This is a launch review of Destiny Rising, a mobile gacha spin-off of the Destiny franchise, focusing on its core gameplay, monetization methods, accessibility for new and experienced players, and overall quality from the perspective of a seasoned gacha game reviewer.

Game Accessibility and Platform

• Destiny Rising is available exclusively on mobile devices and does not have an official PC client.

• The game can be played on PC using emulators, with Moomoo being officially recognized for its keyboard and gamepad support.

• Performance on emulators is generally smooth unless graphics settings are turned up to maximum, which may cause minor hitches.

• The lack of a PC version might be a drawback for some players, though the mobile experience is fully functional.

Developer Involvement and Lore Integration

• Destiny Rising was developed by NetEase Games, a Chinese company known for other mobile games.

• Bungie, the original creator of Destiny, plays a minimal role—mainly helping with lore consistency and minor collaboration.

• The game is set in an alternate timeline within the Destiny universe, allowing it to introduce mechanics and story elements in a way that is accessible to players new to the franchise.

• The lore is referenced throughout but is presented in a way that new players can follow.

New Player Experience

• Destiny Rising offers a simpler, more direct introduction to Destiny’s world compared to Destiny 2, which is often criticized for its disjointed and confusing new player onboarding.

• Content in Destiny 2 is frequently moved or removed, leaving new players lost, whereas Destiny Rising’s structure provides a clearer entry point to the franchise.

• The narrative up to chapters 3 and 4 is described as serviceable for context, though seasoned Destiny fans may find it lacking in depth or writing quality.

• The tutorial does a good job of introducing fundamental mechanics for both newcomers and gacha veterans.

Gameplay Mechanics and Modes

• Players create an avatar named Wolf, who is a "Lightbearer" capable of wielding unique powers.

• Each Lightbearer has elemental skills, an ultimate ability, and can equip both a primary (infinite ammo) and secondary (limited ammo) weapon.

• Players can switch between first and third-person perspectives during gameplay; some abilities automatically shift the view.

• The game features MMO elements, including multiplayer raids, social hubs (Haven), and opportunities to see and interact with other players.

• Casual and side content includes a card game resembling Gwent/Hearthstone, fishing similar to Stardew Valley, and various PvP modes.

• Shifting Gates is the main PvP activity, where players compete in six teams, supported by a "fair play" system that normalizes stats for balance, although having newer characters from the gacha may still provide an edge.

• Open-world zones like Jiangxi Metro feature explorable areas, hidden loot, public events, and more.

Multiplayer and Progression Systems

• Raid missions require groups: some for three players, others for six, each with distinct objectives and map layouts.

• Players can queue with bots if matchmaking takes too long, and can even suspend the queue while doing other activities.

• Stamina system allows for up to 360 stored, replenishing by 120 every 24 hours—enabling both daily and less frequent play patterns.

• PvP matches cost stamina, but players get a free match each week, encouraging participation from predominantly PvE players.

• Daily commissions and a streamlined progression guide help direct players to new modes and features.

Character and Gear Progression

• Lightbearers’ power is determined not just by leveling but by skill upgrades (up to level 18), passive unlocks, and equipping higher-rated weapons.

• Weapons are earned mainly through raid missions and are categorized by rating (set on drop) and enhancement (improved with currency), with exotics requiring special materials.

• Weapons and artifacts can be swapped, enhanced, and reverted with resource refunds—exotics lose 10% gold on reset, but purple weapons refund fully.

• Pulling duplicate characters from the gacha allows skill enhancements up to six extra levels.

• Artifacts provide set bonuses and substats immediately upon drop, can be shared among all your characters, and encourage long-term optimization and min-maxing.

• Artifact farming happens in an endless roguelike mode, which has no stamina limits—making artifact grinding more player-friendly than in most gachas.

• The roguelike artifact/raid modes can be run without stamina, though rewards are reduced, supporting both casual and hardcore play.

Gacha System and Monetization

• Gacha system focuses solely on characters—no weapon banners; all weapons are obtained via gameplay.

• Mythic (SSR) characters have a 1% base drop rate, with hard pity at 60 pulls and soft pity mechanisms that increase odds before hard pity hits.

