In the seventh year, Destiny 2 has managed to tell players an interesting, ongoing story that continues week after week. This is not only exciting but also a groundbreaking aspect for a shooter and a live-service game that other live games should adopt, says MeinMMO author Britta.
This is Bungie’s new plan: Bungie tells the stories of Destiny 2 as a coherent, serialized narrative, now over several seasons. With each season, you learn more details about the main and side characters of the universe. Especially in the current season of the Lost, players notice this positively. Meanwhile, Game of Thrones can take a back seat because Destiny 2 offers much more drama that can be experienced live.
Joe Blackburn, the Game Director of Bungie, compares Destiny 2 to a combination of a TV series and a movie that offers a huge cinematic universe. This allows players to invest emotionally in something or someone.
Bungie aims to achieve that players:
- get emotionally involved in the story and look forward to new details each week.
- experience characters that evolve and reveal other sides of their personality. For example, Mara Sov in the current Season 15 is a manipulative queen and no longer the once majestic ruler of the Reef.
- are never sure if what they themselves are doing in Destiny 2 is the right thing.
- develop a different perspective on a character, perhaps even forgiving past atrocities. Currently, opinions are divided about Crow. Do you forgive him or trust him even less?
More “Shooter-Adventure” than a pure shooter
What has changed?: A few seasons ago, Destiny 2 struggled to connect its stories meaningfully within the game and especially to tell them continuously.
These major problems no longer exist, but Bungie did not stumble upon a magic formula that suddenly solved all story problems of Destiny 2.
The development team had to refine its approaches in two areas, as Senior Narrative Designer Nikko Stevens explains: “When you work on a game that is primarily a first-person shooter, a looter shooter, and an MMO-lite, the systems that underpin an FPS game do not necessarily align with the systems used for storytelling.”
That’s why it’s so unique: Shooters rarely tell grand stories. Of course, there are a few hours of campaign, but after that, one just blasts through the open world without any further narration. Everything is black and white, and the feeling that the story conveys to you as a player is merely something like: “We are being attacked, we are defending ourselves.”
Bungie has successfully changed this for its first-person shooter and now offers players a dynamic story that can easily compete with your favorite TV show. It is now more of a “shooter-adventure” than a pure shooter.
To my knowledge, there are no other live-service games that focus so heavily on storytelling and ensure there’s something new each week that drives the narrative forward. This works very well for us.
Julia Nardin, Senior Narrative Lead at Bungie
As a player, you interact directly with the story
Destiny 2 has positively changed the gameplay of its loot shooter with the new focus on the story. Similar to a TV series, initial roadmaps were created that allow players in a season to experience a solid story over at least six to eight weeks, leading to a larger narrative arc. The story then interweaves more and more, whether it’s a mission briefing, a voiceover, or a radio message.
What players can experience in Destiny 2:
- The story of Destiny 2 unfolds right before the player – they are in the middle of it.
- NPCs behave more familiarly in direct interactions with the player, bringing in a personal component.
- There are short H.E.L.M. messages over the radio where players can eavesdrop on conversations.
- NPCs behave differently when they think the player is not listening.
- Players participate in meetings where general missions are discussed.
- There are private conversations where NPCs share their personal impressions or explain specific events.
Bungie plans to include more such character interactions in the game world in the future. Destiny 2 is to become a strong live-service narrative. A game that excites players and can also win the hearts and minds of new players. For this, they will consider player feedback for future events.
An evolving game also has disadvantages
The universe of Destiny 2 is now extremely extensive. There are a lot of characters who tell many stories at any given time. The seasonal structure of the game is also confusing for any newcomers who are arriving now in Season 15.
Many parts of the story remain hidden: Especially for new players, this is initially hard to understand. They don’t know who Calus is, they don’t know Cayde-6 and his fate, and therefore they have no personal connection to Crow.
This is how Bungie wants to change that: For some time now, Destiny 2 has been working on a solution to improve this experience for new players. Recently, an option was added to the game that shows players a summary of the key plot points of the game.
For the development of a live-service narrative to succeed, Bungie must offer a coherent, serialized story to both old and new players. Aside from these issues, it is still a fantastic development in this area that other FPS shooters should take inspiration from.
Did you enjoy the last few seasons of Destiny and its story? Do you like Bungie’s unique approach or do you prefer a pure shooter?
Let us know your opinion on the current storytelling in the comments.
