Destiny: Rising is an enormous game for a mobile title, and despite being based on an already established franchise, it has managed to acquire its own distinctive identity. There are many things this game does better than the acclaimed franchise created by Bungie, and players are discovering a whole new way to play Destiny alongside their friends.
This list spotlights all the things Destiny: Rising does better than Destiny 2. From exploration mechanics and activity payoffs, to character build-craft and introduction of weapons to the game: Discover all the things this mobile title has to offer and what this means for the future of the Destiny franchise.
‘The Dark Ages were Wild Times‘ is a phrase that many Destiny players have heard at some point throughout their careers as Guardians of the Last City. Everyone at some point had touched ground with the Lore of the Traveler, the Golden Age, and the Collapse, and has dived into the tumultuous time period known as the Dark Age. Well, Destiny: Rising dared to go into this time period, and unbottled a hurricane of raw narrative potential.
With legendary characters like Lord Radegast or Lady Skorri roaming around, it is hard for players not to feel part of the beginning of the legend. Even their old pal Drifter makes a cameo, right there, outside ‘his bar’, organizing Shadowshaper Duels (Destiny’s version of Gwent) for all players to enjoy. In the timeline, the Dark Ages lasted for around 800 years, which means there are thousands of stories to tell, if Destiny: Rising plays its cards right, they are about to begin a new (old) era for the beloved franchise, bringing the game to new audiences and Veteran Guardians looking to reconnect with the essence of Destiny.
Let’s be honest for a second: Destiny players have been asking for Dual-Wielding Pistols, and a new category of weapons between Legendary and Exotic for years. Destiny: Rising did what the players asked, though the way how weapons work in the Dark Ages is a little bit different than what players are used to. For starters, not all characters can use the same weapons (except some who share weapon archetypes), and Dual-Wielding is limited to Gwynn, one of the hardest Lightbearers to unlock due to the merciless RNG of the Gacha System.
Destiny: Rising devs did a great job at simplifying the weapon system by eliminating Special Ammo (now there’s only Power Ammo for big weapons, the rest have infinite ammo, including Fusion Rifles and Grenade Launchers). At the same time, they added a new layer of complexity where it matters: Payoffs. Mythical weapons are a new goal between Legendary and Exotic weapons, and are a new avenue of untapped potential for the franchise that deserves to be explored further.
The world of Destiny: Rising has managed to maintain the esthetics of the original games, while also acquiring a very distinctive personality thanks to its character designs. Lightbearers (not called Guardians yet) from the Dark Ages look powerful, vicious, but also cool and human in the best meaning of the word.
Each of them has its own tale to tell, and even known characters like Ikora show an unexplored side that grants players the possibility to explore this timeline in good company. Some legendary beings, like Lord Radegast, are depicted as more than simple shadows of the past: They are flawed, living and breathing beings. Not just a couple of paragraphs in a forgotten lore entry.
While Destiny 2 maintains its reign over buildcraft with 6 Different specializations and 3 classes to pick from (not to mention all the Fragments and Aspects), Destiny: Rising gave it a new spin with its Artifact and Ability tree system, which is different for every character. Every Lightbearer has its own Relic (weapon) that they wield with extreme prejudice (even Ikora has its own weird Void Artifact).
Characters like Wolf with its fire blade offer a new perspective on the potential of a Hunter subclass mixed with Warlock, since it carries a sword augmented with light that he can wield in the likeness of a Dawnblade Warlock. Other characters like Gwynn offer a totally drastic perspective to what players are accustomed to seeing in a Void Warlock, with a combination of great melee coverage and wicked Scythe combos. In other words, Classes don’t really matter anymore; what matters is the identity players choose to assume from the many avatars Destiny: Rising has available. And each of them has its own distinctive playstyle.
Another thing that might surprise players (or perhaps catch them off guard) is the wide array of activities the game has associated to exploration, farming, and materials for buildcraft. Destiny: Rising seems to have drawn a map that traces from the point in time where Destiny 2 decided to deprecate Destination Materials and gave it a new spin. Players will not only collect those Mats to use as currency, but also collect Rumors, pieces of information they can use to unlock secondary objectives, side-quests, and more.
They can also look for hidden loot using scanners, or break sequences of Fallen Drones to access lootable caches, and even take snapshots of the scenery to gather intelligence on the region. All these are related to farming the premium currency named Lumia Leaves to draw more characters from the gacha game. Each time players go out to any of the destinations available, there will be something to do that feels just right for the moment. Like Daily Reputation tasks, frontline battles against invading Fallen forces, and of course, Public Events.
One of the things that matters most when creating a Clan in a game with MMORPG characteristics is that they need to work for a common goal, and there has to be some kind of incentive or reward for those clans who seek to reinforce that sense of community. Lineage II and Guild Wars 2 are fine examples of games with cool Clan mechanics. So, why does Destiny 2 not have something similar?
Destiny: Rising presents a new type of clans named ‘Packs,’ where Lightbearers can gather, build their own base, improve their buildings (Hangar, Drill, and Shooting Gallery), train together, and actually conduct survey missions, helping each other while constantly earning payoffs for discovering new areas and resource nodes around their bases. Pretty cool system. Packs are more than just simple people to party with: They are true Clans as they were always intended to be.
NetEase Games
NetEase Games
Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
Destiny
