User Score
3.1

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 281 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 43 out of 281

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  1. Jul 4, 2020
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Although I disagree with what multiple but not all other people say about this game, this DLC is not the best. Still four types of enemies? The story is way too short. Expand
  2. Oct 5, 2017
    3
    Destiny: The Dark Below, the first DLC for Destiny is a criminally disappointing and lackluster mess that only seeks to push the remaining Destiny players away from the game.
    Apart from an OK raid, The Dark Below offers nothing new the Destiny experience and essentially ignores the last 3 months of progress made by players.
  3. Jul 26, 2017
    3
    Destiny's base game struggled with delivering content to the players and had some of the most tedious systems to maneuver through, so seeing the Dark Below and how Bungie claimed it would fix the issues of the first game was practically a full blown lie that hurts the game's legacy and solidify the first few months of Destiny with anger, disappointment and shame. Having three missions, aDestiny's base game struggled with delivering content to the players and had some of the most tedious systems to maneuver through, so seeing the Dark Below and how Bungie claimed it would fix the issues of the first game was practically a full blown lie that hurts the game's legacy and solidify the first few months of Destiny with anger, disappointment and shame. Having three missions, a handful of weapons and armor and a raid is not an expansion, it would be something players should have had for free and as an incentive to keep playing awhile longer. It's no wonder many left after the new year started. Out of the four DLCs that Destiny had, The Dark Below is the worst one of them and deserves only scorn. Expand
  4. Sep 4, 2015
    3
    This might be a joke... 20€ for a Raid and about 5 new missions? Really poor back story.

    Bungie hasn't solved any problems the main game had, they even made them worse.

    if you don't own this DLC: DON'T BUY IT!
  5. May 30, 2015
    2
    The Dark Below makes the exact same mistakes as Destiny, only with poorer production values. The one good thing about The Dark Below is the inclusion of a second raid. Crota's End is not as fun as The Vault of Glass, but it does provide some variety in 6 player PVE.
  6. May 27, 2015
    4
    /sigh I wanted HoW to be a turning point for me but in the direction that justified my love for this game. The moment I did the first mission and found myself in Venus going the opposite direction of the skiff map (the map where you fight the Archon Priest) I was just utterly disgusted and disappointed. I will say that Bungie did an excellent job with the armor and weapon upgrades...but/sigh I wanted HoW to be a turning point for me but in the direction that justified my love for this game. The moment I did the first mission and found myself in Venus going the opposite direction of the skiff map (the map where you fight the Archon Priest) I was just utterly disgusted and disappointed. I will say that Bungie did an excellent job with the armor and weapon upgrades...but having also deleted my VoG raid gear awhile back made it all that more painful. In any event the Weapons and Armor upgrade path is awesome, I am sure the new PVP maps are as well..albeit the Trials of Osirus being very unbalanced i.e. Warlocks definitely get more than one life due to their talent tree...in any event a huge let down all around in regards to the PVE aspect. Destiny just feels like someone just painted my car on my driveway and is trying to sale it to me as if it's a brand new car...all the while i can still see the wrappings from the cheeseburger I ate sitting in the passenger seat. All in all if someone coming into this game for the first time will find both DLC's fun (albeit no Raid in HoW) but for me, who has played this game for the last 8 months, I am all but done with this bait and switch game that is called Destiny. Expand
  7. Mar 11, 2015
    0
    its just some new campaign and few other things. nothing which worth the money we paid.
    it has no story like the main game. same enemies and even the bosses are nothing very different from main game
  8. Mar 8, 2015
    3
    To me, this seems to be merely content that was purposely left out of the finished game in order to stretch the revenue. There were two distinct flags that led me to this conclusion. First, this came out exactly 3 months to after the initial launch. This just screams withheld content. Second, there is a early plot point regarding Rasputin that is introduced in the original game, butTo me, this seems to be merely content that was purposely left out of the finished game in order to stretch the revenue. There were two distinct flags that led me to this conclusion. First, this came out exactly 3 months to after the initial launch. This just screams withheld content. Second, there is a early plot point regarding Rasputin that is introduced in the original game, but IMMEDIATELY forgotten. In the expansion you actually find out what Rasputin is in a level where you have to defend it from waves of monsters.

