Season of the Chosen is here, and first impressions count for a lot when you've been grinding against the same enemies in the same places for a long time.
Thankfully, there's enough going on in the first few hours of the season – almost too much, actually.
Between a cutscene that adds more to Destiny's story than most seasons before it, instantly being put into a matchmaking queue for the Battlegrounds activity, Prismatic Recasters, Umbral Engrams, the H.E.L.M and Crow's new b-movie superhero outfit, there's a lot to take in.
Destiny 2's Season of the Chosen Is Great (So Far), Actually
The key thing that has me sat here writing about it though, is that we finally have a decent chunk of story that paints older characters in a new light.
Empress Caiatl is new, sure, and her depth is likely to be uncovered in the coming weeks, but hearing Osiris and Lord Saladin bicker, or the former discuss why Crow should keep his mask on, has been just the shot in the arm this universe needed.
Hell, we've had more Osiris in the first two hours of this season than we had in the entirety of the Curse of Osiris expansion. The Triple Click podcast posited in a recent episode that Destiny 2's cadre of Tower vendors is almost like The Avengers within its universe, and these kinds of inter-character conversations really help further that idea – and I'm here for it.
It's not just the story though, thankfully. Wrathborn Hunts, of which there were only four in Season of the Hunt, were just, well, dismal.
Framed as a chance to hunt down some of the scariest creatures in the galaxy, it was dull, and altogether too short.
Thankfully, Battlegrounds play out on a much larger scale. You're still shooting things, sure, but at its best, it feels like a Halo homage.
Read More: Destiny 2 Battlegrounds Guide: Tribute Chests, Hammer of Proving, Champions and More
There are dropships spewing out waves of troops, an ever-increasing difficulty curve, excellent new music, and decent enough rewards at the end. I'm looking forward to the new Battlegrounds joining soon.
The new exotic bow, Ticuu's Divination, is fun to use, and works nicely against the current Devil's Lair Nightfall – itself a Strike from the first game that feels fresh thanks to the ability to burn through enemies using new abilities and subclasses.
Time will tell if this positivity lasts, especially with huge questions over sunsetting, but after a pretty meagre Season of the Hunt, Season of the Chosen feels positively bountiful – and there's more to come, too.