Destiny is a mess in the best possible way 7 years after launch BungieLast week saw the seventh anniversary of the launch of the Destiny franchise, and Bungie\u2019s sci-fi MMO has arguably never been weirder. Back in 2014, I\u2019d started to grow tired of video games. I wasn\u2019t working in the industry then, but it felt like outside of watershed moments like The Last of Us, I was destined to drop out of gaming. Still, as a big Halo fan I jumped into the Destiny beta and came away enraptured \u2013 its world, its style, its loot were all so intoxicating. Once it launched, I found myself logging in with friends and friends of friends, entering the Vault of Glass, slaying other players in the Crucible, and still having absolutely no clue about the overarching storyline outside of its infatuation with proper nouns like \u201cThe Darkness\u201d. I overlooked the lack of a map, the need to go back to the Tower between every activity, and the fact the campaign was half-finished because there was nothing like it. Fast forward seven years, then, and I\u2019m still logging on as many evenings as I can to play Destiny (albeit now Destiny 2). I\u2019m still checking in with Xur on Fridays, and I\u2019m getting rather attached to Trials of Osiris, too. There\u2019s still nothing like it. What is it that makes me, and so many millions more, want to keep returning to this world? Destiny still strikes a chord \u201cGames as a service\u201d has become a little bit like a dirty word for gamers, but to date, there are few that do it as well as Destiny. When I boot up Destiny 2 in 2021, I\u2019m still playing many of the same Strikes and PvP maps as I did when it launched in 2017. A lot of that has to do with Destiny\u2019s phenomenal core gameplay. The act of firing a weapon, or using an ability, or even just jumping, feels right. It\u2019s cliche to say a game makes you feel like a superhuman, perhaps, but Destiny has consistently nailed the feeling of being powerful, of being feared by your enemies. Combat lands somewhere between Halo\u2019s \u201cfloatiness\u201d and the ADS-heavy nature of Call of Duty, with the abilities of an MMO thrown in for good measure, and each part compliments the last. Read more: Everything we know about The Witch Queen – A huge part of that is down to the game\u2019s weapons, which for many are the reason they play. Weapon types and archetypes feel distinct in subtle ways, from recoil to controller vibration, to their reload animations, and there are hundreds, too. Since the franchise began we\u2019ve been subsequently introduced to SMGs, grenade launchers, swords, and even bows, and not one of them feels any less fun to use than the last. That\u2019s no mean feat. The dark times That\u2019s not to say there haven\u2019t been plenty of awkward moments during Destiny\u2019s teenage years, particularly the start of Destiny 2. While Bungie made a big deal about how a second game would need to earn the big \u201c2\u201d, it\u2019d be fair to say its sequel was off to an inauspicious start. Destiny 2 launched with plenty of content from Destiny 1 removed, a lacking endgame, and micro-controversies including slower XP gain and consumable shaders (the latter of which persisted until earlier this year). Worse yet, the game\u2019s first DLC expansion, Curse of Osiris, was dismal \u2013 uninteresting and over too quickly. Read more: Is Destiny 2 worth playing in 2021? – Destiny 2\u2019s approach to additional content has certainly been a sticking point for many. While the base game is now free-to-play (and shorn of much of its launch content), Bungie has released not only annual expansions but three-month season passes, too. It\u2019s a tough spot to be in, with the developer looking for ways to fund more content, while also trying to appease players that have logged thousands of hours and are looking for reasons to invest thousands more. Beating back The Darkness The good news is that right now, those seasons include some of Destiny 2\u2019s best moments. Rather than Bungie pushing players through siloed-off content like the Black Armory Forges or Gambit Prime as seasons did before, seasons are now full of story revelations, intense character moments, and a new series of challenges and rewards every three months. It\u2019s a hell of a model, and while Bungie has undoubtedly made some missteps along the way, Destiny 2 right now (with the expansion content) feels like the promise of games as a service fulfilled. After seven years, Destiny represents so many things to so many people. For some, it\u2019s the memories of 4AM raids where players crossed their fingers and toes for a Gjallarhorn. For others, it\u2019s reaching the Lighthouse after seven wins in a row. For many, it\u2019s just the perfect way to unwind with friends, whatever activity they\u2019re playing. Perhaps that\u2019s the magic of Destiny and Destiny 2, then \u2013 it\u2019s a hodgepodge of constantly shifting content all tuned to be played through with friends. For me, it\u2019s the game that reignited a love of gaming and kickstarted a career in games media. Happy birthday, Destiny. You did good, kid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Destiny is a mess in the best possible way 7 years after launch BungieLast week saw the seventh anniversary of the launch of the Destiny franchise, and Bungie\u2019s sci-fi MMO has arguably never been weirder. Back in 2014, I\u2019d started to grow tired of video games. I wasn\u2019t working in the industry then, but it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40713\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}