Destiny Expansion I: The Dark Below
Overview -
'Destiny's' first DLC is 'The Dark Below', a Hive-focused add-on that takes place mostly on the Moon. 'Destiny' has not had any significant content added since its release in early September (I do not consider the Iron Banner or Queen’s Wrath event to be significant in any way), and the game itself, despite selling huge amounts of copies, had a lukewarm reception. Bungie has been making changes to game mechanics, many of them in response to the vocal player community. 'The Dark Below' promised even more changes in addition to its new content.
Video Review
There haven’t been any graphical overhauls for the first DLC. There is a new Wizard model and some other little bits and bobs, like a short and shallow FMV video to introduce the new content. The new weapons, however, look and sound very well, and present something of an alien quality. The new armor is hit or miss in terms of looks.
Audio Review
Erin is the only new voiced character of note, as all of the Hive creatures just kind of scream and growl. Her voice acting is average, but mercifully better than some characters in the original, like the Exo Stranger and Dinklebot. The missions, strike, and raid have new music and sound effects, and they impart a creepy, dark, carnival-like effect.
Final Thoughts
$20 is quite a bit for DLC. That’s what 'The Dark Below' is. It is not an expansion. Not only does it seem to punish players, especially the ones who have played the most, but it adds little to the weary 'Destiny' formula. Other little design decisions crop up constantly. The weekly and nightfall strikes were unavailable for the first week to people who hadn’t purchased the DLC. The first Crota mission couldn’t be repeated (although update 1.1.0.2 has since fixed this). The Xbox version is missing one strike until 2015, a result of a paid exclusivity deal. No new achievements have been added. So on and so forth. Even after three months of back-and-forth with the community, Bungie is still 'Destiny’s' worst enemy.