genre with its storytelling chops and production values. The Tomb Raider reboot tried to be like its inspiration a little too much, and while it got some things right like the spectacle, it just wasn’t up to snuff in other places like story and polish, becoming less memorable as a result. It took until the 2015 sequel Rise of the Tomb Raider for this reboot to start carving its own path, putting more emphasis on tomb exploration and role playing mechanics to become a deeper game as a result. Even though the series improved on other aspects, it was in the gameplay department where the series could finally stand apart from Uncharted. For those who prefer things other than stories and spectacle, the Tomb Raider games became the option for more gameplay and system driven adventure games. 

The Predator game we never got.

With this year’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Square Enix and now developer Eidos Montreal (with original developer Crystal Dynamics providing ancillary support as they focus on their Untitled Avengers Project for Marvel) bring what they're calling the “Lara Craft Origin Story” to a close. While the narrative so far has been the weakest link in all the games, I was interested in how they were going to close this narrative loop and if this was going to fix the series’ narrative woes. Sadly, it wasn’t to be. While the game still provides a compelling character in Lara Croft with a great performance by Camilla Luddington, the rest of the story is still just as grimy, gritty and forgettable as the previous games. None of the games in this trilogy embraced the fun of being an adventurer, instead miring the story with revenge plots and conspiracy theories that just weren’t that interesting. The series still doesn’t know how to craft compelling side characters other than Lara’s companion Jonah. Heck, I can’t even remember other character’s names, which should say everything. 

Lara's complicated relationship with Jonah continues to be the narrative's best element.

Sure, the game’s narrative goes crazy with its “mayan apocalypse” backdrop and the spectacle it brings, but ultimately, it’s just another forgettable romp, and one that never shows the evolution of Lara Croft’s character in the way they were promoting. Having watched the ending and its post credit scenes, I’m still dumbfounded how all of this is supposed to make Lara the adventurer of the series in the 90’s.

While the game still fails in its narrative, its gameplay elements more than pick up the slack from here. Taking a page straight out of previous game, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the kind of sequel you expect this late into a console generation. Gameplay and systems wise, this is straight up the same game as the previous one, with the only difference being the bigger emphasis on stealth and more tombs to explore. The gameplay has always been the highlight of the series, so for everyone wanting more of the Tomb Raider gameplay loop, Shadow of the Tomb Raider provides the goods.

At the same time, it’s very easy to play this game and notice some things are a little off. While the game has never been a straight third-person shooter, it feels like the combat mechanics have taken a bit of a step back. While the bow still feels good to use during exploration and stealth sequences, once guns are up, there is a weird sense of input lag to the gunplay mechanics that makes combat feel loose and unsatisfying. Sure, this could be seen as the game encouraging a stealthier approach, and developer Eidos Montreal sure did a good job of designing a lot of the combat scenarios to be tackled that way. However, there are many scenarios that can only be tackled through gunplay, and the combat problems rear their ugly head here.

The game works better through stealth than through regular combat.

Another place where this game also falls short is in its level of polish. At first glance, this is a pretty game with some great environmental detail and art design, bringing the countries of Mexico and Peru to life in a convincing way. However, the closer you look, the more you see a game with some muddy textures, some really bad hair effects and some spotty character & facial animations. The game also seems to be replete with scripting issues, which can screw over the player by exploring a path they were not meant to be in. It just doesn’t scream “high quality” like its predecessors. 

Though there is some fun to be had, there is just something about Shadow of the Tomb Raider that doesn’t quite click the same way the previous two games did. While still a good game with some great moment-to-moment gameplay, it’s also a game I’ve been forgetting about since I finished it a week ago. It can be solid entertainment for a week, but don’t expect a lasting impression like the previous two.

60%

★★★
  3/5 

 Okay 

"Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition" Impressions

Hollow Souls.

I sure couldn’t stop hearing about Hollow Knight when it came out on Nintendo Switch halfway through this summer. But from what I was hearing and reading about it, it sure seemed like a game right up my alley. Just like “Action-Adventure” is one of my favorite genres, I also have an intense soft spot for the so called “Metroidvania” games. The gameplay loop of a sidescroller with an explorable map with sections segmented off until you acquire a certain tool/ability is one of my favorites, and 2018 has certainly provided the goods with Metroid-vanias like Guacamele 2 and weird hybrid games like Dead Cells. Not owning a Nintendo Switch prevented me to get in on the Hollow Knight hype as it was happening, and I wondered if I would have to wait until getting a Nintendo Switch to be able to experience what the fuzz was about.

Thankfully, developer Cherry Games was smart in proliferating the game quickly, so with the release of Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, I could finally see what the fuzz was about.

I’m only three hours in so far with Hollow Knight, and so far I’m finding a Metroidvania that is both refreshing and off-putting. I think I have gotten so used to Metroidvanias always giving me an idea of where to go in a map and letting me figure out how to get there, I was taken aback by the hands off approach to Hollow Knight. This is a game that immediately drops you into its world with no direction whatsoever, and I found that refreshing in the same way a game like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild trusted its players to explore at their own will. It felt daunting, scary and exciting at the same time. 

Then I died. And noticed my currency got lost and my health regenation meter got lower as a result. It then  hit me: THIS IS METROIDVANIA DARK SOULS!

Some of the bosses are real @#$%&

This realization made me both excited and apprehensive as a result. As excited as I was for getting to play another one of these games, I sure wasn’t in the right mindset for a punishing game in the vein of Dark Souls at this moment in time. Those kinds of risk/reward punishing games need a specific mindset to be tackled with, and I realized I just wasn’t ready for that kind of punishment right now and have put the game off until some gaming dry spell in the months ahead. 

 

There is so much good about the game I saw in those three hours, from its tight mechanics, interesting world design and Gothic ugly/beautiful art style. With the right mood and mindset, I can’t wait to experience more about this game in the months to come. But right now, don’t need that kind of stress in my games. 

Game Scoring rubric:

★ : 1 point  ☆ : 0.5 points

★★★★★: Essential. Excellent games. Close to flawless. Transcends any minor flaws it may have.
   ★★★★: Great/Highly recommended. Great games. Some flaws worth mentioning, but nothing to worry about.
      ★★★: Okay/Recommended. Good games. Contains things worth playing & experiencing, but flaws can hinder the experience.
         ★★: Caution/Questionable. Mediocre games. The flaws start to significantly hinder anything good the game has.
             ★: Avoid. Bad games with terrible design decisions and flaws. No fun to be had. Don't waste your time.