Jim 
Gwynn kicks some arse throughout the game
Can NetEase succeed where Bungie failed (or didn’t start?), and create a rich, fulfilling mobile experience with Destiny: Rising? Well, it turns out they absolutely can!
I’ve been a persistent player of the original Destiny game (and now Destiny 2) for a very long time. I remember being captivated by the E3 2013 footage (alas, fair E3, we miss you!), and then played the beta in July 2014 where we got to experience the moon for the first time. I’ve been hooked ever since.
I remember as early as 2015 or so I wished for a mobile version of the game, though at the time I wasn’t meaning a fully-fledged game. I was more thinking like a companion app, where we could do tasks to unlock things like glimmer or resources etc (much like the companion app to Watch Dogs, where you could play against the player and make pipes burst as you drive around etc).
However, it’s now ten years after my initial pipe dream, and mobile FPS games are actually pretty decent now (thanks largely to the Modern Combat games on Android, who knocked it out of the park and set the bar pretty high), and as a result, NetEase threw their hat in the ring to collaborate with Destiny developer Bungie, resulting in Destiny: Rising.
I, unfortunately, live in the UK, so when the closed beta came around, I wasn’t able to play the game (I don’t have a PC which could handle the emulation, particularly through a VPN), so I had to live vicariously through my American buds who managed to gain access, and watch streams and videos. And I have to say, I was impressed with what I was seeing!
Well August 28th has come quickly, and Destiny: Rising is now available to all, so I thought I’d get some initial thoughts down on my experience so far. This way you have an idea what a Destiny “veteran” would think, who has generally played Destiny casually (though I’ve done every raid and dungeon at least once, aside from the latest one).
I won’t be giving away any story spoilers or anything, so you can feel free to go through this review without fear of me ruining anything for you.
Aesthetics
First-off, the most obvious thing to take stock of is how the game looks. For full disclosure, I’m playing on a Samsung Galaxy S24, with no emulators etc (also, all screenshots bar the featured image are captured by me).
That being said, the game looks beautiful, and NetEase have successfully captured the essence of the Destiny universe, and made it their own. The environments look great, and I particularly love the Hive areas, and the throne world you’re transported to during one section of the game.
Player and character models look great, and I’ve seen very little graphical glitching (with a little popup here and there when I wasn’t playing on my home WiFi network.
It’s clear you can see the Chinese influence, with a lot of the characters being very talkative, and have very happy and fun demeanours, or very animated reactions. This isn’t a criticism – I actually enjoy this a lot, as I’ve always though the “impending doom” feel of the console games just means characters end up very sombre and serious all the time (apart from you Cayde – we miss you too!)
All in all I’m incredibly impressed with how the game looks and feels – NetEase absolutely knocked it out of the park, and I couldn’t be happier!
Controls and gameplay
Destiny: Rising is fully touch-screen compatible, which is great, but an incredibly welcome addition is full controller support, along with encouraged emulation on PC (the game even provides video tutorials on how to connect your controllers and use emulators like Bluestacks etc.
I really love how the developers have fully embraced all of the suggestions and wishlists of the community, as they’ve literally almost thought of everything!
For my gameplay, I’m using a controller (an EasySMX), which I prettymuch specifically got for Christmas last year just so I could use it for Destiny: Rising. It’s been very easy to connect, though I’ve often found I need to change the input modes on it at random intervals (though I think this is my controller, and not the game itself).
One thing I have noticed is if you’re on mobile data, and your signal drops a bit, you can get some lagging and rubberbanding, along with immune enemies, and reconnecting errors. This is something I kind of expected, so in general I’d recommend playing on WIFI if you’re able to.
Also, although I’m playing on a fairly new Android phone, it heats up a whole lot, and I found my battery was depleted by around 40% or so after around an hour’s gameplay. So, just bear that in mind, and if you’re going to be playing away from home, make sure you pack your portable battery!
What has remained consistent in NetEase and Bungie’s game design is the gunplay – this is still solid, and consistently good, and the different super abilities available are really entertaining.
NetEase have definitely captured the feel of the game very well, though one thing which threw me a little was the melee is now on a button where crouching would be (and you don’t crouch anymore)… and if you want to slide, you effectively click the left stick when you’re already sprinting. It takes a bit of getting used to, but becomes second nature pretty quickly.
Sounds and music
These aspects of the game, I honestly can’t fault. All the in-game sound effects are prettymuch ripped directly from Bungie’s assets, as they should be. All your item collection sound effects are there, along with guns sounding like their console counterparts too.
The voicework is consistent throughout, and something you’ll be very glad to hear is I’ve heard Wolf speak probably about 300% more than I’ve heard my own guardian speak in Destiny & Destiny 2 combined!
