Where my Van Helsing fans at? Destiny 2’s second episode, Revenant, has come to a close. Arguably my most anticipated episode post-The Final Shape, I was jazzed for this episode. I was ultimately left a bit disappointed on the content and story fronts, but if the Destiny franchise gets anything right on a consistent basis, its presentation – and Episode: Revenant was chock-full of some of the best atmosphere I’ve seen in a game in some time. Though the episode as a whole wasn’t anything to write home about, I was loving the vibes so much that I almost – almost – didn’t care.

Candidly, I did not play a lot of Destiny 2 during Episode: Revenant. As is the case amongst most Destiny 2 content cycles, the middle season after an expansion is usually the most forgettable. Though I experienced (almost) all of what Revenant had to offer, I didn’t really interact with anything deeper than surface level just due to a lack of time/motivation to grind out most of the content. In fact, this was actually the first time since Season of the Haunted that I didn’t finish the season pass. Accordingly, this retrospective may not contain my usual level of detail. Apologies on that front.

Alright, story first. Not entirely sure what we were getting at for most of Episode: Revenant, but I digress. Somehow Fikrul, the leader of the undead Fallen, the Scorn, ended up with an Echo, and wanted to use it to zombify living Fallen into Scorn. That obviously doesn’t sit right with the Vanguard, so the Guardian dons the title Slayer Baron (sick, right?) to kick some tail. Eido, Crow, Mithrax(who was dealing with a curse from Nezarec), and you team up to deal with Fikrul. Lots of dead Scorn and holoprojector dialogue later, Mithrax is freed from his curse and crowned Kell of Kells (I thought we did that already), and Fikrul was on the fritz. However, it wasn’t until an alliance was brokered with Eramis, disdained leader of House Salvation, that Firkul could be killed once and for all. Unlike Episode: Echoes main Macguffin, the Echo of Command, Revenant’s Echo was recovered at the end of Act III, which is a first for the Vanguard. How the forces of good will use the Echo remains to be seen.

I was hoping that Revenant would really lean into the medieval-gothic inspiration to tell a more grim-dark story than we’re used to, but that didn’t really happen. In fact, I found that Revenant’s story did not have a lot to say. There weren’t any moments that really stood out to me besides the ending cutscene where Fikrul dies, Mithrax is healed, and Eramis leaves the Solar System. The whole thing just felt a bit flat, almost as the characters on screen were reading out their lines with the gravitas present in a high school rendition of The Tempest. Again, similar to what I said in my Episode: Echoes retrospective, any Destiny content that comes out within the same year as The Final Shape is bound to feel a bit flat since TFS was such a hard act to follow. Unfortunately, Revenant is no different, and the story was ultimately forgettable.

Episode: Revenant also made the bold move of no longer timegating story content to weekly drops, instead opening up each act in its entirety the day the act began. This was a controversial change, with some saying the story felt too short because of this. As someone on a sort of break from Destiny, this change didn’t bother me much, though I did kind of feel like I was running errands for 90 minutes straight at the beginning of each act.

Revenant introduced tonic-making to Destiny 2 as a sort of seasonal gimmick, similar to the Research Station from Episode: Echoes or the deckbuilding from Season of the Witch. However, unlike those past content seasons, potion brewing was kind of a letdown. Potions were split into effect tonics and loot tonics. The loot tonics didn’t guarantee loot drops, and the effect tonics didn’t make any substantial changes to the power fantasy, so honestly, I didn’t bother with this system too much. It was also a grind to unlock all of the recipes (what else is new).

Another similarity to Echoes was Revenant’s introduction of new activities with each of the three acts. Act I introduced a kind of Scorn-themed spin on Onslaught, the wave-based PvE mode from 2024’s Into the Light content drop, dubbed Onslaught: Salvation. This version added some new objectives, defenses, and wave types, but was too similar to the standard Onslaught to truly stand out. Not to mention the distinct lack of “shiny” weapon variants to encourage longer runs.

In Act II we were reintroduced to the Prison of Elders, a fan-favorite Destiny 1 endgame activity. Now renamed Tomb of Elders and repurposed into a more mission-based structure relative to D1’s survival structure, this activity was slightly more enjoyable than the Onslaught reskin. Modifiers were the name of the game here, with each encounter room featuring a different modifier such as trapped ammo drops or slower healing. Each encounter also boasted unique objectives centered around the Scorn or the Dread, making runs just varied enough to complete a few before things got repetitive. Of course, there was also a higher power level version available for better rewards, which we see every season and is always a good alternative.

Act III gave us the Kell’s Fall exotic mission. Taking place in what was essentially a Scorn cathedral, the vampire-hunter vibes were front and center here, and they were positively delicious. Cages hanging from the ceiling, Scorn braziers and traps everywhere, and even a functional pipe organ that served as a way to open special doors and solve a secret puzzle. The music was ominous, the setting was gothic, and the overall mood was dark, so I really enjoyed the presentation of this mission, and Revenant, as a whole. I really did feel like Geralt of Rivia more than once. 

Whereas the atmosphere was hitting for me, the mechanics of this mission were not. There was a dual-reality mechanic similar to the Ascendant Plane throughout Kell’s Fall, but it was confusing to interact with and not terribly challenging from a combat-puzzle perspective. The Void exotic shotgun on offer, Slayer’s Fang, was a fun reward for completion, but doesn’t feel like a must-have piece of kit. And can we stop with the “you have to complete the exotic mission three times in a row” thing to complete the episode’s story? Goodness gracious.

Festival of the Lost and The Dawning came and went, as they do. I actually didn’t play a minute of Crucible or Gambit during this episode, so I can’t speak on any changes or updates. Sorry (not really) ‘bout that. I also did not play the new dungeon, Vesper’s Host, but from a community sentiment standpoint it seems to be one of the best in a while. Sweet!

The seasonal weapons (which were no longer craftable, a change new to this episode) weren’t my favorites, though granted I didn’t spend much time with them. Nothing really made my jaw drop, which says something as I usually have at least one or two mainstays amongst new seasonal arsenals. The season pass featured 200 tiers again which was great for those willing to grind for all of the great rewards. I didn’t make it to tier 100 this time, but I was still able to claim lots of weapons, currencies, and armor. I found Revenant’s universal ornaments kind of lame this time though so I’m not too bummed about missing out on them. The season pass also included Alethonym, a support-based Stasis grenade launcher, which was fun to use for like 10 minutes or so.

I really liked the presentation of Episode: Revenant, but that was about it. The story was far from solid, the activities were played out, and the seasonal rewards just haven’t been hitting the same. It’s no wonder I’m on a kind of a Destiny hiatus; we’re in a bit of a lull period, people.

See also: Destiny 2
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