What happened to Destiny? by Grayson Perry

Destiny is a very popular video game series on console that recently expanded to PC. The first game, simply titled Destiny, was released in 2014 and was a massive success that revolutionized gaming due to its combination of the FPS (first person shooter) and RPG/MMO (role playing game/massive multiplayer online) genres. Upon its initial release, it received mixed reviews because of the lackluster story telling in the campaign. However, the reviews grew more positive after release of a few DLC, which dramatically changed the game multiple times, and received astounding reviews from many game critics. Destiny acquired a total of 4 DLC expansions over a span of 3 years, 2014-2016, which kept the game alive for 4 years.

This 4-year span was cut off by Destiny 2, the sequel to Destiny that continued the story of our character. This game was released in late 2017, and many fans from the original Destiny purchased it with high hopes. The marketing team did very well with getting the game noticed, from commercials during a football game to merchandise on shelves of everyday stores. But what ever happened to this game?  

Not many reviews on the game have been positive lately, and the developers of Destiny are looking to change that. Upon D2’s initial release, it was considered by some to be more successful than the entirety of Destiny, but that has changed in a few short months. The game has only had 1 DLC expansion so far, with another promised sometime this spring. This 1^st DLC was highly criticized, with only 4 ½ hours of gameplay in the campaign, which is less than half than that of D2’s original story. Not to mention that the new planet players are allowed to explore is very restricted and doesn’t allow much more gameplay than what’s in the short campaign. All of this with a $20 price tag. Most loyal Destiny fans, including myself, are hurt by this.

Players have been suggesting that Bungie, the developers of Destiny, should have not made a new game. Rather, they should have continued to add DLC and update the original game. In it’s prime, Destiny 2 was popular across Twitch and YouTube, getting millions of views on videos such as gameplay moments, tips, and lore theory videos. Today, the game is merely a thing of the past, and not a thought that comes to mind when one thinks about popular video games. Like most movie and video game sequels today, Destiny would have been better with no sequel at all, but we cannot change the past.

Thankfully Bungie is listening to the community and making changes to the game that are needed. Many updates have been released helping the game in a major way and are reviving the community. Players have started to return to this once beloved game, enjoying D2 for the first time in months. With these returning players, a new expansion set to release soon, and constant updates, hopefully we will be able to see Destiny 2 in all of its glory.