During the beta, there were some placeholder AI voices used, but it appears these are now gone, and proper voice actors have been employed to bring life to the legends of old. I’m really glad the AI voices aren’t a thing – there was such a backlash all over social media, I expected them to be gone, but seeing it for myself just reassures me the devs are listening.
The music in Destiny: Rising is beautiful, and fits all the surroundings and events really well. There’s some really good videos you can watch on the Destiny: Rising Youtube channel too if you want a bit more of an insight.
Experiencing legends of yore – story etc
I didn’t expect the story in Destiny: Rising to grab me as quickly as it has, but I’m honestly enjoying it a lot so far, and I’m verymuch “sucked in” for the long haul.
It’s really cool to see fabled characters such as Radeghast, Skorri and Kabr, along with a much younger Ikora strut their stuff and make a name for themselves (quite literally in Kabr’s case!).
I won’t be spoiling anything story-wise, but I can safely say it’s an excellent addition to the Destiny universe, even if it technically isn’t “cannon”, as it’s set in an alternate universe to the primary Destiny & Destiny 2 timeline.
Player Versus Player
Now anyone who knows me will confirm I’m most definitely not a PvP player, and I actually get genuinely angry at it sometimes, for no good reason.
As a result I haven’t fiddled with PvP too much in Destiny: Rising yet, but it’s on my list. At present I’ve only done a bit of the “Shifting Sands” game type, which is a little like Gambit, but more interesting.
I experienced some opposing players during this mode, and it didn’t get on my nerves too much, so I may play this game mode a lot (as it doesn’t require pinnacle energy to do so).
Replayability & Gacha elements
Ok so the “pinnacle energy” comment just now leads me into replayability quite nicely. Destiny: Rising runs on an energy system, much like most gacha games. Effectively you have a limited amount of energy (or “Pinnacle Energy in this case) each day, and you can earn more by playing as well.
However, what Destiny: Rising does very well is that it doesn’t stop you from playing the game altogether. It just kind of nerfs the rewards a little when you don’t have pinnacle energy.
This means you can rinse your rewards for the day if you wish to, but if you still want to play the game because you’re having fun, you can… your rewards will just slow down a bit, that’s all.
Something which will very likely confuse a lot of people when you first start playing is the amount of in-game currencies there are. This is kind of standard for gacha games, but also for the Destiny universe too.
However, if you compare Rising, to Destiny/Destiny 2, the currency amounts are prettymuch tripled, and the confusion comes in when trying to work out what currency you need to use for what loot box draw, or item upgrade etc. And with lots of currencies, come lots of sources of gaining said currencies.
Needless to say, there’s a lot to take in when it comes to the gacha elements of the game, but the good thing is the game is very transparent about it (well, as much as it can be).
For example, for me to unlock Gwynn (the female scythe-wielding Warlock who also uses dual hand cannons), the game advises she’s guaranteed to drop after (if not before) 60 draws. This means it’ll likely take me a while, as I’m currently down to 49 draws remaining, but at least I know I’ll be able to unlock that character.
So the game, although heavily monetised, is still giving me a carrot to chase which isn’t completely unattainable, and I’m happy with this. It’s like the thinking in console Destiny that eventually, everything will be available for bright dust at some point, which you can accumulate for free.
So although the game is heavily monetised, and you can choose to spend money to unlock items and characters sooner if you wish, you’re not required to do so. And honestly this seems fine to me.
Still, it’s early days for me yet, and I’m just enjoying that fresh game smell.
My current “final” thoughts
So far, I’ve spent maybe three hours playing Destiny: Rising, and I’m really enjoying it on the whole. The gameplay, visuals and atmosphere, along with the story are all top-notch, and if I feel like I need to complain about something, I think I’m usually nit-picking, and it’s something external which is causing the issue (not being on wifi causing lag etc).
On the whole, I think if you’re a Destiny veteran or returning player, you’ll probably enjoy what NetEase have cooked up, as it’s an incredibly deep and fleshed out mobile offering in the Destiny universe.
For new players not familiar with the world, I think you’re going to have an absolute blast, and I’d love to see some reactions from people experiencing it for the first time.
I think some of the gacha elements may be a little overwhelming at first just with the sheer volume of information and currencies, but the more you play, the more you’ll understand it and be able to work work out what you’re doing.
Oh, and just for those who care about such things – you can pet, and feed the cats in Destiny: Rising!
So far, I’d give this a solid 4.5 out of 5, just because although I’m over the moon with it (where the wizard came from), there’s always room for improvement somewhere, and honestly I can’t wait to see what NetEase have in store for us.
Also, in keeping with the Destiny games of old, check out the launch trailer below, with a suitably funny firefight, and some anime-esque music to go along with it – it’s bloody brilliant!
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