Unlike Destiny 2's initial launch and its 2 DLC packs in what Bungie has called "Year 1", Forsaken actually delivers quality content through both a great storyline and a few meaningful additions to what Guardians will be able to do in the Destiny universe. The Cayde-6 character is lost (not a spoiler - it's literally in every Forsaken promo) but another extremely interesting character that we thought may have never come back is reborn (sort of...), which really intrigued me given the events of Destiny 1 and its later DLC packs. Where Osiris and Warmind were mostly empty extensions of Destiny 2 (and, once again, allegedly cut from the core release of the game and sold off as DLC), Forsaken offers real substance and proves that Bungie can learn from its community and craft something that is worth playing. I was furious at Bungie for destroying what was potentially the most important franchise of our current time and failing to build an RPG-driven shooter given all of the sampling content the studio had to look at. Despite my frustration and bailing on Curse of Osiris after 1 day and basically not playing Warmind until Forsaken was a week away, I gambled on Forsaken and so far I've been happy with the $40 purchase. It almost feels like a separate game given how much was put into the mix. The new Gambit gametype may not necessarily require Forsaken (though I haven't confirmed that, it just sounded like Bungie offered it to anyone with the seasons pass based on limited reading) but it has come because of it. The PVE/PVP mode harkens back to early World of Warcraft days where you could take a team and push through a PVE instance but risked being jumped by members of an opposing faction. The mashup really plays out well in Forsaken and makes me hope for more Gambit-style offerings in the future with different goals/progression. The grind is also back and that's a good thing since Destiny 2 took hardly any time to max out characters at all. You'll have to earn your high power levels through heavy gameplay. The good news is that you won't be bashing your head against the wall trying to power level up, you just might be stuck hoping for a gear drop now and then for a low-level slot that helps bump your score up a few points. The grind and the separation in Guardian gearing is vast with the new 500 soft cap and the 600 hard cap in Forsaken. The 600 hard cap will either take you a few weeks of intense playtime or perhaps a couple months of regular play that includes conquering the more challenging content (like the Last WIsh raid and the Nightfall). When you consider that you get a great, somewhat lengthy story, two new explorable/playable open world areas (the second of which is unlocked at the end of the story and is the best open area ever created in Destiny), Gambit, and what seems to be a good raid all alongside meaningful tweaks and deeper customization options, I think there's a lot to be had for $40. The only gimmick there is that you need all of the Year 1 content to buy Forsaken - you can't just buy D2 and then buy Forsaken and be good to go. Buying all of the Year 1 content will set you back an extra $20 and I'm a little put off by that cheap trick. Activision has certainly destroyed Destiny, or at least tried to, time and time again with content fragmentation and high price points for shallow and borderline-worthless DLC packages. Forsaken sort of rights the wrongs but there's supposedly more in Year 2 coming out over the 6 months following Forsaken's launch that will extend the experience. It will require an annual pass to access and, at this time, Bungie is asking you to put down another $29.99 without giving you much in the way of detail as to what that will include. Because of that it's hard to know how far Forsaken's higher-quality reach will go after such an abysmal year 1 for the game. If there are new raids, more social spaces, and story expansions then the price would be merited (assuming it's all decent). But beware: Forsaken's saving grace for Destiny 2 may not extend beyond the Forsaken DLC, so buying Forsaken means you're willing to be OK with what's here for the next several months until more games come out that might steal you away.