    Even if that is the only point of withheld content, the overall content is mostly more of the same. While the new NPC's (Eris) quests deviate in style slightly, they ultimately come back around to feeling the same. And don't you worry, there is still a massive amount of grinding with Eris with a small reservoir of bounties ensuring you can do the same exact tedious game play over and over and over. If you want to take advantage of some of the best new weapons, it is mandatory to level your respect since upgrading some of the new weapons requires specific items only obtainable by her at higher levels.

    I have not yet tried the raid and don't plan to since I don't have the patience to grind anymore. Not worth the money and time
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  9. Feb 24, 2015
    0
    This does not deserve to be called an Expansion, and it does not deserve to cost more than $5. This is an embarrassment to the term Expansion, and even an embarrassment to DLC. A low point for the Destiny franchise. More wasted potential.
  10. Feb 20, 2015
    3
    Very little content for £20 and although there are new story mission, they are in the same locations as the others. This expansions add very little and users without it will have difficulty playing the "end game" content without it as the Weekly, daily and nightfall missions are often only available for The Dark Below owners. There is about 2 - 3 hours of story content within this and aVery little content for £20 and although there are new story mission, they are in the same locations as the others. This expansions add very little and users without it will have difficulty playing the "end game" content without it as the Weekly, daily and nightfall missions are often only available for The Dark Below owners. There is about 2 - 3 hours of story content within this and a raid which is about 2 hours Expand
  11. Feb 16, 2015
    1
    Don't Buy DLC or Don't Buy Season Pass.
    This is Pay to Unlock since Fileszie is less then 200MB Really under 10mb.
    Skip this also all others one coming for Destiny.
  12. Feb 12, 2015
    1
    3 story missions that take 10-15 minutes each. a raid that is a complete downgrade from vault of glass. raid weapons + gear that are copy pasted from vog. same animation and models with hive bones overtop and only three unique perks which are completely situational to knights and wizards and highlighting enemies which is not as useful as it sounds. 3 crucible maps that are pretty generic.3 story missions that take 10-15 minutes each. a raid that is a complete downgrade from vault of glass. raid weapons + gear that are copy pasted from vog. same animation and models with hive bones overtop and only three unique perks which are completely situational to knights and wizards and highlighting enemies which is not as useful as it sounds. 3 crucible maps that are pretty generic. tons of grinding that is not fun. 4 decent armor exotics. about 5/6 garbage exotic armor including boots. 3/4 garbage exotic weapons that are not even really fun to use if you ignore the fact they are outclassed. no new enemy types or anything like that. one cutscene that was just the trailer. no story progression that is explained or makes sense (you stop crota's soul in story and then fight him in raid anyway). boring and repetitive bounties to grind a new reputation system. i thought the base game was flawed, but still had enough fun to warrant a purchase. this dlc feels lazy...the new missions only contain like 2-3 rooms + hallways of new content each. the worst part is you can find all these locations were discovered in the pre-release beta version of the game fully rendered only missing enemies being spawned in... I have all the gear in the game only missed 1 exotic armor and own every single exotic weapon and all raid gear for all classes. i have over 10 days played and most of it was grinding. i regret wasting time investing into this game because bad players and new players are given shortcuts to catch up and none of my gear feels rare because it is all buyable from xur (save necrochasm which is garbage). RNG is the dumbest mechanic ever to hit a FPS game. Just like the base game you don't get enough content to warrant purchase. I bought the limited edition so I'm stuck with Destiny for one more DLC. Expand
  13. Feb 8, 2015
    1
    GO THROW YOU'RE MONEY IN THE TOILET THAN SUPPORTING BUNGIE , 20 EURO FOR THIS CRAP !
    People asked for this when they buyed the first paid dlc . Now we are happy if game have nice marketing . wtf is this zombie land ? Where zombies work like zombies ! maybe I expected more than rebuying cut content , I dont know ... YES YES GO WATCH ANGRY JOE REVIEW OF DESTINY !
  14. Jan 29, 2015
    0
    Truly dissapointing. Loved destiny and bought this hoping the experience would keep up. Worse dlc ever.
    i believe destiny can bounce back from this, but only if the house of wolves is awesome.
    Do not spend your money on this. there are a few good crucicble maps and thats it. It is a total grind and yoy are buying grind time. Bungie couldnt have done worse. There is unanimous consent
    Truly dissapointing. Loved destiny and bought this hoping the experience would keep up. Worse dlc ever.
    i believe destiny can bounce back from this, but only if the house of wolves is awesome.

