Last week I was flown out and put up at a hotel by Activision so that I could spend three days playing Destiny 2. During my almost 30 hours with the game I got to experience a great deal of Earth’s new patrol area the European Dead Zone, or “EDZ” for short.
Adventure: Unsafe at any Speed
Destiny 2 has done a great many things to ensure that players always have something to do when they’re roaming about a planet. These events range from turning Public Events into their Heroic counterparts, to exploring the hidden Lost Sectors found around the map.
In between these gameplay components are “Adventures”: small story-esque missions that serve as a bridge between patrols and campaign missions. While they often culminate in you taking out a scary enemy with a large health bar, it is the journey to that point that has been so meticulously crafted. These adventures serve to stave off boredom, a common criticism of the first Destiny game, and to provide interesting narrative-based encounters.
During my time in the EDZ I was able to play quite a few Adventures, with the first few I completed unlocking additional Adventures around the map. One Adventure that I enjoyed particularly — seen in the video Preview below — was a vehicle-based story surrounding a notorious Pike Gang that had been up to no good in the local area.
We walked up to the Adventure waypoint and were met with a transmission from some of the Destiny 2’s characters. While they warned us of the Pike Gang, they first tasked us with destroying some of the Red Legion through use of their vehicles. Why? Because why not. While I actually had a hard time with this checkpoint because I could not find an Interceptor for the life of me; luckily my Fireteam was able to wreak enough havoc. But before we moved on to the Pike Gang, we had to roadkill a few Cabal first.
After splattering anything and everything in sight, we were set out in search of the alien bikers. Once we found their hideout, we went all Punisher from Daredevil season 2 on them. By which I mean we shot them. We shot them a lot.
Eventually we drew out the Gang’s leader, a Pike Captain, who I rather quickly dispatched with my Arcstrider Super ability. The Fallen, who were very pissed off at this point, decided to send a Walker Tank. And while we were all powerful enough at this point to destroy the Walker quickly (seriously, we kinda executed it), I realized that in the span of a few minutes I had ingested a short, but interesting and attention grabbing story. I hadn’t advanced the Destiny 2’s main plot, but I felt like we had accomplished something nonetheless.
Adventures really fill a niche that I wasn’t made aware of before. Patrols felt like drudgery, and story missions were few and far between. In Destiny 2, however, there’s always something to do, some fight to be had, and that feels really good. Not just as a Guardian, but as a player who devotes a ton of time to the game. I finally feel as if I can roam about the world and still have accomplishments that leave me with a greater sense of satisfaction.
I’m excited to get my hands on more adventures when the game releases on September 6th for PS4 and Xbox One. Until then, be sure to check out our other Destiny 2 preview content including a guide on how to complete several of the EDZ’s Heroic Public Events, as well as an inside look into Lost Sectors, another new addition coming in Destiny 2.