Played on a Samsung S24 Ultra
When NetEase paid Bungie $100 million in 2018 for the rights to use the Destiny franchise in a mobile game, I had immediate concerns about the monetization tactics we’d likely see. Destiny has already built a reputation for toeing the line between offering engaging content and pushing the boundaries of fair pricing, with elements like dungeon keys and the perceived value of its Season Passes and expansions sparking plenty of debate. So, hearing that NetEase would handle this new mobile venture was hardly reassuring. Fast forward to Destiny Rising, and my worries were validated. NetEase has taken Destiny’s familiar monetization strategies a step further, integrating gacha mechanics that feel excessive, even for this franchise. Personally, I’ve never been a fan of gacha systems, and Destiny Rising reminds me why. The paywalls placed on core progress are not just frustrating; they’re a barrier to the experience itself, doubling down on a model that many players find inherently off-putting.
I want to talk about what’s good about Destiny Rising, some elements Bungie can learn from NetEase and what I REALLY hate about this game. First, the games presentation is excellent. I have the S24 Ultra and running the settings at max I find it to look very handsome. I was surprised by the level of scope they managed to maintain in comparison to Destiny 2 – Patrol Areas are expansive and wide, layered with detail and things to do, the mission structures are intricate and varied with platforming and mechanics, alongside some surprising level of animations and cutscenes. Of course, you won’t find the same level of enemy variety and density – you’ll likely see the same 2 or 3 types of Fallen and Hive bundled in groups of 3’s, but for a mobile game it is near PS3 quality overall. Gunplay, while at first clunky, managed to feel really good over time with some minor tweaks. There are some latency issues of course, no idea why given the Bluetooth connection type on this phone, but it’s there. There’s no sliding or crouching but overall, I think NetEase actually managed to keep the feel of Destiny very well. Oh – of course you can switch between Third Person and First Person, which I think is cool – but I find 3rd to be a bit clunky, so I opted for the traditional (and far superior) 1st person perspective.
The Golden Age
Several things I think Bungie should take from Destiny Rising is first, pinging. I love pinging, I don’t know why it’s not in Destiny 2 yet – like, seriously. You also have the option to talk to a slew of NPC’s which often gives you side missions to complete which is cool. NPC’s will periodically join you in missions and actually shoot things – which isn’t that effective, but it’s something entirely absent in Destiny 2, say for a couple of one offs like Saint-14 popping a bubble for you. And of course the idea of pre-determined characters you can choose – or at the very least have stylized subclasses for everyone instead of what we have already – meaning selecting a sort of fighting style that imbues light into your weapons is a cool concept. Kabr, who is an established Guardian in the main timeline of Destiny, uses a Shield to pulse an arc wave towards an enemy – which I find that aesthetically great.
The characters you will be gathering are predetermined with set abilities and weapons – it’s not like Destiny 2 where all Warlocks have a Well to summon or grenade types being the same – those buttons are now mapped with 2 seperate unique abilities with set subclass elements. That means what could have been your grenade button is now a solar dash attack that can chain multiple times, scorching enemies in the process and weakening them to deal double damage – or instead you void blast an area, pulling enemies in and stacking void orbs to deal additional damage. At base level, it’s welcoming to play as unique characters that manipulates the Light in their own way, and I can see this working in conjunction with Destiny 2 at some point. Whats also really good here is the amount of content that’s available day 1. I don’t know to what extent the Alpha is going for, but I managed to play pretty much all that is available except the 6-man activity, and my favorite one is being the rouge-lite activity through Xur. You go through a gauntlet of missions that range between activating something to clearing rooms, getting more difficult as you progress, with each section giving you upgrades to further embolden or punish for greater rewards. It’s simplistic but works really well for the most part.
While you can experience pretty much all there is to offer early on, you quickly realize that better variants of these modes are locked behind level progression, and in order to level up you need materials – where would you get these materials you ask? Strikes, Patrols, Xur’s Activity, ect – but only a certain amount until you are directed to gathering through lootboxes. And this is where things collapse for me.
