- Destiny is coming to mobile as Destiny: Rising and we have a wishlist
- NetEase has an opportunity to make a mark on the Destiny franchise
- We’re hoping the expensive expansions far away – back on consoles
With the news that NetEase Games is developing a mobile game in Bungie’s space-faring shooter series – no, the other one – our minds are whirling with what we want out of Destiny: Rising. To be fair, there is a lot, but we have whittled it down to five key points we hope to get included, or in the case of the last one, something we want to burn in a massive fire.
A proper Destiny experience
Let’s start with the big thing; we want the total Destiny experience, nothing watered down. The fun of Destiny is the hectic gunfights and epic bosses where you need to keep moving, shooting, and whipping out massive skills. Right now all we know is that this mobile version will be an RPG shooter, but that is a wide net.
Digital Extremes has proven that we can have a fast-paced shooter with big worlds and constant action with the Warframe mobile port, and one look at NetEase’s portfolio shows they have the chops to pull it off. We need the Destiny on mobile, not a stripped-back version.
New classes
In the ten years that we have had the Destiny IP, we have had the same three classes; Hunter, Titan, and Warlock. They each have six subclasses and they are undoubtedly fun – I adore my Arcstrider Hunter no end – but after ten years they are starting to get a little stale. It might be time to add to the roster.
Boiling it down, we have a tank, a mage, and a rogue – more or less. We don’t need to hit all the classic archetypes, and we definitely don’t need a bloated roster, but a new approach might be nice. Something like a dedicated support class perhaps, or even mix it up with a pure melee. It goes against the core gameplay, yes, but it could be pretty fun constantly zipping around the battlefield as a whirly tornado of doom.
Maintain the quality of the narrative
Besides the combat, what really stands out in Destiny is its narrative and characters. It might be a sin to say, but I prefer the storytelling Bungie did in this series way more than their other work, including Halo. It has deep, interesting lore, a gripping story, and far more memorable characters.
Destiny: Rising is licensed by Bungie, but all the power seems to be in NetEase’s hands as both publisher and developer. They are going to need to step up and treat this franchise with the respect it deserves. It can’t just be a shooter with a Destiny paint job, we need a faithful adaption of the lore, hopefully with some intriguing original additions.
Make their own massive impact on the Destiny lore
With Destiny: Rising taking place in an alternate universe, NetEase has been given a blank cheque to do whatever they want, in effect. They have this established world to build from, but that is the key phase – build from. Very few developers have the opportunity to work this freely with a guaranteed home run, so they need to make it their own.
They have chosen a really good time too; right in the aftermath of the Collapse. Seeing humanity on the brink before the City and before the Guardians could be a truly thrilling story. NetEase has the opportunity to out-Destiny Bungie, and that’s what Rising could be. They can take the Dark Age and put their own massive stamp on it; this is ours Bungie, hands off. This is their universe to shape, and I hope they take what already exists and build something distinct with it rather than relying too heavily on what’s come before.
Don’t continue the aggressive monetization
We have looked at what we want, but there is one thing I am begging not to have, and that is Destiny’s expansion and season racket. Let’s look at Destiny 2, first released in 2017 as a paid game before switching to free-to-play a few years later. Since then there has been nearly one full-priced expansion per year, on top of four seasons that you need to pay for to get the most out of what you have already paid for.
What’s worse, these expansions cycle out, so you could have dropped the value of a full game on The Witch Queen, only to now not be able to enjoy the content. This right here is what drove me away from Destiny 2, and I pray to whatever is out there that it doesn’t happen here too. By all means, monetise cosmetics or maybe even a gun or two, but don’t be greedy again.
NetEase has stepped into a role that has a lot of responsibility, and a lot that could be wrong. However, with the likes of Lost Light and Once Human in their arsenal, it feels like Destiny is in safe hands. We could add a lot more to the wishlist, but at the end of the day, we just want Destiny: Rising to be the fantasy core game but on mobile. Warframe proves it is possible, so just give us that.
