Doing impressions for gradually released content is tough – it requires you to be on top of it week after week, and honestly I’m too busy to keep up. With Season of the Splicer, it was heavy loaded with content right off the gate – we got the new Override activity, new social hub, new UI update, a transmog system called Armor Synthesis, Vault of Glass Raid the following week, weekly story missions, weekly Expunge missions, AMAZING new weapons and some rebalancing of Stasis. Does that sound like something I can keep with on a daily basis while maintaining a family and a fulltime job? Maybe with some more coffee….maybe. Here’s my impression on the Bungie epic new season, midway through.
The Story of Empathy
The thematic approach to Season of the Splicer is one a lot of people did not expect – the Vex are planning something horrible, they have simulated an endless night that is haunting us all; confused, we turn to the only person that has been challenging this new threat head on, Mithrax! After we managed to find his distress call and save his people, we ally with them in hope to stop the Vex. House of Light is then invited to the inner walls of the Last City with Ikora’s blessing, but this decision comes with great distress of other leaders like Lakshmi-2 from the Future War Cult.
Throughout the weeks leading up to this point, Lakshmi-2 has set a propogandist approach about the Eliksni embedding fear amongst the people of the Last City, dividing everyone in the process; a direct contrast to our very real world problems. Additionally, Saint-14 has appointed himself in overseeing the Eliksni personally which surprises no one given the history he has against them. Challenging themes are placed in this story such as empathy, acceptance, fear monger and ways to face it, discrimination and absolution.
One particular moment stood out to me where Lakshmi-2 lashes out on Mithrax over his lack of stopping the endless night, which was followed by Saint-14 telling Mithrax that he shouldn’t expect people to live with their nightmares. Mithrax in defense asked Saint-14 to listen to the story about such a thing – During the Dark Age, innocent Eliksni of House of Light was slaughtered without remorse by the one they call The Saint – the very person who stands before Mithrax. And since the start of the season, the Eliksni are forced accept that their very nightmare roams through them, without ever knowing if that very thing would decimate them all. This sort of thought provoking story-telling is Bungie at their best and one I’m eager to know about.
Weekly Activity Rotation at its Best
Override, Expunge, Story-Dialogues, and Vault of Glass is probably the best rotation we’ve had since Season of the Savior when we were building the Sundial to bring back Saint-14. The irony is, we brought back the very nightmare of the House of Light….whoops! Each of these activities brings absolute joy into my weekly grind for godroll weapons and armor stats. I mean, Expunge is so ungodly gorgeous, I am definitely fanboying over Bungie for producing such a excellent piece of content during the pandemic; I just don’t know how they do it. The change to power is very welcoming – we are finally not spending most of our time trying to get an additional 50 power, but instead focus building our stats to better optimize our success towards Raids, Trials of Osiris and Grandmaster Nightfall.
Speaking of loot, this season brought 5 new exotics, Nightfall weapons, a ton of Override weapons (that are EXCELLENT – OMG Chroma Rush) and *some* old favorites from Vault of Glass that includes a reworked Vex Mythoclast; do I have the weapon yet? Of course not….Bungie hates me. Coupled with the loot are excellent new perk like Rewind Rounds (which I often pronounce Weewind Wow’nds….I’m not alone in this), Heating Up and a old goodie, Firefly. I cannot stress enough, the loot this season is so damn good.
Season of the Splicer is also thematically gorgeous as well, setting a 80’s synthewave tone that literally bleeds perfection. I’m really glad these seasonal contents are staying throughout the expansion because honestly, having them for 3 months would be too short a time.
Vault of Oh My Glass!
This mid season impression can not emphasize my happiness enough; Vault of Glass is here! It looks so incredible with the PC/PS5/Series X upgrade to 4K60+fps – truly, it’s mind boggling how amazing this raid looks! Sure, I wish this was here like, ages ago but it’s here now and I’m having a blast not earning my Vex Mythoclast! Yes, I’m happy and sarcastic at the very same time. Seeing the Templar for the first time in years while I’m prepping my double slug, Anarchy strat has my nostalgic feels cranked to 11; sneaking pass Gorgons only to get caught 2 billion times before proceeding didn’t tick my rage. Then Atheon looking oh so ready to take my Xenophage to its core is just….man this game awesome.
So far, Season of the Splicer is one hell of a season – and although I haven’t had the time to finish this weeks story yet, I look forward to what Bungie has in store for us.
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