Blogs
on December 6, 2025
Playing Destiny 2 with others is what makes the game so enjoyable. Destiny 2 may have widened the pool, but everyone must stay in their lanes. Seeing a game like FFXIV pull off cross-play so effortlessly makes one wonder why Bungie couldn’t pull this same move. Part of it has to do with licensing agreements, but dividing Guardians is a sure way to push those same Guardians out. If a group of friends wants to play Destiny 2 together, but they all have different platforms, then why should they play at all? Much of the content in Destiny 2 is built on the idea of social play, even more so than Destiny, it just comes with limiters. Those limits are hurting Destiny 2.
Bungie is not the same developer that created Halo; that much has been clear ever since the early days of Destiny 1. Ever since Destiny 2 was announced, though, it’s as if they’re not even the same developer that made Destiny 1. The first Destiny 2 machine gun had many flaws, as did the company that made it, but Bungie made up for those flaws with real improvements to the game and a passion for it that poured through their announcements, trailers and developer diaries. Fans were willing to stick around because they could feel that passion and the game really did get better.
Shaders, ships and sparrows, which could all be obtained as rewards in the Destiny 1 era, are tied to Destiny 2’s microtransaction system. Sure, common and rare shaders can be found be exploring the different worlds, but the most desirable shaders are all locked behind microtransactions and are now single use. It’s cool that shaders can now be individually placed on each piece of armor or weapon, but turning them into one-time consumables tied to microtransactions is terrible. Swapping shaders in and out in Destiny 1 was a fun piece of customization, but Destiny 2 strips that away.
Where does Destiny 2 go from here? Curse of Osiris, much like previous Destiny DLCs before it, is more of the same. It can barely hold a spotlight on Osiris, who’s supposed to be one of the most important Guardians and it leaves more questions than it answers. Destiny 2 might be in more of a state of flux than Destiny. It wants to appeal to everyone. Casting such a wide net means knots, holes and all sorts of other problems.
Assassin’s Creed II, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Mass Effect 2 are some of the greatest sequels of all time, but why? Each of these games had a flawed predecessor that showed great promise, which the developers were able to take and refine into strengths. With Destiny 2, Bungie is looking to achieve something similar. After three years of growing pains throughout the Destiny 1 era, the developer is finally ready to look to the future with a numbered sequel. With an actual campaign, new worlds to explore and an update to the game’s progression systems, is Destiny 2 the sequel fans deserve or is the number at the end warrantless?
Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls were easily two of my favorite games to have hit the last generation of consoles, so when From Software announced a "direct" sequel, my anticipation was palpable. Somehow, From Software is able to create some of the most grueling, most depressing worlds out there, while at the same time urges us to venture forth. While there are some hitbox issues that can add to the frustration, the bosses, environments and enemies are all well throughout, along with an incredibly intriguing hidden storyline that ties directly into the past game. It’s almost as if the developers deliberately set up scenarios to screw over players, but we took it and enjoy every minute of it.
Destiny is a game with strong lore that does a poor job of presenting it to players. Though Bungie vastly improved the game's story elements in The Taken King and Rise of Iron, it's with Destiny 2 where the developer is looking to make it's biggest strides yet. Featuring a full-fledged campaign, Adventures that tell their own sidestory and new lore items, the story team in Bellevue, Washington have had their hands busy. We got to sit down the Matthew Ward and Jason Harris, members of the Story and Cinematics team to discuss Destiny 2's plot.
Casual players are the single largest audience in gaming; there’s no getting around it. This is the audience that every major publisher wants to appeal to; the one group that every development studio hopes will latch onto their game. After all, capturing the attention of the casual or mainstream audience usually means massive success and wondrous profit. So it’s understandable that they, publishers especially, would have a vested interest in making their games more accessible and appealing to that audience. Making that appeal often means simplification. The simpler the game is, the more accessible it is, the more mainstream appeal it can have. While there’s nothing innately wrong with making one’s game more accessible to the wider gaming audience, doing so always comes at a cost. Just as a game cannot be both simple and complex, neither can it simultaneously serve its niche and successfully appeal to the mainstream audience. Therefore compromises must be made, usually ones that rob the game of what made it special in the first place.