Destiny 2 Season of the Undying is a blast to play, but bothers and annoys with mind boggling bad execution.

Season Overview:

Season of the Undying, a Vex themed season, is the latest content drop to hit live servers as of October 5th, and is scheduled to run a little past November 19th before ushering in, the as of yet unnamed, next season.

Beyond the Iron Banner PvP activities now common place to all Destiny 2 seasons, players can expect new quests, exotic weapons, activities, and difficulty levels to unlock as the season progresses. Not to mention, this years Halloween event, the Festival of the Lost, will take place nearer the end of October.

Of those activities currently live, we have Vex invasions and the Vex Offensive. Invasions are Public Event-like activities found on the Moon, and reward Vex themed gear, are required for new bounties and quests, and after multiple completions grant Guardians the chance at a boss kill for Power Gear. The Offensive by contrast is more akin to Season of Opulence’s Menagerie. Guardians can join in the activity from Orbit via the matchmaker, and are then pitted against several waves of Vex foes and challenges to ultimately destroy a Gate Lord and earn some fat loots.

Alongside the new season comes a seasonal experience bar granting season specific rewards, achievements to complete for a new title, a Vex artifact to level up, and new powerful enemies with interesting modifiers that can only be defeated by players utilizing new mods earned through leveling their artifact.

The Good:

It’s really refreshing to have new Vex enemies to fight. Not only that, but the new barrier, overload, and unstoppable champions shake the game up in a good way and make for an added challenge.

Barrier Champions are Vex who can form a personal shield barrier around themselves, making them 100% immune to damage. These shields are only broken by weapons holding barrier mods from the Gate Lord’s Eye artifact. Overload foes deal extra damage and have higher health, again dealt with by attacking them with disruption mods from the artifact, and finally, unstoppable opponents boast crazy high damage and stats, but can be stunned and defeated much easier by Guardian’s rocking the corresponding mod.

Vex Offensives are another shining moment of this season. They are fast, chaotic, full of loot and cool Vex themed gear, and have interesting mechanics to overcome. Best of all, some really great God Role gear can be had from farming this activity. I could not be happier with how it has turned out, and would love to see more of this kind of event in the future from Bungie.

The Bad:

Vex Invasions are terrible. Really, they are just awful. Nothing about them works, and they are a stressful chore to undertake. Invasions take place only on the moon, in one of the three main zones, and only when a public event is not taking place. Not only that, but there is no map indicator of when this event is active, and once one starts Guardians are given a very short window of time to defeat them or else the Vex will ‘escape into the network,’ and prove to be nothing more than a waste of time.

That’s not all though! For some reason, Bungie decided to tie Invasion spawn timers to successful completions. Meaning, that if you fail even once, the chain will be broken and you’ll have to spend dozens of minutes, if not even longer, randomly searching the moon for another instance of the event. It’s an event that favors no one, is required to even start doing Offensives, and ends up being probably Bungie’s worst implemented activity yet. It’s a shame, as the principle behind the event is solid. It’s just the implementation that falls short.

The Verdict:

Season of the Undying is very split. Half of the content is a true joy, the new gear looks amazing, and there is a lot to look forward to going forward. But, Vex Invasions really drag the season down and make what could be the perfect content loop into a bore and a slog.

Fans of Destiny 2 will overall find more joy than sorrow from this season of content, so it gets a passing grade, but just be warned, Vex Invasions suck!