The First Collapse
Oh man, don’t get me started with the story and dialogue in this game. It is terrible – just awful. No amount of cutscenes and great animation will justify AI generated voice acting (I know it’s confirmed through their Discord that it is a placeholder) but that doesn’t mean much when the actual voiced characters are pretty bland to begin with. There are dialogue interactions like “Yo newbie, welcome to Haven” in a setting that’s thematically supposed to be in the Dark Ages – which I know this is technically the future, but when you’re touting a medieval mood, this just doesn’t sit well. This level of cringe spans throughout the story of this alternate timeline. This makes me a bit sad though, because there is a lot to love here, if Bungie were the developers making this game with their design philosophy. What Destiny Rising proves me to is that you CAN have a Destiny experience on mobile.
You do not get stronger traditionally here. You won’t get exp after killing mobs or clearing activities – everything is tied to materials. Your weapons need weapon parts from dismantled weapons, higher tiered weapons would net you upgrade materials that corresponds with the WEAPON TYPE(!!!) – no it’s not like an Upgrade Module like Destiny 2 that can be used on ANY weapon, here it’s per weapon type you’ll need, and a lot of it. They’re easy enough to find, until you hit Weapon Level 5, then you will need several stacks of it. Forget about it if you’re leveling Exotics – which you actually get one early on, from a Campaign Mission for your first character, Wolf. It’s a handsome looking grenade launcher called Satiyaaliksni Smart Bomb – I can’t wait to use this on Ikora–wait a minute, I can’t?! Oh, right, each character can only use a set pair of weapons.
Sweet.
This is just one of the many problems in Destiny Rising. If you want to level your characters directly, you’ll need materials – but for every 10 levels you’ll need to gather Seeds, which are earnable, but not much through gameplay. To speed things up you will need to purchase lootboxes containing these seeds (seperate from lootboxes otherwise), and you’ll need a lot of it. Levels are not universal; you will need to upgrade each Hero you gather individually. Not to mention, to level up their Subclass, which are called Relics here, you’ll need materials for EACH ability, including passive ones. To further enhance your Hero, you’ll need multiple versions of them to convert into Crystals and use it on a Skill Tree to get more passives. You know how hard it is to get a single 5-Star Hero? 1.2% chance for every 60 lootboxes. You are guaranteed a 5 Starred Hero after those 60 boxes, but the chance of getting the one you prefer is very, very low.
That is just the tip of the iceberg. In order to progress through the main campaign, you need to meet criteria’s such as bounties completed (which are limited per day, some progress require to complete more than a given day, so you’re often locked until the next day), Level multiple Hero’s, Legendary Upgrading weapon mods, meeting specific combinations with Artifact mods (passives used for Xur’s activity) and more. All of which artificially pumps time invested into the game and gates you. The is further hampered by the insurmountable level of gacha options. There are advertisements for all sorts of things, 600% increase on materials if you subscribe to this, Battle Pass that, Purchase Cosmetics for Heroes, Weapon Ornaments, Shaders, Material Bundles, Draw Item bundles, Silver, Bright Dust, Lumia Leafs, Artifact Particles, so one and so forth. It’s downright insanity. I know the effects of this gambling dopamine hit – I even “ooo’d” my way to getting my first 5-Star Hero, but the grind is insufferable. Warframe is the limit to that and even that’s predatory, Destiny Rising just ups that tenfold.
REVIEW SCORE: 5.5/10
Now, I know there’s an enormous gacha community, I mean, Genshin Impact isn’t popular for no reason – and I can see Destiny Rising thriving in that scene. It will not, however, catch the majority of the core audience in the slightest. I say, treat this game as a one-off experience. See what NetEase cooked, there’s a lot to like, and then delete the crap out of it. That’s my opinion.
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