{"id":1030893,"date":"2026-01-15T00:09:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T00:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=476053"},"modified":"2026-01-15T00:09:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T00:09:21","slug":"destiny-rising-the-upcoming-mobile-game-highlights-how-great-destiny-used-to-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/destiny-rising-the-upcoming-mobile-game-highlights-how-great-destiny-used-to-be\/","title":{"rendered":"Destiny: Rising, the upcoming mobile game, highlights how great Destiny used to be"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Destiny is an old enough franchise to have gone through multiple eras. There were the early days of the original Destiny<\/em>, when the game was a true grindfest. And then there\u2019s the more modern Destiny 2<\/em>, which has made a lot of moves to be friendly toward players\u2019 time while still allowing for a bit of loot pursuit. Destiny: Rising<\/a><\/em> \u2014 the new mobile title from NetEase Games \u2014 feels like a return to that original Destiny<\/em> vibe. Polygon got an early look at the game, and while it\u2019s still in a closed alpha state, Destiny: Rising <\/em>shows off why Destiny first hooked so many players, and why Rising<\/em> will struggle to reach that peak.<\/p>\n

To just get it out of the way, Destiny: Rising<\/em> is a gacha game. It\u2019s Genshin Impact<\/em> set in the universe of Destiny. There\u2019s a campaign, strikes, bounties, a pretty sweet roguelite mode, and even a raid-adjacent activity. But most importantly, there are playable characters to gamble for.<\/p>\n

These characters, along with their weapons, take a lot of time to collect and improve. And while the grind itself can be tedious, it reminds me of how the original Destiny<\/em> used to approach its grind, where single, rare items enhanced your power so much that they could make or break your ability to join a group of other players and complete a raid.<\/p>\n

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Destiny 2<\/em> is far more generous with its loot than the original game, and Bungie is constantly releasing incredible new weapons to grind for, all of which add a fraction of a percentile point to your power. This makes the grind rewarding for sickos like me, but not necessary for even slightly more casual players. <\/p>\n

I like this modern version of Destiny, which Bungie has been angling toward for the past five or six years. As a longtime player and now as a dad, it\u2019s nice to log on with my friends, clear a couple of dungeons a week during our lunch hours, and know I\u2019ll walk away with the items I want relatively quickly.<\/p>\n

But there are two wolves in me when it comes to Destiny, and one of them misses how shitty it used to be. I miss feeling like I had a real edge when I went through the difficult process to get Black Spindle in Destiny<\/em>, an Exotic only available through a timed mission once every few weeks. I even liked the desperate hunt for Gjallarhorn, and the power I felt once I had it. The grind to power up was bad, but it compelled me to consume the game at a ravenous pace \u2014 a time I still look back on fondly. And while it\u2019s not the same, the gacha element of Rising <\/em>takes me back to that time.<\/p>\n

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