    Do not spend your money on this.
    there are a few good crucicble maps and thats it. It is a total grind and yoy are buying grind time.
    Bungie couldnt have done worse.
    There is unanimous consent that this is a steaming pile. Dont know why so many critics would give it such a great review.

    Save your money guys.
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  15. Jan 20, 2015
    2
    This expansion DLC is nothing more than re-used content, 3 short "story" missions, and little more that is not worth the ridiculous price of 19£... Bungie lost it respect for the fans. Shame on you Bungie.
  16. Xug
    Jan 9, 2015
    0
    Dear Bungie. I can only assume a best selling game doesn't pay enough these days, as I can think of no other reason to charge loyal customers additional money so that they can keep playing the game together. I actually feel embarrassed that I convinced my friends to buy this game now, as they can't play with me!

    You've actually slashed at your own game prior to release, and then
    Dear Bungie. I can only assume a best selling game doesn't pay enough these days, as I can think of no other reason to charge loyal customers additional money so that they can keep playing the game together. I actually feel embarrassed that I convinced my friends to buy this game now, as they can't play with me!

    You've actually slashed at your own game prior to release, and then released and charged for content that was already there, just to make a few extra dollars. It's obvious your heart was initially in the right place as the story now lies in tatters, but you must have lost your way when the accountants drew an extra zero on the white board.

    So how about some good will guys? Release the next expansion as a combined pack. If you bought TDB, you should get the next expansion for free. If you didn't get TDB, you should get both for the same price as TDB.

    As for the issues - not being able to play with friends, no fix to joining parties, pre-nerfed guns, a poor upgrade system, an ongoing atrocious story line and an overall lack of content for the additional price.

    Sigh. What a disappointment.
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  17. Jan 2, 2015
    1
    missed opportunity.. all way long..
    no new story, the "lore" is 12 sentences long, no insight, no explanation, just "Eris Morn", an old guardian that tells you again where to go and who to shoot.. no decisions needed, just go there shoot this..
    reskinned weapons, or weapon handles with new poop on top.. reskinned armor , old armor and legendaries obsolete, if you arent hardcore into
    missed opportunity.. all way long..
    no new story, the "lore" is 12 sentences long, no insight, no explanation, just "Eris Morn", an old guardian that tells you again where to go and who to shoot.. no decisions needed, just go there shoot this..

    reskinned weapons, or weapon handles with new poop on top.. reskinned armor , old armor and legendaries obsolete, if you arent hardcore into PvP like bungie aparently is, still no matchmaking in raids. still dependend on out of game websites to actually play the game.. no new enemies, just bigger versions of the old ones, and the raid is a joke, soloable and full of bugs and exploits.. took the hardcore gamer a puny two weeks to get to the new level cap.. lame bad design and NO they arent listening to the players, they ignore it best they can..

    and still no improvement on the basic faults, still no exploration, still no customization, still nothing "new"..