• Rate-up characters have a guaranteed pull if a Mythic is obtained, and pity progress carries between banners.

• Legendary (SR) characters have a 4.167% rate; other pulls yield upgrade materials or cosmetics.

• The in-game gacha system is considered generous and transparent in both odds and pity systems—new characters do not require split banners or disadvantageous rates.

• Monetization includes:

  • Monthly low-cost packs and battle passes (both free and premium, the latter only $5)

  • A Founders Pack ($20) with additional login bonuses and premium content

  • A premium permanent progression track ($20)

  • Entry-level $1 packs and typical high-priced whale packs, with warnings about their value-for-money

• All premium purchases require a special currency, purchased with real money, which can obscure true costs—a common tactic in mobile gaming.

• Multiple currencies are present, often tied to specific modes, and can be confusing, though generally manageable for gacha veterans.

• The game avoids aggressive monetization, with few flash sales or intrusive deals compared to competitors like AFK Journey.

Game Balance and Audience

• PvP is balanced through stat normalization, but new characters from the gacha may have advantages in certain modes, encouraging collection.

• The gameplay loop (mix of PvE, PvP, and casual/minigame content) leans toward players familiar with Destiny, but many features are new or unique among gacha games.

• The mix of casual content (card games, fishing, racing), MMO features, and co-op play appeals to franchise fans but may feel unfamiliar to those used to solo-centric gachas.

• Despite being developed by NetEase (known for controversial titles like Diablo Immortal), the quality of Destiny Rising stands on its own for most, though some players will balk at the mobile/gacha model.

Criticisms and Concerns

• The game features a large number of different currencies, which may feel overwhelming, though many are isolated by mode/activity.

• Lack of a "full sweep" or auto-clear function means repeated content (especially raids for upgrades) must be manually played out, possibly leading to grind fatigue.

• Monetization through gacha, though handled fairly here, will still be off-putting for some on principle, especially those with console gaming backgrounds.

• The long-term grind, repetitive chores, and need for frequent upgrades may deter less committed players.

• Destiny Rising primarily targets existing Destiny and/or gacha fans, rather than absolute newcomers to either genre.

• As with many free-to-play games, early small purchases can encourage more spending—players should be cautious and aware of these psychological tactics.

Recommendations / Advice

• Destiny Rising stands out as a polished, fair example within the gacha genre, suitable for franchise enthusiasts and experienced gacha players alike.

• The entry experience smooths out the onboarding issues found in Destiny 2 and offers accessible lore for new players.

• Managing spending is essential; players should be conscious of "sunk cost" traps in the monetization structure and practice moderation.

• The artifact system and generous stamina/artifact grinding options support both casual and dedicated playstyles.

• Those who dislike gacha mechanics or mobile-first games may wish to avoid Destiny Rising, regardless of its other merits.

• Overall, Destiny Rising is a strong starting point to explore the Destiny universe or enjoy a feature-rich, relatively fair gacha game.

I have never played Destiny before, but this gacha game might just be a fair substitute. Destiny is the last franchise in my mind that would go the gacha route, and I was highly skeptical if something like this would even be possible. So, what a time to be alive.

Destiny Rising is a spin-off of the mainline Destiny game set in an alternate universe in the form of a mobile gacha game. While the prospect of a popular and, hopefully, beloved franchise, it's bound to raise some eyebrows. Well, as someone that has spent an obscene amount of time with gacha games, I wanted to take a look and see if it really is a low-effort cash grab, or does it actually live up to the mainline game. My name is Psyche, and after learning that Destiny 2 is a highly respected by its player base, and fans absolutely love Bungie as a developer, let's see if Rising has any room at the table. As of the game's launch, I will be going over the gameplay, the gacha, the monetization and overall experience to let you know if Destiny Rising is any good.

First thing I want to note: as of now, this game does not have an official PC client. You'll have to play on a mobile device or with an emulator. The game officially recognizes Moomoo, and there's even dedicated keyboard binding and gamepad support.

