5 years ago there was a game called Destiny made by the studio previously responsible for the Halo franchise on the Xbox platform.

I was an avid gamer back then, alongside grinding a busy job I was looking for an escape from reality and looking to be able to cater for my ‘Gun Gale Online’ fantasies which stemmed from the Sword Art Online anime and light novel. Being able to craft an online character and create a persona around him or her was important to me and also to be the hero of my own story.

This is where Destiny came in. At the time Destiny's style has been described as a first-person shooter that incorporates role-playing and MMO elements, but Bungie has avoided describing Destiny as a traditional MMO game. It still, however, appealed to me and I picked it up on PS3 where I played it with my brother-in-arms and the King of Chaos.

I had some great times on there and supported Bungie through all the DLC up to 'The Taken King' then limitations kicked in, and they became Next Gen exclusives and I could no longer play since I no longer had the latest console.

Over the next few years, I dabbled in and out of ‘Destiny’ style games like Warframe (which is a great game in its own right) and even went back to MMO’s all alongside trying to live a life which didn’t seem to be very me.

It’s funny though as 2019 starts to draw to close and what I would consider a time when my life as gone very sideways and I’m feeling less like myself that Destiny comes back into the picture once again but in the form of its sequel ‘Destiny 2’.

Destiny 2 is very much in the same vein, its still an online-only multiplayer first-person shooter and saw its release as released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 6, 2017. Unlike before Activision are no longer the publishers as of early 2019 and Bungie acquired the publishing rights to the franchise.
Destiny 2 and its first 2 expansions are now free to play and called ‘New Light’ though subsequent DLC in the forms of Forsaken are paid and Shadowkeep the new season pass.

My return to the game was not the fact it went free to play (although it was a good thing) but the fact they introduced cross-save. Having started many years on PS3 I would have continued to play this game and support Bungie if I could have imported my characters from Playstation to Xbox.

Gaming was already getting expensive and not having many funds for a PS4 meant I was solely an Xbox One player this generation. Cross save certainly helped me to continue the legacy of my old characters, and I wished it could have come sooner.

Thanks to my brother-in-arms my Guardians returned, from the rubble of the Tower, destroyed at the start of Destiny 2 they were spared certain death but lost everything in the initial attack. Now it’s all about getting back on my feet and getting back onto the battlefield.
It feels in some way very apt how my Guardian returns when we are both walking similar paths. Despite being an on and off gamer for the past few years I think I’ll be in this one for the long haul especially after the year I’ve had and the reflection I’ve done.

If you are interested in learning more about Destiny 2 I recommend checking out the Wikipedia page to get a quick overview of what it's about and if you want to play it is free to download on the Xbox Store, PSN Store, and Steam.

Eyes up Guardian.