I am standing within the Skywatch space of the Cosmodrome, Previous Russia, in Destiny 2, with a number of different random gamers, and we’re ready for enemies to spawn. A Hive Tomb ship seems within the sky proper over my head and drops off precisely two enemies, and I blast away at them with a machine gun. The opposite gamers dash over, swooping in like hawks, however I handle to snag the 2 kills earlier than they’ll, in order that they soar again onto rooftops and boulders to attend for the following batch of baddies and check out once more. A lot of lengthy, boring seconds cross earlier than any extra enemies spawn and all of us repeat the scramble.
I am taking pictures these explicit fish on this explicit barrel as a result of it is a requirement to unlock the Legend title, a social marker of in-game achievements that seems beneath your identify. One other participant getting a kill means I do not, so we’re all competing in opposition to one another to spend the least period of time right here. Developer Bungie added this title to the sport in honor of the tenth anniversary of the unique Destiny, and the target I am engaged on is a joking nod to the early days of that sport. We’ve to kill a bunch of enemies within the Skywatch and loot “engrams,” or weapon/armor drops, from them.
See, again when Destiny launched in 2014, the grind to extend your degree and attain the necessities for its endgame content–the Vault of Glass raid–was terrible. After a sure level, your energy was decided by the stats in your gear, so that you had been all the time chasing weapons and armor with increased ranges. Gear was dolled out stingily; you could possibly get it from taking part in Strike missions, however solely in unpredictable suits and begins, and from random drops whenever you killed aliens. However the gear was by no means assured to be higher than what you already had.
Then gamers found the Loot Cave, a spot within the Cosmodrome’s Skywatch the place enemies would spawn nearly endlessly in the event you killed them quick sufficient. So all of us stood on a rock within the Skywatch, which was the proper distance from the cave to maintain from interfering with the spawn charges, and simply shot into the group. Engrams would drop randomly, however there have been so many enemies that this elevated the drop price from annoyingly uncommon to stupidly bountiful. This was nonetheless extremely boring, however it was at the least extra environment friendly than taking part in the identical few Strikes time and again and getting nothing in your efforts.
Again in right this moment’s Skywatch, I am standing on a rock and ready for enemies to seem, which they do in larger or lesser numbers, for about half an hour. In that point, precisely one engram drops. I seize it, hoping I am completed with this uninspired callback to the worst of Destiny, and test my progress: 7%. I want one other 13 engrams.
Yup, I believe. This appears like Destiny.
In the event you advised me this Skywatch goal was a straight-up troll on the Destiny neighborhood for the Loot Cave, I would imagine you. Considering the roughly three hours I would must spend to finish this, I may see it being an excellent prank, if it appeared like there was a punch line in there someplace. However Bungie already made this joke in a funnier and extra intelligent method with the Grasp of Avarice dungeon through the studio’s thirtieth Anniversary–an occasion that felt like a real celebration.
More likely, nevertheless, is that the engram drop price only a silly oversight that turns one thing enjoyable into one thing disappointing–and since Bungie says it’ll tweak enemy density in the Skywatch, plainly’s the case. One thing enjoyable turning out to be one thing disappointing is in step with the remainder of Destiny’s 10-year anniversary, although.
There’s subsequent to nothing on supply to mark Destiny’s tenth yr, the truth is. On September 9, the precise anniversary of Destiny’s launch, Bungie added 5 secret chests you could possibly uncover within the Pale Coronary heart of the Traveler location, all of that are barely hidden, and which offer you a set of armor impressed by appears to be like from the unique sport’s idea artwork. And there is the aforementioned title, which you’ll unlock by finishing a number of aims that recall the unique sport in some barely nostalgic methods, however largely simply embrace carrying the armor and taking part in some activities–the Skywatch goal is by far essentially the most arduous, and in the end, that’ll see a repair. Titles are most attention-grabbing after they’re powerful to earn or require you to do novel issues to get them, however the Legend title is very easy to nab (once more, three hours of boredom however) that it is uncertain anybody would ever hassle utilizing it.
Incomes the title does include a form of celebratory reward–like with the thirtieth Anniversary, you get the chance to preorder a limited-edition Destiny Nerf gun, which is, admittedly, fairly cool (though an artist accused Bungie on Twitter/X of stealing their design for a bodily model of the in-game weapon, created some 9 years in the past). Disclosure: I purchased the Nerf Gjallarhorn final time this occurred, and remorse nothing.
However there’s nothing to purchase within the in-game Eververse retailer; there aren’t any in-game occasions commemorating the second; and there may be little or no motive to care, general.
That feels extremely bizarre. It is true that that is the anniversary of Destiny and never Destiny 2, the sport we’re taking part in now, however within the ways in which matter most, the excellence actually simply comes right down to the quantity on the box–overall, the entire thing is, actually, simply Destiny.
