The Destiny beta finished a couple of days ago now, and the larger gaming community finally understands what Bungie meant when they refused to label it with genres – or do they? When Bungie married a myriad of genres into one undefinable experience and called it Destiny, they risked making one game wear too many hats.
At Destiny‘s core, Bungie has taken the best elements from a number of genres – largely FPS, RPG, and MMO – and combined them into one. This actually works incredibly well for the most part, and I enjoyed how smooth the gameplay was for a beta. That being said, Bungie’s aim with Destiny is to create a 10-year project that appeals to a mass market – and with a $500 million budget on the line, I would too. To cater to this market, especially in a console space (where MMOs are traditionally absent), they need to sacrifice some elements of the game without alienating a potential audience.
When taking only a select few elements from each genre, naturally Bungie has to trim the features they don’t particularly need. This may mean that they include the social elements of an MMO, but not the loot system; or they may include the leveling of an RPG, but not the deep decision-driven character development. As such, Destiny is very much so trying to appeal to all audiences – and by cutting out portions of different genres, they may actually drive away customers who prefer those omitted elements.
As ridiculous as it sounds, I have heard of a number of people going into Destiny expecting a straight-up FPS, as Bungie is known for with the Halo franchise, only to face disappointment with the end result. By comparison, some traditional MMO fans expressed their distaste at the MMO/RPG elements being ‘underdeveloped’ compared to other ‘proper’ MMOs.
That last point is key: Destiny is not a ‘proper’ anything. It isn’t a twitch-shooter, or a spiritual successor to Halo; it isn’t a Mass Effect clone played in first person; and it isn’t trying to be World of Warcraft. Destiny is trying to take bits and pieces from each of those genres and carve out its own place in the gaming world, defying genre and categorization.
But will it be worth it? Some are already saying no, but from my time in the Destiny beta, I say yes. Bungie is boldly going where few have gone before, and that comes with inherent risks. We’ll have to wait until September to see if it pays off.
