Having been both bitten and burned byDestiny 2in the past, I’m not one to judge a seasonal content drop based on my first impressions with it. That said, I have to admit that the new Nether activity feels awesome, and most of the community seems to agree.
There have been hints and murmurs aboutthe potential quality ofDestiny 2: Malice, granted. I very nearlyfell off theDestinyridemyself a little while back: a decision that was only supported by the fact thatDestiny 2: Revenantwasn’t all that good. Thankfully,Maliceis kicking things off with a bang, and Nether is currently the rather excellent capstone to the whole thing. In the broadest sense possible, The Nether is a kind of a mash-up between the Menagerie and The Coil, with a tiny bit of Onslaught thrown in for good measure. Exciting? Oh, you bet.
Bungie did a good job with Destiny 2: Heresy’s Metroidvania Nether activity
While Bungie might’ve dabbled in Roguelite gameplay mechanics with prior seasonal releases, The Nether takes this concept about as far asDestiny 2ever did. First things first, the fact that we get to explore the Dreadnaught once again is exciting in its own right, but The Nether combines the regular Patrol gameplay loop with features previously explored in Deep Dive and The Coil activities. The end result is an admittedly punishing, but satisfying and rewarding showcase of just how goodDestiny 2activities actually can be.
Playing my first few runs of The Nether, I was surprised with how much I enjoyed the darned thing, despite the fact thatit’s quite obtuse in some key ways. Even more surprising, however, was the fact that my experience wasn’t a fluke: theDestiny 2Reddit community seems to adore Nether so far, citing its excellent reward structure and an exciting gameplay loop. That’s high praise, alright.
The big question, though, is whether The Nether will remain a high-point ofDestiny 2: Heresyas we proceed deeper into the season. Regardless of how good it might be, a single activity is rarely enough to carry a whole seasonal release on its back, and Bungie’sFinal Shapeofferings haven’t been all that good so far if we’re being honest.
Historically, theDestinycommunity has also been rather susceptible to enjoying honey-moon phases as Bungie rolls out new content. I’m not saying we’ll all suddenly being to feel like The Nether sucks, mind, but I do thinkHeresywill need to show that it’s got what it takes in other areas, too. As for how everything else, other than The Nether might pan out, It’s decent stuff so far but it’s still way too early to tell. A good showing for now, though, so kudos to Bungie this time around.
