Destiny 2

A clear improvement over the original, with a streamlined, easy-to-follow campaign, far better-developed characters, and a more grounded, lighthearted tone. Progression is more rewarding with loot flowing freely, and the variety of activities across gorgeous, distinct planets keeps things fun. The main story is forgettable and the game can become too easy, but it lands as a solid, enjoyable shooter.

A good game but a disappointing sequel that amounts to little more than "Destiny 1.5." The core shooting and weapon design remain best-in-class, yet progression, the loot endgame, PvP, and the Leviathan raid are gigantic steps backward, with static perk rolls and a hollowed-out reward loop killing the incentive to keep playing. Newcomers will find a great entry point, but long-term fans will feel the world has shrunk for no good reason.

An aggressively boring grind dressed up in grandiose scenery, emblematic of everything wrong with triple-A live-service design. The plot moves at a decent clip at first but quickly devolves into repetitive go-to-a-place-and-shoot-the-enemies missions gated behind level-grinding, with overdesigned, personality-free characters defined only by what they say. The wall textures proved more interesting than the gameplay itself.

An improved sequel that fixes many of the original's quality-of-life problems, with fun new subclasses, a coherent story, sharp gunplay, and strong PvP. But it plays like a polished Destiny 1.5 rather than a true sequel, leaning on recycled enemies and bosses, near-untouched AI, a thin and easy campaign, a frustrating raid, and added microtransactions with single-use shaders.

A stronger, more cinematic entry than the original, with top-notch presentation, fleshed-out characters, a better villain, and meaningful quality-of-life improvements that cut down wasted time. The gunplay feels great and strikes are more satisfying, but at its core it is still very much the same Destiny grind, so it will hook the right player and leave others indifferent.