Destiny: House of Wolves Reviews
Like much of House of Wolves, it feels like part of a more harmonious relationship between Destiny and its players. So much of what has defined Destiny has come through that playful friction between the two - the loot cave, the deliberate disconnects to down Crota and all that glorious cheese - but now it feels like they're pulling together. This isn't a radical overhaul of Destiny, but it's a serious step in the right direction, and it's enough to suggest that the heroic comeback and more widespread adulation might not be too far off after all.
House of Wolves is the first time since Destiny launched eight and a half months ago that I feel a glimmer of hope about the game's future.
An improvement on The Dark Below, and for those who were still playing it gives them a little more reason to carry on.
The Destiny diehards out there might love it, but House of Wolves won't convert many skeptics.
Bungie took a rooster, slicked its hair back, and dressed it up as a human. House of Wolves is the Chicken Boo of video game DLC.
House Of Wolves manages to be a well-rounded expansion with a lot to offer and content to experience. Even if that comes at the trade of having max level so easily accessible and the same recycled story environments.
Bungie has been on trial by fans of Destiny since the release of The Dark Below, but House of Wolves has shown great strides in the evolution and support of a game that has personally held my attention for hundreds of hours, even if I have had my share of criticisms about the way certain things have been handled. It's not quite perfect, but if the improvements made in House of Wolves are any indication of the future, then I'm eager to see what kind of stuff Bungie comes up with to support and evolve Destiny next.
Make no doubt about it, at the end of the day House of Wolves DLC is an improvement over The Dark Below DLC, but it could have been so much more.
As expected, House of Wolves sticks with the pack when it comes to story missions, strikes, and new multiplayer maps, but it still represents a point in Destiny's life where Bungie has tried to push things forward, attempting to leave behind the mistakes of the past in the process. Both Prison of Elders and Trials of Osiris are welcome additions to the formula, and are the real reasons to invest in the DLC – even if the asking price remains a little too steep and the title's core problems persist.
If you haven't already been drawn in by Destiny, this expansion won't offer you anything that will change your mind but it helps round out and spice up content for those who are already invested.
If you're still playing Destiny on a regular basis, I don't think you'll be disappointed if you pick up House of Wolves. Between the new arena mode and the additional competitive multiplayer content there's a lot to do here and it should keep you busy for some time.
However, between Trials of Osiris and Prison of Elders, House of Wolves adds new attractions that have Guardians doing things they have never done before in places they have never gone before. Could Bungie have been a little more bold? Sure, and maybe we'll see that in its rumored big expansion late this year.
If you've already committed yourself to all things Destiny, for better or for worse, then the "House of Wolves" expansion is much more worth its cost when compared to its predecessor. But if you haven't yet made that choice, this expansion probably won't be enough to change your mind.
The House of Wolves is easily the best of the two expansions currently available, only predicated by the fact you'll need friends to play it with to explore the full birth of its features. The free update content makes the base game much more approachable to new players or for old ones to build secondary characters, all while smoothing out a great many of the original's limitations. The narrative is lackluster at best and haphazard at worst, but if you're still playing Destiny at this point that's probably something you've grown to tolerate. All and all this a great expansion to purchase if you haven't already, and one to be proud of if you already did.
House of Wolves is the most fun I've had in Destiny since launch. If grinding wasn't your thing--there's less of it now. If you wanted a horde mode--there' Prison of Elders. If you're better than me at PVP--there's Trials of Osiris. House of Wolves packs plenty of fun for all of Destiny's players.
Though It still has its issues, especially with regards to the excessive grinding, RNG and shortage of content, Destiny's House of Wolves is a worthwhile experience for fans with interesting things to do and plenty of improvements over The Dark Below.
Upgrading gear is no longer quite the marathon it once was, with players able to retain the stats of weapons, and even upgrade existing gear to meet the new performance caps that have come with House of Wolves. And this really is the expansion's biggest issue; the patch changes that are free to all are more important than the paid content.
All in all, this DLC definitely brought me back to a game that I figured was going to end up on my shelf and rarely get played. Bungie has more than made up for all the things they did wrong in The Dark Below. I feel like this DLC pack will keep me playing for some time to come. I have spent three days burning the midnight oil with this expansion and so far, I have not been disappointed. So in closing, Bungie hit a solid home run with this one. If you are a fan of Destiny, it's the reason to come back if you've grown tired of it. If you haven't gotten Destiny yet, this DLC is a great reason to start playing.
The core shooting mechanics are quite possibly best in class. It's a shame then that everything around them fails to reach those same heights. Destiny Expansion II: House of Wolves is no exception, and seems to be an expansion in name only. If anything, it makes the already overplayed sections of the core game feel smaller. And for a grand sci-fi universe, that's a bad thing.
House of Wolves is a turning point for Destiny, with smart changes that warrant a return even for those that gave up on it.