The current epoch of triple - A games as we know it today was work up on the 2010s . Some of these blockbuster titles went away almost as shortly as they come , some arestill aroundto this twenty-four hours , others were eventually shelved in favor of spiritual sequels . And then there’sDestiny , Bungie ’s sci - fi shooter tangle in a frequent cycle of adventurous hope and galling disappointment . To know this biz is to know what big studio ( and the publisher impound to them ) have become , for sound and for worse .
Before releasing on September 9 , 2014 for the PlayStation 3 and 4 , Xbox One , and Xbox 360 , the originalDestinyhad a pile of hype . As Bungie ’s first game surveil its 10 - yearHalostint and subsequent split from Microsoft , all eyes were on this odd new multiplayer - centric beast . Colorado - op shooters and MMOs had be separately before then , but they had n’t really been blended together in quite this elbow room , rent alone on consoles . More considerably , it was a fresh , big dimension coming into the current contemporaries , and its marketing promised something new and exciting . In that promotional blitz oflive - action trailersand frequent hypebuilding , you could see how other triplex - A games would follow courting over the years , and that makes it all the more sad thatDestinydidn’t fully hold out up to those dreams .
That ’s not to say it ’s bad ; it was a square shooter with pretty full combat and decorous RPG automobile mechanic under the hood . But it was clean-cut that something hadhappened , even before role player and diary keeper started digging for entropy . The story just suddenly finish ( and was n’t terribly engaging in general ) , the endgame had too much grind , and there could be too much asked of players . But a good founding goes a long fashion , and the allure of the future keep histrion commit enough to see what would hail next .
© Bungie
Ultimately , that big step came withThe Taken Kingin 2015 . The expanding upon holds a special place in participant ’ hearts , and laid the capital base forDestinyas we now know it . Its changes and overhauls were numerous , but its biggest encroachment was how it honor players who stuck around for the farseeing draw . remove , along withFinal Fantasy XIV’ssoft rebootA Realm Reborn , are often touted as gold criterion of troubled online games that redeemed themselves in the eyes of their various community . WithoutTaken King , Destinyprobably does n’t exist any longer , and with it , the hot - serving musical genre ends essentially as soon as it begins . Or at the very least , another biz takes its blank space that the industry seek to replicate .
If that sound hyperbolic , it really is n’t . In the decade since the originalDestiny(and specially since its 2017 sequel ) , there ’ve been so many clones or would - be slayer : Anthem , First Descendant , Concord , Marvel ’s Avengers , Suicide Squad , The Division , Outriders , and more . Some of these were well - receive by players , others were not ; some I liked and adorn a skilful amount of clock time in , others I fell off and did n’t really look back . These game in the main focused on replicatingDestiny’s“get shooter , numeral go up ” loop topology without understanding that ’s only part of the equation . And “ misinterpret ” really is what did in many of the games listed here : their developers either had no business making multiplayer games or did n’t want to recognise the game whose treetop they were clearly come for , when doing so would ’ve been more beneficial to fully understanding whatDestinyactually is .
Yes , Bungie made two game with some damn good robbery and shot , and its combat sings when everything click together . But you experience what elseDestiny’sgot ? A sensation of place , and genuine flavor for its place setting and characers . It ’s gotgreat musicand a willingness to embrace its own bullshit . When it ’s not having a major supporting characterwax poeticabout traveling the extragalactic nebula with his husband , it ’s got a human being with tentacle for a face hosting a biz show with acosmic horsehe has to double check he ’s not hallucinating . Its high are high in a way that makes it stand out and justify descend back to again and again . By and big , Destinyhas done its matter with conviction and gusto . It ’s further helped by succeeding in a core area its impersonator have n’t : Bungie ’s chronicle campaigns palpate made with single - actor as a priority instead of a begrudging acceptance that a full three or four - person squad is n’t around .
©Bungie
Destinyis a game all about big businessman phantasy , and in late 2023 , it and its community of interests were collide with with a laborious window pane of world when Bungielaid offits faculty . At the time , it was attributed to waning interest inDestiny 2and the mixed reaction to its 2023 expansion , Lightfall . Once that fling look in the armor , all hopes were laid on this year’sThe Final Shapeas the saving grace of God that would let the studio carry on making this , its origin shooter take onMarathon , and continue its own matter from parent company PlayStation . But not long afterShapelaunched and seemingly attain it off big with the community , another blow came:220 more developerswere tailor , Bungie would be more integrated into Sony Interactive ’s ecosystem , andDestiny 2would be getting smaller content going forward . Aplanned spinoffwas scrapped , and long - metre staff were now gone as a result of the cuts .
The layoff and subsequent information we learned felt like a real shock since on the surface , it seemed Bungie ’s stave had done everything to do right by players withFinal Shape . alternatively , the expanding upon shed light on an frightful truth about the studio and the the great unwashed at the top , to the point that thespian and ex - Bungie faculty were demanding current CEOPete Parsonsstep down . The entire games manufacture has been shoot with layoff since 2023 and reckoning with fiscal overextending from the other pandemic days , but some of the damage was done well before then , and in response toDestiny’ssuccess . If publishers were n’t actively chasing it with a pillage - shooter of their own , they were looking for something that could graze in just as much money trying to gainsay fellow big live gamesFortniteorGTA Online , or with a hoagie shooter .
For a series that often jerk role player between the spectrum of “ it ’s over ” and “ we ’re so back,”Destinymay have off a new peak of the former with recent events . Things will turn themselves around over time , as they always do . But between this and the fashion bouncy - service game begun to fall down more and more out of favor , it feels like the franchise is cut through what stay on recreate it has stock up up and taking the studio apartment with it . In a gumption , Destinyhas ultimately survive up to its original tagline andbecome a legendfor Bungie and the industry as a whole . But how that legend in the end terminate stay as unclear as it did a decennium ago when Bungie first shed light on the game .
© Bungie/PlayStation
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