Ah, welcome back Guardians. Have you missed us? Well, regardless of how you feel, you picked a good time to come back. While you were away, some of the enemy factions seem to have gotten a nice little boost and we’ve also got something shaking up the world. Let’s get you up to speed with the new Year 3 changes in Destiny: Rise of Iron.

If you’re a campaign lover like myself, you’re going to love the new additions in Rise of Iron. There’s plenty of love packed in for those solo player lovers, but there’s also a good package of content for everyone else looking to dive back into Destiny. For players who enjoy a good narrative, we’ve got some new campaign missions and cinematic storytelling for the tale of the Iron Lords. Completing these gives players access to a brand new social area in the form of the Iron Temple, where the Iron Lords gather. Here players can check out some different items from Tyra, a cryptarch, as well as Shiro, a vanguard scout. You’re even allowed access to a new exploration area known as the Plaguelands, which features a new enemy type known as the Splicers. You’ll be rewarded for completing the quests of course, and some of them are pretty exciting, such as the Record Book, Archon’s Forge, and the Gjallarhorn. The Record Book is kind of self-explanatory: It tracks your progress and gives you an idea of what you’ve done. The Forge gives players access to unique new gear if they complete one of the difficulties of it. The Forge features three difficulties: Fused Siva, Enhanced Siva, and Perfect Siva offerings. You can perform multiple runs of any tier, so knock yourself out. If you’re wondering about the Gjallarhorn, just know it’s an incredibly devastating weapon that you’ll be very pleased to get. Trust me on this.

The campaign stuff is great, but it’s not the only thing for players to enjoy. There’s a new Strike playlist called the SIVA Crisis playlist and in this mode, Strike bosses now drop a Skeleton Key. You can use this key to unlock a special Strike Hoard chest to obtain unique loot from a Strike. You’ll only see Strike Hoard chests in high-level Strikes, however. As a plus, bosses from all Nightfall Strikes have a chance to drop Skeleton Keys, too. Don’t forget about them!

Strikes are fun and all, but I’m sure some of you are mostly excited for a new Raid, right? Worry not, for you have not been forgotten. With Rise of Iron comes a new high level Raid called Wrath of the Machine. This raid has a recommended Light level of 370 and with the new cap of 385, you might want to get higher than that recommended level if you’d like a fair chance at doing anything useful. Upon completion, you’ve got a chance at some great new Wrath of the Machine gear and you can upgrade it by using SIVA key fragments purchasable from Shiro at the Iron Temple. A pretty nice reward for a pretty nice challenge.

PvP players will be excited to duke it out on the new Crucible maps. Yes, yes, you get some love too, guys. Three new maps have been added and they are Last Exit, Floating Gardens, and Skyline. If you’re not excited enough about the maps, you’ve got some incentive to give them a fair chance. With the maps comes a new Crucible mode for everyone to try: Supremacy. This is a new objective based mode which can be played in either 6v6 or rumble format. In this mode, players are rewarded points for capturing a medal after killing an opponent. You can also capture your ally’s medals to prevent the enemy team from scoring points. Get out there and get those medals! Then go buy some new gear with all your Crucible points.

Rise of Iron, in a nutshell, is a pretty nice content update to give you some more playtime out of Destiny. The story is pretty interesting, but I’m always a sucker for story anyway, so I’m a bit biased. Even if you’re not really thrilled by the campaign stuff, there’s still plenty of content for everyone. The high level Siva strikes and the Wrath of the Machine raid will definitely have you hyped, but it’s far from being a walk in the park. I kind of wish I had new gear going into the missions just to improve my odds, but where’s the fun in that? Also, let’s not forget the new Crucible maps and game mode. There’s always a unique rush from challenging other players in PvP environments, and we’ve definitely got a reason to jump back into the fray thanks to the new game mode and maps. Regardless of what you enjoy, you’ll be able to get a nice taste of it with Rise of Iron.

Activision provided me with a copy of the game for review. The opinions I share are my own.