So after a week of The Dark Below being out I have managed to get through the majority of the new quests and bounties that Eris has brought us, tried out some new weapons and equipped myself with a bit of new shiny gear. From my experiences with the DLC I am putting together my take on what Bungie calls their first expansion of Destiny: 1. The Story The story for The Dark Below is interesting. The Hive are now in full force attempting to take Earth from us. This branch of the Destiny lore was only slightly hinted at in the original story missions of the game. But now we get a chance to dig deeper into this plot and find some answers about the Hive. This story branch is presented in a way different from the original plot line, which is refreshing to myself. Eris sends us guardians on a sequence of quests that each tell a part of the monster that is Crota and his rise to power over Earth. I really enjoyed this aspect of the story telling for Destiny. It brought focus on what the danger that we were facing and gave the Hive much more of a threatening stance in the game world. Each quest from Eris gave you a feel of progression in stopping the threat of Crota and his army. If the original game had been served to us in a sequence of quest lines rather than aimless jumping from point A to B I would feel more inclined to play the story missions for fun. The story telling still left some to be desired from Destiny. Eris did a fine job of reminding us that we need not fail at the task at hand. Although at times her dialogue seemed to be unnecessary, i.e. "don't die", it was a step in the right direction for immersing the player into the game more. I still enjoyed the narrative that she provided before each new mission and also throughout. It reminded me of when Cortana would pester Chief in Halo. But that's just me. 2. Game Play The new elements introduced into the world gave the feel that things were changing as an expansion would entail. More Hive have appeared on Earth, rituals are taking place to begin an invasion, new areas are beginning to open up. Now the newness of some of these areas may be a point of argument for some, but that's not what I'm here to talk about. The Sword's of Crota being summoned and the the various other parts of Crota that are able to be summoned upon the player locating them was a cool aspect added. It's like a constant reminder that things have begun to change in your world, and I like that. Not to mention that getting to swing a sword around is one of the most satisfying feelings in Destiny. Some missions in the DLC, two specifically that I am aware, are only playable once per character. I have few problems with this. For one, the Fist of Crota was a fun as hell mission. You go down into the Hive tunnels on Earth for the first time for a reason and meet a sword wielding Knight whom immediately limits your movement. (More on this later) It made for an interesting fight and a fun experience as the Knight could use the sword super on you for a change. The other mission is the last in the Eris urn chain. I forget the name, but the point remains that it was fun and needs to return. I'm not sure what the reasons are for only having these missions show up once, but I would like to see them return. Seems a bit weird to add content, but then immediately remove it for the player. New fight mechanics introduced in The Dark Below have given me hope that there will be even more intricate combat in later iterations. The removal of your jumping [spoiler]and no health regeneration for the Crota fight[/spoiler] made you have to think on your feet. That is awesome! More mechanics like this will make me very happy. 3.Content Changes There was no shortage of complaints on the forums about the changes to some of the content changes in Destiny. If you are not aware let me enlighten you. The new strikes were entered into the rotation of the Weekly and Nightfall strikes. For people who did not purchase the DLC they will not be able to participate in these activities for that week. Now this makes sense on Bungies part as they want people to play the new content that they have introduced. However it is also really messed up as some people have to sit with less content for a week because they don't have the DLC. There are a variety of ways that this could be sorted out, but we've heard nothing from Bungie just yet about it. Hopefully something happens in the near future. A similar issue has occurred with the introduction of the new strike playlist. Engrams have been removed from every other playlist, and you can't play the new playlist without the DLC. As nothing about it has been stated as of yet to my knowledge, but it needs to be addressed and changed. All gear was changed in the Tower factions to now have 33 light so that anyone can get to level 31 regardless of DLC status. I really like this choice from Bungie. It gives players who don't have the DLC a reason to continue playing as well as a few more choices as to how they want their guardian to look. I am a particular fan of the quest specific gear that you are given from Eris. That method of getting special looking/acting gear is a feature that needs to return. Sure people wanting level 32 will end up looking similar because it will be raid gear, but supposedly there is a second tier of raid gear that may assist in that. The guns in this regard however are a bit disappointing. From what I've seen the new faction weapons have merely gotten a re-skin and name changes. Seeing the raid weapons from Crota's End and some of the new exotics I know that Bungie has the creativity. But I suppose if they want to keep adding new exotic gear to the game later that they would preserve that creativity for those and not the basic gear that is easier to find in the over world. As a whole I am really enjoying The Dark Below. There are a few things that could be better and some things that I feel should be different, but that can only happen with the support/intervention of the community. If you feel as though I may have missed anything in my review of the DLC feel free to tell me and I'll edit the post on my opinion of the matter. Thanks for reading!