Destiny has had a strange ride. Before launch, the game was riding on an unbelievable wave of hype — only for said wave to crash at release.
Following a somewhat rocky launch, the game slowly built up steam leading into its first major DLC, only to lose it shortly thereafter. Destiny's second DLC expansion brought a lot of people back, and The Taken King — which Bungie touted as "Destiny 2.0" — revitalized the community like few expansions ever had.
Sadly, things have quieted down since The Taken King's release: Bungie has tried to keep its community going with smaller timed updates, but over the past few months, Destiny's player base has continued to shrink. With the death of the last-gen versions looming, many were wondering if Bungie could ever reignite that Destiny spark again.
While it may be too early to tell one way or another, Bungie is definitely doing its best to get the community excited for Rise of Iron. Earlier today, the developer hosted a live reveal of the new gameplay mechanics and environments that are set to make their debut in the next expansion — though, in the end, one could argue that the team didn't actually show all that much.
Otherwise, Bungie showcased a new Sparrow and promised to reveal more about the new Crucible modes at Gamescom. If it feels like the live stream was light on important info ... well, that's because it was.
Destiny is a game in desperate need of new content, or something to get fans excited about jumping back in — and to be frank, showing off an old environment with a new coat of paint isn't really the best way to do that. Granted, that's not to say that the new Cosmodrome looks bad, or that Rise of Iron won't be worth playing ... it's just that Destiny needs more than that. The Plaugelands sound like they could be some of the best environments in the entire game — why not show them off, even if it's just a tease? What about a story teaser, or a glimpse at a new boss?
At this point, there's really no telling if Rise of Iron will be the expansion that the community is hoping for. Bungie is promising a lot of big changes — but until fans actually get to see them, the development team will be fighting an uphill battle.
Rise of Iron is due out on Sept. 20, while Bungie's next live stream reveal will air during Gamescom in August.
