This is the worst story expansion since Curse of Osiris. The narrative lacks the gravity that this solar system wide apocalypse they were advertising should have.
The new story macguffins are practically unexplained for the entirety of the campaign. Now I’m not asking for some Halo 4 type of ultra long cutscene to explain everything, but a little bit of exposition would go a long way.
The main characters of this expansion, both a new one and an old one, are insufferably bad. Nimbus ruins the tone with a complete lack of seriousness and a plethora of cringeworthy lines, while Osiris has become a grating caricature of himself. It’s hard to sympathize with the intensity of a character when no proper explanation is given for the importance of the object they’re freaking out about.
Ignoring story, the gameplay of the campaign on legendary is overall enjoyable, although the quality has dipped compared to last year’s Witch Queen. I think the difficulty is fine, although there are some parts that feel unfair. There is a certain fight that is a lot more restrictive than it appears because you run the risk of getting insta-smote by a poorly telegraphed drop pod if you get close to the enemies.
The setting itself is not impressive. Most of the environment looks flat and the verticality of the area has been greatly overstated. The city feels lifeless, and there’s an explanation for this in the story, but it feels like a cop out. Within minutes(?) of the opening invasion, everyone already evacuated and uploaded themselves? No one got left behind, nobody stuck around? There’s even a news report stating all citizens have been promoted to active defense duty… and yet there’s literally no one except for the two cloudstriders. Sekiro had people hiding in their homes that you could talk to during an estate raid, and although it was a small addition, it gave a sense that people actually lived there.
There are also some reused assets, which is fine when it makes sense for the circumstances. The most egregious case is the reuse of the Vex network from the season of the splicer, but as an entirely non-Vex construct.
It’s disappointing that 6 years of storytelling led to this point. What should’ve been perhaps the most pivotal point of this entire story arc was instead a mindless romp that didn’t move the overarching story.