I wasn’t expecting to like Destiny: Rising as much as I have. It’s a free-to-play mobile version of a franchise I’ve kept with for over ten years. It’s also a gacha, which means that, by design, it will drip-feed content and lock new characters behind hefty paywalls without a guarantee you’ll get them in the first place (the infamous gacha “pull” system). Unless you throw enough money at the screen, that is. Yet, I do truly believe Rising is a better game than the source material in many ways, more than I would’ve liked to admit. However, the inherent nature of the type of experience it is makes playing it feel like a chore rather than a leisurely side distraction.
Destiny: Rising is a very impressive game for a mobile title. NetEase nailed the aesthetic of Bungie’s universe and even crafted a somewhat interesting (although not canon) story set in a time in which the Vanguard was just coming together, and the established conventions we know and love from Destiny’s world weren’t quite there yet. Some familiar faces make an appearance, like Ikora Rey or Lord Saladdin, but for the most part, Rising exists as its own thing. That’s a good thing; a lot of the secrecy that shrouds The Collapse and life before The Last City exists to make Destiny a very esoteric world, which I much prefer over modern storytelling sensibilities, where the audience gets every bit of context spoon-fed to them.
The gameplay is surprisingly solid, too. Again, being a mobile game, don’t expect activities, especially endgame ones, to be super difficult. Touch control players will be at a disadvantage against those playing on an emulator or with a controller, but for the most part, you’ll find bite-sized PvE modes designed with immediacy rather than challenge in mind. There are a ton of them. As you complete story chapters, you’ll start unlocking things such as Haven Ops, Rising’s version of Strikes, Realm of the IX, an incredibly fun rogue-like mode, Gauntlet Ops, which acts as a quasi-raid with its Onslaught version, and a few more. But, NetEase isn’t content with just that, building upon the general foundation of Destiny, a supposed MMO-esque experience, there are things like fishing, and a whole dedicated card game, both with very valuable rewards, like Mythic weapons, a Destiny: Rising exclusive tier of rarity that sits between Legendary and Exotic gear. This is something we’ve never gotten in the mainline series. The developers even made Sparrow Racing a permanent thing, a side activity fans have pleaded with Bungie to bring back for almost a decade at this point.
There’s even PvP, with Shifting Gates and the Iron Bar. The former is straight-up a better implemented Gambit mode, with teams of three Lightbearers competing against others to bank the most data in a designated amount of time. Iron Bar is a weekend-only straight PvP competition. Sound familiar? Well, the pun is actually very apt, as it is only semi-competitive. Rising presents it as a casual activity; you can’t get exotics to drop, and PL advantages are disabled, unlike Destiny 2’s sweaty Iron Banner, which is all about showing off how hard you’ve grinded endgame activities.
Buildcrafting is, unsurprisingly, streamlined compared to Bungie’s games. Nonetheless, it’s still fun to tinker with your characters. Each Lightbearer comes with a designated toolkit, specific weapon archetypes they can use, and elemental affinity. For example, the main character, Wolf, is a Solar Hunter who specializes in crowd control and mid-range combat with auto rifles and grenade launchers. Others, like Gwynn, the first Mythic (five-star) Lightbearer, are all about close-quarters combat with Void abilities that get her close and personal with enemies, paired with a short-ranged arsenal that includes dual pistols and shotguns.
Each ability can be upgraded using different amounts of currencies and upgrade materials. You can also trigger unique traits and weapon mastery buffs if you meet certain criteria (and dump even more resources that will get increasingly harder to come by) to make your characters even stronger. The Artifact system is also pretty neat.
Artifacts in this game are mods that come in sets. Each grants a slight boost in Power Level and a buff, which becomes stronger the more mods of a single set you equip. Sets are divided into different categories that are related to Lightbearer abilities. For instance, characters that rely on movement-based abilities can use artifacts like Nimble Veil, which grants damage reduction every time a movement ability is cast.
You also have a talent tree, which acts as a way for you to have some sort of use for duplicate characters you get from pulls. These are here to incentivize whales to spend if they want to get the most OP version of a Lightbearer, but for regular consumers, these are easy to ignore.
Weapons are fortunately not part of the gacha system. NetEase made the weapon grind incredibly exciting. Not only are there the aforementioned Mythic weapons, which come with a wide variety of unique perks (there are random rolls), but exotics do retain that feel of being rare to find. Some may not like it, but getting an exotic to drop after the game specifically tells me that I only had a 1.5% chance of getting it in certain activities, makes seeing that splash screen telling me I just got a Riskrunner super satisfying.
Your arsenal can be modded as well. You’ll be able to equip scopes, magazines, or ammo mods. Exotics even have Catalysts. The infusion system is also present, albeit a little differently.
Gunplay is pristine. This is no small praise coming from someone who’s used to the gold standard that Bungie has set out for decades. It’s precise, weapon feedback feels good, and while it will never compare to its big brother, you can tell no corners were cut to make this a smooth experience.
Even the little quality-of-life details NetEase added make Rising feel like there’s thought put into it. There are a ton of currencies to keep track of, so of course, you can simply go to your inventory and tap on each one to see the source.
It all sounds incredible. So what’s the caveat? A pretty big one, actually: the monetization. After the honeymoon phase ended (which is why I took some time with this review), and I started getting accustomed to the usual Destiny: Rising routine outside the constant showering of currencies for new players, and found that progression is shockingly low.
I’m not a gacha player. I’ve clocked in a couple of hundred hours into Zenless Zone Zero, but that’s about it. Hoyoverse’s incredible high production, character design, gameplay, and (surprisingly) story drove me to a mini-ZZZ obsession close to release. Even with how much I loved it, I dropped out of it even after I managed to pull agents like Miyabi, Burnice, and Ellen Joe.
The time commitment is daunting. If you’re not constantly logging in, you’ll miss out on high-value bounties to raise your Team Level and the ability to grind an insignificant amount of currency for pulls. Getting resources for the limited-time banner is excruciatingly low. The game hands you a bunch of Charms for the regular permanent banner, but good luck trying to earn enough to pull for Gwynn or Estela, because yes, at the time of writing, there are two limited-time banners running at the same time.
You get Lumia Leaves consistently, that’s true, but let me contextualize how insulting this feels: complete triumphs are 10 Leaves, some chapters in the story have objectives that grant 50 Leaves. You need a total of 180 for a single pull. Even if you have a designated day to grind, tough break, as Rising uses a typical energy system that will only let you tackle a number of activities before you need to top up your energy with real-life currency once you spend all your resources to do so for free.
So, while Destiny: Rising does a lot of things right, I just don’t see myself investing in this game long-term. However, if you’re looking for your very own “forever game” and are into shooters that play extremely well on mobile devices, you’ll be pressed to find a better offer than NetEase’s take on Bungie’s iconic IP.
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