I personally use Moomoo, not sponsored this time, and I found it to be pretty smooth as long as you don't turn the settings to its max. There's gonna be a few hitches in your gameplay to remind you that this isn't a PC version, but I felt it's still completely playable. Might be a dealbreaker for some though.

But I mean, do you guys not have phones? Destiny Rising is developed by NetEase Games, which is a Chinese developer. What, you thought Bungie or Western dev could make gacha games? Bungie is mostly hands-off for Rising, aside from some minor collaborations with establishing the consistency of the lore.

This game is set in an alternate timeline of the Destiny world, and it does a pretty good job of introducing you to the mechanics so anyone can jump in. For a bit of disclosure, I have never played the main Destiny game before. I have a faint memory of trying out the OG Destiny back in 2017, but then thought enemies were too bullet-spongy and was confused on what I was supposed to do, and That was it.

There might be a lot of references to the mainline game that I'm not getting that could impact your enjoyment, but I'll judge the title as a standalone. Also, for those that are Destiny fans, presumably familiar with console gaming, I review gacha games on this channel and my opinions are mainly based on my experience playing a shit ton of gacha games. I might say something weird like how spending $200 to a guarantee a 5-star character is normal.

Because that is normal in the gacha space. So while the console gamers might get mad, that's just kinda how it is around here and I won't be bringing it up as a point of criticism. My opinions may not represent those that predominantly play console games, just so people are aware.

Before you brush this off as a cheap mobile cash grab, I can come up with a legitimate reason why you would want to recommend someone to play this instead of the main Destiny game instead. As you know, even without playing it, Destiny 2 suffers from an extremely poor new player experience. Content is often shuffled around and even removed from the game, causing beginners to be confused on what they're supposed to be doing and possibly quitting outright. Well, as a game that's directly tied to the main title, Destiny Rising might unironically create an easier entry point for those wanting to get into the lore. It just might get new players interested in the franchise for them to branch into the main game.

Anyways, you create your own avatar whose name is Wolf, who is someone referred to as a "Lightbearer," meaning that you can wield some kind of special power. I'm not too certain about all the terms and lore. I felt like the story content up to chapter 3 and 4 were fairly serviceable, but I didn't think the writing was all that good. Maybe if you play the OG Destiny you have more context, But overall, great level designs, the story is just serviceable. Rising plays like an FPS with interactive abilities.

You will deploy your Lightbearer that comes with their own elemental skills, an ultimate, and can wield up to two weapons. The primary that has infinite ammo, and the secondary, usually more powerful, does have an ammo count that needs to be replenished. During the level, you can freely toggle between third and first person modes, but using certain skills and weapons will lock you into third person. I've never actually seen a gacha game in the form of a first person shooter before, so that's pretty cool. You also un-fuel your own Lightbearer, meaning that since the game has multiplayer raids and certain MMO elements, you just need to build up one character.

This is not a party-based system like most other gachas. With the limited roster the game has at launch, I felt that even though you only un-fuel one character, there's an odd sense of coherency with each character's kit. For example, you get to trial Ikora during this mission.

and she can only hold rocket launchers, which require reloads after every round fired. Well, Ikora has a skill which she can group up enemies together, which is a perfect complement to the weapon choice. For a non-open world gacha game, the level design is very well done. Each corner of the stage is filled with distinct set pieces, and even some nice looking scenery.

The main story missions are fully voice active with great voice work, and the overall presentation looks top notch for a mobile game. There's also the Jiangxi Metro region which is open world, with its own explorable parts and hidden loot. Once in a while you can even encounter public events, So if you happen to be in the area, you can help out the other players and even get rewards at the end. There's a central hub area called Haven, and since Rising contains some MMO elements, you'll be able to see and interact with other players as well.

Aside from the main storyline campaigns, there's also the raid missions for farming certain upgrade materials that must be run with two other players. The missions all have their distinct objectives and flavor, However, I didn't see a sweet feature to run the level immediately, so to get the materials, you'll have to be running these levels every now and then. I didn't see a way to play these levels solo, but I believe the game will let you queue with bots if you wait too long. Not to mention, you can actually put the queue in the background while you do other things. Some maps will require six players, and the level layouts all feel rather different to play.