    sad.. and with the new release leak of the coming dlc /"Comet" release, this is unlikely to change until the users vote with their wallet.. -.-
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  18. Dec 30, 2014
    0
    This is the DLC that Bungie shoved plot holes in? Well it's WAY worse than the game itself, the characters are boring and it's the same old bad RPG everyone knew months ago. The Dark Below claims the title for the worst DLC of the year or of the history. IAM not spending more money on this stupid game!
  19. Dec 30, 2014
    0
    One of the most blatant money grabs in gaming history. Almost no new content. This DLC basically sends you back to parts of the game that you've already played. You're mostly paying for some new guns and a very short raid that can now be beaten solo. Not even worth your time, let alone your money.
  20. Dec 24, 2014
    0
    Destiny is the biggest bait-and-switch in a long time and this sad excuse of an expansion is just salt on the wound. There is no reason to pay money for this or even play it if you weren't already suckered into buying the season pass at launch like me. It adds nothing worthwhile to the game, just more of the same locations, same enemies, same mindless missions, same barely-there expositionDestiny is the biggest bait-and-switch in a long time and this sad excuse of an expansion is just salt on the wound. There is no reason to pay money for this or even play it if you weren't already suckered into buying the season pass at launch like me. It adds nothing worthwhile to the game, just more of the same locations, same enemies, same mindless missions, same barely-there exposition and story....you are just paying $20 for more of the same repetitive grind fest. Blatantly lazy cash grab that no one can excuse. Save you money and time and don't waste it on this scam.

    PS i heard that they had improved the loot/engram system but I didn't notice any difference during my short time back. Engram drop rates felt exactly the same and I got nothing but junk from both them and the RNG loot drops at the end of missions. This expansion gave me two things, jack and **** and a renewed hatred for Bungie/Activision. So there is that.
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  21. Dec 23, 2014
    4
    The Dark Below misleads in a lot of ways.

    3 Story missions? False. You will be rehashing and treading familiar ground with the same enemies and a different narrative. If you count new missions as a new reason to do the same thing you've already been doing. Sure, but if you're expecting new content. Then really you get less than 1 mission's worth of actually new areas, since, as stated,
    The Dark Below misleads in a lot of ways.

    3 Story missions? False. You will be rehashing and treading familiar ground with the same enemies and a different narrative. If you count new missions as a new reason to do the same thing you've already been doing. Sure, but if you're expecting new content. Then really you get less than 1 mission's worth of actually new areas, since, as stated, all the enemies are the same, and the only thing that really changes is the narrator and reason for treading.

    Strike? Same situation as the missions. You are not getting a new strike. You are getting half of a new strike.

    The only two things that are worth while about this DLC are the multiplayer maps, which people shell out $15 for on a regular basis anyway. (Some people like to get ripped off) and the raid, which many people who bought The Dark Below will never play anyway.

    Oh and if you don't buy the DLC, then you will lose out on certain portions of the game from time to time. Bungie's really sorry, I'm sure.

    Verdict: Nothing really new that I'm saying that hasn't already been said. I'm just cementing it. This DLC is not very expansive compared to other RPGs and MMOs, but more than generous when considering most FPSs (not including Borderlands). So if you haven't bought it already, choose your path based on the reason you played it in the first place. But the stufff they did give isn't all that great. That's why I give it the score I did.
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  22. Dec 23, 2014
    0
    What a heap of garbage. This is what passes for an "Expansion" these days? I remember back when an expansion was an entire new campaign or better (Starcraft brood war, remember that?) and worse yet, most of this stupid DLC is already ON THE DISC.

    So what do you get? Oh a couple new strikes, a new raid, and all your gear you worked so hard to get? Yeah its now useless. Oh you can
    What a heap of garbage. This is what passes for an "Expansion" these days? I remember back when an expansion was an entire new campaign or better (Starcraft brood war, remember that?) and worse yet, most of this stupid DLC is already ON THE DISC.

    So what do you get? Oh a couple new strikes, a new raid, and all your gear you worked so hard to get? Yeah its now useless. Oh you can "upgrade" it if the gear was exotic, BUT you'll have to completely re-level it and spend a bunch of strange coins for the privilege.

    And that new raid? Oh it's about as buggy and boring as the old one. Did they add any real story? Nope! Here's the whole story for the expansion: the lone survivor of a failed raid group from the new raid has come back to earth to tell everybody that big hive bossman CROTA is coming for us, so now we have to do her laundry list of chores to get ready for the fight. Then go beat up croatato with his one weakness... a sword he keeps five feet away from him held by a wimpy guy a strong wind can push over.