What’s extra, we simply noticed the end result of the Gentle and Darkness Saga, the story that first started on September 9, 2014, with what might need been the most effective hunk of Destiny content material Bungie has made. With The Last Form, Destiny 2 felt prefer it was lastly reaching what Bungie had all the time wished Destiny to be–combining enjoyable shooter fundamentals with a wierd and interesting world straightforward to get misplaced in, populated by attention-grabbing characters telling emotional tales.
This needs to be Bungie’s victory lap. As an alternative, folks appear to be wandering out of the stadium and heading to their automobiles.
Again when Bungie first introduced the sport, it did so citing a 10-year journey for gamers, and on the time, that appeared a bit ludicrous. However right here we’re, taking the ultimate steps, and the journey has been, in lots of methods, fairly unbelievable. You do not have to be a fan or participant to acknowledge that, when it comes to longevity, recognition, improvement, and affect, Destiny is in a class occupied by few others. It has invented and reinvented itself repeatedly, evolving towards what was envisioned from the beginning over the course of a decade, and repeatedly dodging the accusation of being a “useless sport.” Its success has had an outsized impact on the bigger gaming industry–often for the more severe, as occurs when companies chase trends–and continues to point out what might be thrilling in regards to the idea of a “stay sport.”
And actually, there simply aren’t that many cases of a decade-long legacy like what’s occurred with Destiny. There are different MMOs on this membership, definitely, and multiplayer video games like Workforce Fortress 2 or Counter-Strike 2. It would not take lengthy earlier than you are speaking about collection and franchises, although, model names hooked up to video games and sequels releasing for years. The Destiny tenth anniversary, regardless of its semantic weirdnesses of together with a technical sequel, continues to be a uncommon accomplishment.
But regardless of the studio and the neighborhood taking a decade-long journey collectively, there’s nearly nothing to commemorate it. I am standing within the Skywatch, taking pictures two enemies per minute, attempting to unlock a title I am going to by no means use as a result of it feels prefer it was thrown collectively on the final second and indicative of nothing about my time spent with this sport. Disclosure: I will not be shopping for the Nerf gun this time.
It would not appear a lot of a stretch to invest as to why Destiny’s tenth anniversary feels slapdash. Bungie reduce round 220 folks in July, lower than two months after releasing The Last Form. That spherical of layoffs included a bunch of key expertise, starting from longtime executives to members of the writing workers who had helped to develop Destiny 2 into one thing that felt like extra than simply one other stay sport. Bungie had fired round 100 folks lower than a yr earlier than in November as effectively.
Actually, what’s there to have fun? Participant counts are down following The Last Form, considerably greater than the standard ebb following the excessive of an growth, and The Final Shape reportedly sold less well than Lightfall, the growth earlier than it. After buying Bungie for $3.6 billion in 2022, Sony appears primed to make additional modifications or cuts to the studio going ahead. What appeared like a brilliant future for the Destiny franchise lower than two years in the past now could be a lot, a lot darker, regardless of Bungie laying out a free take a look at the following year-plus of Destiny 2 in a collection of weblog posts dropped this previous Monday alongside the in-game replace.
A lackluster, barely acknowledged anniversary is what occurs whenever you lay off an enormous chunk of your staff, proper on the top of your sport franchise.
Each time I discuss in regards to the authentic Destiny, I really feel honor-bound to loudly admit that I did not very like it, and to debate how a lot that place modified over time. As Bungie discovered the stride in Destiny and Destiny 2, ironing out its worst, most grindy instincts, slicing the time-wasting busywork, and leaning into the distinctive, enjoyable strangeness of what it had created, I preferred it an increasing number of.
Sure, Destiny nonetheless typically encompasses the numerous problems with live-service endlessly video games, outlined by the necessity to hold gamers on an limitless treadmill of upward mobility in order that they’ll spend a couple of bucks on microtransactions, however it additionally encompasses the most effective concepts, too. It may inform fascinating tales that took benefit of its sprawling world and deep lore. It was typically immersive and fantastical in methods few different video games could possibly be. It showered us with creative challenges of gameplay and teamwork that I have not seen matched in some other sport. Destiny began as one thing attention-grabbing, however it grew to become one thing notable, and infrequently laudable, within the medium of video games.
There are two extra episodes of content material coming to Destiny 2 and expansions deliberate by way of 2025, so regardless of the large chilling impact but extra layoffs have had on the Destiny neighborhood and Bungie itself, it is untimely to say that there is no such thing as a future for Destiny. Nevertheless it’s 10 years on, and I am standing within the Skywatch, ready for enemies to spawn, questioning if the way forward for Destiny will look a lot completely different from the previous.