There's also a decent bit of casual content, like this card game where you try to get more points on your board than your opponent after six turns. Hey, wait a minute. This is just Gwent gameplay with a Hearthstone mana system. There's also Stardew Valley fishing, because of course there is. Shifting Gates is Rising's de facto PvP mode, where you're split into six different teams, all with three players.

You will defeat monsters to get these data modules to bring back to a nearby beacon. Whichever team brings back the most within the time limit wins. You can defeat higher level foes for ones that drop way more, but will need to survive for 60 seconds before those can be cashed in. Not to mention, other players are alerted to your location and can kill you to sear your data.

I only tried it for a few rounds because I'm not very good at competitive shooters. You might think, isn't this just a pay-to-win disaster if you factor in whales? Are they just gonna get a clear advantage here? Well, there is the fair play mechanic, where all players' skills and weapons are reset to the base level, and other adjustments are made to ensure a level playing field. However, you can still bring in your own character and weapons, so if the game releases new characters that excel in this mode, then you still have to pull them from the gacha in order to use them here.

If you're not into PvP, then you don't need to participate often, but this mode does have a ranking and reward system for this. Each match will cost stamina, but the first weekly match you queue into is free. So if you're a PvE-centric player, the game will still encourage you to at least try this once a week for rewards, so I would suggest getting in your free weekly match at the very least.

My only concern for this is that some players just leave if things aren't going too well. Considering that the mode costs stamina to enter, then some might just quit out if they aren't getting their worth. Speaking of which, the stamina system fills up to 360, and 120 units are filled every 24 hours, meaning that you can technically get away with logging in every 3 days. Now if you were to compare this to the stamina system from other gacha games, it's actually pretty generous. Most will overflow in just one day, and some reinforces you to log in twice in the same day.

So Destiny Rising's stamina system? Pretty lenient. You can, of course, use a special token or premium gacha currency to get more, meaning that if you whale, you're gonna progress faster.

It's pretty typical of gacha games though, so there's nothing for me to critique here. As for the aforementioned raid missions, you can spend 20 stamina to open the loot chest in the end after you beat everything. and a chance to use a different currency to double up on the stamina expenditure and rewards. The game does a pretty good job with streamlining what you're supposed to be doing at what time, with dedicated tutorials and requirements forcing you to interact with the different modes before proceeding with the main story.

This is not including daily commissions you can do to increase reputation points. How character progression in Rising works actually puts on quite a twist. First, your Lightbearer has a combat rating, but you don't need to level them directly. You can level up their skills up to 18, and unlock new passives and equip higher rated weapons. The weapons are dropped via the raid missions, and scale from its difficulty.

I only played the beginner levels at the game's launch, but I imagine the more difficult raids will require some team coordination, where one player should be the support, another the DPS, and so on. Weapon quality is split into its rating and enhancement. Rating is determined when the weapon is dropped, and can only be upgraded by destroying weapons of higher ratings as fodder. Exotics and certain other unique weapons must consume a special currency to be upgraded. Enhancements take their own respective leveling currency, and are different for each weapon type.

Both methods will contribute to the Lightbearer's overall power level. You can even revert the weapon enhancement back to level 1 and get refunded other resources with exotic quality weapons losing out on 10% of the common gold currency you spent. but free for the purple weapons. Most gachas don't let you do this, but I kinda understand it since this is a looter shooter game where you're constantly getting better weapons after all.

If you pull duplicates of the character from the gacha, you can enhance their skills up to 6 additional times. I prefer a stat-based dupe system, but this is also quite typical of gacha games. Also, I found out that if you get a weapon that's of a higher quality than when you try to equip it, the game will automatically ask you if you want to transfer your enhancement levels from your old one to the new weapon. That's just nice.

The artifact system has your typical set bonuses with random substats, as you would expect from any gacha game with similar mechanics. However, Destiny Rising does a few things a bit better. One, the game is a looter shooter, so your artifact quality will naturally get better, and the substats are already there as soon as you get one.

Two, you can use the same artifact piece on multiple characters. Given that you only un-fill your own lightbearer once at a time, you can share your loadouts with your other characters that may want the same set. It's very unusual that a gacha game lets you do this.

