“Are you ready to know what happened?”
The Rise of Iron is Bungie’s jump into year 3 of the games life and everyone, especially Bungie knows that if players are going to make the jump to Destiny 2, this was their time to shine. Starting off year 3 with another sizable DLC, the Rise of Iron has you following Lord Saladin, the last of the Iron Lords on a mission to save a critical section of Old Russia and stop the spread of the dangerous SIVA virus. As you journey deeper into the campaign, you begin to learn more and more about whom the Iron Lords were and why Lord Saladin is the last one standing. The campaign itself is an interesting trip where like the previous DLCs, Rise of Iron seems to be their best one story wise and this continues with a handful of post-campaign quests that will lead you around the newest public space, the Plaguelands.
Bungie didn’t stop there; they also included a new arena based area known as the Archon’s Forge. Much like the Prison of Elders or the Court of Oryx, Archon’s Forge has you pitted against the odds for riches and glory. We also were given a brand new strike, new crucible maps, private PvP fights and a new raid. With all this, the newest PvE area known as the Plaguelands boasts a new mission type, Quarantine which has you defending a specific area in the Plaguelands from enemy advancements.
Just like every DLC, there is new weapons, armors and artifacts for you to collect along with the newest advancement in the Iron Lord artifacts. There are 8 to collect and each one gives you better boosts than what you would get with traditional artifacts.
The Rise of Iron seems to be Bungie’s greatest leap since the inception of their new creative lead and as of now it seems they have finally hit their mark. Although I am not ready to say its fine to jump back in but it is a good step in regaining the trust of many fans that felt burned by the previous expansion. I give Rise of Iron 8.5 out of 10.