    Oh, but she doesn't actually give you enough gear to go fight him if you do all her chores. Nah she'll give you a secondary weapon and a pair of gloves then tell you to bug off and go GRIND GRIND GRIND for vanguard tokens and the new big crappy token you only get for leveling up vanguard ranks. Oh! but you need the new big token for EVERY GUN they sell now, as well as helms and chestplates, that is, in addition to the same amount of marks you had to give them before.

    OH! did we mention the new vendor purples are actually WORSE than the old ones? They only have 31 more damage, but noticeably worse statistics than the old guns, especially the new vanguard handcannon vs the old one.

    BUT I DIGRESS the fact of the matter is, you shouldn't bother with this. There are so many more enjoyable things you could spend your money on, like a burger or some toilet paper.

    Not to mention this whole stupid thing is an artificial gameplay extender by resetting your grinding for new gear, which is exactly what the next expansion will do, introduce new armor and weapons they expect you to grind up into... really this is a massively stupid plan since it does them no good to keep you playing, they aren't selling you any microtransactions to speed up the grind, so more players just means more server strain/bandwidth used after they have put out the product, so WHY try so hard to artificially extend it's play life? Ah, well.
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  23. Dec 20, 2014
    0
    Destiny was one of the most hyped games of the year. It was truly awful and I will tell you why. The level system is ingrained in everything. Every time you level up, you need to equip new weapons. Certain enemies will be hard one moment but easier to kill a little later because you are a higher level.
  24. Dec 19, 2014
    4
    It's too late for me... I paid for the DLC because I was enjoying the PvP aspect of the game. However, it has been 2 months of PvP disappointment. There is chronic lag that was effecting my gameplay severely. That was resolved and I pre-ordered the DLC. Since then, the chronic lag has been plaguing at least 1/3 of all the players I encounter in every match. Their severe lag makes it nearIt's too late for me... I paid for the DLC because I was enjoying the PvP aspect of the game. However, it has been 2 months of PvP disappointment. There is chronic lag that was effecting my gameplay severely. That was resolved and I pre-ordered the DLC. Since then, the chronic lag has been plaguing at least 1/3 of all the players I encounter in every match. Their severe lag makes it near impossible to kill them and routinely you will find their names at the top of the standings after each match. Bungie has never addressed the lag -- They simply say they are aware that some are having problems. It's nearly impossible to enjoy one hour of PvP without the frustration of severe lag.

    The currency system is trash. It was terrible and now it's just bad... slight improvement I suppose. The problem is that you will grind and grind and grind for nothing. If you didn't buy the DLC you have a brick for a game. If you did buy the DLC you are now in a new grind for glimmer. If you are primarily a PvP player -- you can write this game off for good. The PvP event called Iron Banner awarded us with "epic" gear the three times you could play it. Now with the DLC all of that epic gear is rendered "beta" and you get to start over from scratch because you can't upgrade what was the "best" PvP gear in the game.

    The imbalances for PvP weapons is severe and very punishing to players who don't exploit the imbalances. Suros Regime is a prime example of a weapon that has dominated all of PvP since the very beginning. A token "nerf" did nothing to resolve the imbalance. I wish I could say that was the worst but it's not. Now that the new DLC is out, we are finding that virtually any new weapon in the game is going to wreck all the work you put into previous weapons. Again, the only way to upgrade is via the exotics which, unless you are a no-life neckbeard, you probably only have one and it's not your weapon of choice either.

    It just gets worse and worse as time goes on. As a congratulations from Bungie for buying the new DLC I got some in-game mail with some bonus items. I was excited! I went and opened the mail and found that good old Bungie had awarded me with COMPLETELY WORTHLESS items that were dismantled and thrown away because they could not be used by a single one of my characters. Worse than that, the quality of the items were blue... that's level 20 gear in a game where if you're not level 30 you can't even attempt the elite battles. As a long time fan that was the ultimate slap in the face. How insulting can you get???? I buy your game and you send me thank you mail. In that mail you give me a handful of dog sheeeit! WTF is wrong with you Bungie?

