Destiny 2: Forsaken released September 4 is the game’s third major content expansion. It brought new story, new lore, new locations, new characters, some recognizable old characters, a plethora of sweet sweet loot, and has been a major success in improving the game.

A general warning though, there will be spoilers related to the game’s main story and the associated lore.

The journey begins in a place Destiny 1 players will surely remember from the early years of the game: the Prison of Elders. Back in D1, the location was a small-scale challenge activity in which a fireteam of three works together to fight through waves of enemies, dismantle mines, and defeat bosses. Within the D1 game’s story and lore, the Prison houses the solar system’s most notorious criminals and baddies. Players didn’t get to see much of the area though, as they were limited to the spawn, arena areas, and the little treasure room.

In Forsaken’s first mission the area is heavily expanded upon as The Guardian (the main character), Cayde-6, and Petra Venj attempt to stifle a prison riot. Cayde-6 is killed in the aftermath after attempting to re-capture the Prison’s most dangerous captives, providing the grounds to the main questline’s revenge/justice plot. Little of Forsaken will make sense without knowing just who these individuals are and why they’re significant.

Throughout both Destiny games, Cayde has been one of the most humorous and charismatic characters, making him a favorite among fans. His jester-like personality as amplified in Destiny 2 was revealed later on in Forsaken to be a reaction to the events of the Red War earlier on in the game. Most players of the game simply assumed that his overly positive outlook was an annoying oversight by Bungie’s story writing team, but it turned out to be a coping method for loss on a literal city-sized scale. Sadly, his untimely death means this problem is never resolved.

Petra Venj is a character who’s dealt with loss and failure time and time again, only to get back up to deal with the next catastrophe coming to hit the asteroid belt, where  the Awoken, a variant of humanity, has made their home. Petra serves as one of the Queen’s Corsairs, specifically as the leader of the group known as the Queen’s Wrath.

During the events of Forsaken, she’s also the acting Regent to the throne, as the Queen, Mara Sov, went missing in Destiny 1. All the pain, stress, and grief Petra’s experienced up to this point has been stifled by her faith in the Queen’s grand scheme. What this plan is and the full extent of it is unknown to Petra, and even less is known to everyone but the absent Eris Morn and the Queen herself. “The Plan” isn’t significant until later in the story, and provides a reason behind Petra’s burning determination to get things done.

The story of Forsaken is a brooding one:a tale of revenge, hunting criminals, uncovering secrets, and avenging the death of Cayde-6. For once, the story has less of a galactic sense of importance and doesn’t show the player the true scope of what’s going on until the very end. The majority of any player’s time will likely be spent taking down the eight Scorn Barons. Only six are immediately available to take down, with the last two playing roles in the final two story missions.

The fights are unique to the weapons and skills of each of these Barons, all of them resembling different villains from western movies. The final target is the one who actually killed Cayde, Uldren Sov, the Queen’s brother.

The main quest takes the protagonist to the Tangled Shore, a dusty collection of chained-together asteroids far out in the Asteroid belt. Derelict ships and dead husks of once bustling space stations litter the skyline, giving the location a haunting atmosphere. It is here that the Barons have hidden themselves, and thus where the Guardian must go.

While you’re busy making the galaxy a safer place, Petra goes off on her own to find and rid the galaxy of Uldren. While she doesn’t succeed, she learns what he’s up to and where to find him next. Once seven of the Barons have been defeated, Petra and the Guardian set off to finish business in the quest step labeled “Nothing Left to Say.” After a grueling, confusing bossfight, the final cutscene plays and Uldren is no more. Cayde is avenged, the Barons have been dealt with, and the day is saved. A satisfying conclusion to a good story.

Not feeling like the universe is depending on the protagonist was refreshing. It allows the player to focus on the individual tasks of hunting down each of Cayde’s killers, getting better gear to take them down, searching for Ghost stories, and occasionally dropping on by the Drifter for a round or two of Gambit. For casual players, the slow flow of things works just fine. For the hardcore players, one could power through the main questline in a day and still have plenty to do after that.

In addition to the refreshing mix of options, rewards for completing activities and achievements include more than just guns and armor. The new in-game lore system allows players to track all the readable bits of story and background that they find. The physical things players can search for range from scrapped machinery to crystallized thoughts, each one unlocking a unique piece of the game’s background often relating to where the player found the collectible.

After finishing off Cayde’s killers, players may wonder, “what’s next?” The answer is the Dreaming City. The location is unlocked after a short quest in which the Guardian has to fix a key to the City’s gate. Upon gaining entrance to the mysterious locale, players are virtually slapped across the face with a difficulty so hard it’s almost impossible to survive long alone. The challenge is hard but the rewards are worth it.

Furthermore, it’s a beautiful area full of puzzles and secrets left for players to figure out. From hidden holes in realities to invisible multi-dimensional platforms, there’s plenty for solo players to figure out on their own. For players with group-heroism in mind, the Blind Well offers itself as a fast-paced activity requiring cooperation and synergy. The different tiers of difficulty, ranging from one to four, allow players to increase the difficulty once they get themselves to higher levels.

Last, but certainly not least, Last Wish is the new raid that came with Forsaken. Players were left to figure things out for themselves, survive, and get the unique loot. The Last Wish provides more than just the standard “kill all the bosses” experience though, as it’s focused on freeing the Queen’s most powerful and trusted advisers from the control of the monster lurking in the heart of the city and then going to kill the monster.

In addition to the raid’s new theme, when the first team to complete the raid killed the final boss, it unleashed a “curse” on the entirety of the Dreaming City. Putting an end to the curse and cleansing the corruption has become the goal of the game as of the moment, with the city changing week by week as the corruption gets worse.