    I have waited all this time to write my review of the game. I know one thing for sure. There are millions and millions of fan boys who have not snapped out of their initial phase of addiction. Many shooter fans are having their very first MMO addiction experience and so they have no idea how bad this game is. They're hooked on the "progression" and because they're new to the MMO effect on the mind, they have no idea that ultimately they are getting bent over. They don't even realize that they are suffering from chronic connection issues. They don't care that Bungie just walled off half of the game and nullified 90% of there invested time. One day they will wake up and learn what most of us MMO players already have.
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  25. Dec 19, 2014
    0
    what a joke… half the new levels are within old areas anyway. it does not feel new or fresh at all. no re-playability. i signed up just so i could write a review on how bad this expansion is
  26. Dec 19, 2014
    0
    $5.00 worth of new content for $20.00 with the added bonus of screwing up the weapons/armor progression. Sadly, you will need to purchase it to keep playing as many of the activities are DLC locked.
  27. Dec 19, 2014
    2
    The fantastic game mechanisms of Destiny are still in tact. But in terms of content added versus price paid, I am seriously dissapointed with this DLC. Same maps, same enemies, superficial overlay story where most cinematic content was release pre-release. New grind nulling past progress. Uninteresting bounties. For someone who is unable to plan life much ahead with 5 other people at rightThe fantastic game mechanisms of Destiny are still in tact. But in terms of content added versus price paid, I am seriously dissapointed with this DLC. Same maps, same enemies, superficial overlay story where most cinematic content was release pre-release. New grind nulling past progress. Uninteresting bounties. For someone who is unable to plan life much ahead with 5 other people at right levels, raid is not interesting but seems to be main real addition. I rely on match making like so many others and don't want to go to web sites to compensate manually for techniques that should be in the game already - randoms are randoms no matter if I find them on community sites or via match making. Expand
  28. Dec 18, 2014
    0
    This is the reason I finally stopped playing Destiny. Forever. I could suffer through the same regurgitated missions, the unskippable cutscenes, the lack of story, plot, content, and purpose, but to make my hard earned level 30 raid gear and all my legendaries and exotics more useless than tower gear - is an unforgivable sin. Id say Good Bye Bungie. But this game isnt even close to good. IThis is the reason I finally stopped playing Destiny. Forever. I could suffer through the same regurgitated missions, the unskippable cutscenes, the lack of story, plot, content, and purpose, but to make my hard earned level 30 raid gear and all my legendaries and exotics more useless than tower gear - is an unforgivable sin. Id say Good Bye Bungie. But this game isnt even close to good. I hope your studio burns to the ground before you entrap more innocent children to your gambling/fashion simulator. Oh also the new raid can be soloed if you are a hunter, and the new missions are done in an hour. GG. Expand
  29. Dec 18, 2014
    2
    Bungie is charging way too much for this DLC it should cost $10 tops. It brings nothing new to the table. The "new" missions take you once more through the same levels… but wait says Bungie; this time you start at the end of the level and make your way through to the beginning.

    Just when I thought the bounties couldn't be more annoying and boring, "Erin" comes up and gives us another
    Bungie is charging way too much for this DLC it should cost $10 tops. It brings nothing new to the table. The "new" missions take you once more through the same levels… but wait says Bungie; this time you start at the end of the level and make your way through to the beginning.

    Just when I thought the bounties couldn't be more annoying and boring, "Erin" comes up and gives us another round of tedious bounties.
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  30. Dec 18, 2014
    0
    I'll make this quick. Another DLC to have a couple of minutes of gameplay. I did it wrong. I trusted again bungie. This game was born bad and will continue again to be awful
Metascore
63

Mixed or average reviews - based on 41 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 41
  2. Negative: 3 out of 41
  1. Games Master UK
    Feb 22, 2015
    79
    An extension of Destiny's triumphs and flaws that ultimately wins us over with its new raid. [Mar 2015, p.68]
  2. Feb 10, 2015
    60
    Once again Bungie has failed to deliver what was expected by most of its following. This DLC's additions to the main game are almost superficial with the repetition, the main flaw of Destiny's design, being its bane.
  3. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Feb 7, 2015
    80
    The Dark Below doesn't revolutionise Destiny's addictive endgame, but the superb new missions and the lure of new gear should tide you over 'til the House of Wolves. [Feb 2015, p.91]