The artifact system is there to incentivize long-term grind to min-max the stats you want on an end-game build, but this approach that the game has is still one step above of what the vast majority of other gacha games does. Either by only unlocking its respective substats upon the artifact reaching certain levels, or unlocked with a separate currency. I should also mention, the stage in which you farm artifacts is kinda like an endless roguelite mode where you'll pick perks to bring in and see how long you can survive until you win or get bored and leave.

At the end of the round, you'll get chests containing artifacts, but this is where it gets interesting. You don't actually need to spend stamina to open these. Granted, you get reduced rewards, so I'd still just suggest running this a couple times every few days for your sanity, but in case you wanted to hard grind artifacts, you You can do that.

There's no limit on the number of times you can run this mode. It's very typical for gacha games to restrict your income of artifacts in order to prolong your playtime and get you to return every day to drip feed it to you a few at a time. The fact that Rising lets you do this is pretty generous, and I almost forgot to mention, you can even do this for the other raid modes. I had a run where I decided to pick this perk that greatly increases melee and healing potential, but disables the use of guns. I thought, There's no way this can end well, but let's give it a shot.

Well, after getting some buffs that allowed me to shoot comets out of my hands every time I threw a punch, I actually had a really fun time. However, as I was getting my high with my supreme fisting skills, I punched a kamikaze enemy. I didn't expect the game mode to feel this distinct with its perk system, so you can probably get a decent bit of variation here.

So this portion of the review will be a major point of contention, depending on your background of gacha games. As you know, Destiny Rising follows this monetization model to release new characters, so let's see how generous that is, as well as taking a look at the cash shop later. There's actually only four SSRs in the game right now, though the game splits the rarities into Legendary as the SR lightbearers, and Mythic as the SSR ones.

The base chance for a Mythic to drop is 1%, with the Heart Pity being 60 pulls. I should mention the Saw Pity kicks in pretty early, with it even tracking with the current percentages on the banner screen. The rate up chance is 100%, so if you get a Mythic character, it's guaranteed to be the on-banner character. The Pity counter also carries over across banners.

The Purples, with the Legendary characters, drop at exactly 4.167%, with the rest being either generic upgrade materials or cosmetic items. Also, I found out that there's a discussion board for each of the characters, like this one for Gwyn, which contains some extremely constructive discussions, and I wonder why more gacha games don't have this. One pull costs 180 gacha tokens, so the hard pity will take you up to 10,800 tokens.

But it's likely you'll get it earlier because of soft pity. I should also note, this game has no weapon banner type, you just pull for characters in the gacha. You have to grind and farm for those instead. If you played any number of gacha games before, you probably reached the same impressions as me.

This gacha system is actually pretty generous. It's not uncommon for the rate of chance to be a weird 50/50 coin flip or having a separate weapon banner for you to pull on. Not only is the game pretty transparent with what your odds are, once you get a mythic, your desired character is guaranteed to drop. Of course, the rate in which you can get new mythics will depend on the rate that free currency is given out, with paying some microtransactions being the obvious shortcut, as well as just how much impact character dupes have. Let's take a look at monetization next.

There's your typical low-spender packs of $5 a month for more gacha currency, with the equivalent of almost around 20 pulls. Considering that's literally a third of a limited Mythic Lightbearer, that's pretty good. The Battle Pass has a free and premium track where you get a few exclusive emotes and a few other goodies, plus an exotic weapon, though you also get it at the end of the free track too. How much is the Premium Battle Pass?

$5. This was completely unexpected. Usually battle passes go for double that. There's a Founders Pack for 20 dollars that gives a further weekly login bonus and even includes a free round of the monthly supply and the premium battle pass. Finally, a permanent progression reward track with its own premium track that goes for 20 dollars.

As for the Time Skipper packs, Destiny Rising also requires you to use real money to buy its own currency, then use that currency for in-game purchases. This is a common tactic by mobile games to obscure the true cost of items within the game. The same goes for the extremely well-valued beginner pack for $1.

It's there to hook you into sunk costs, since if you already spend money, even if it's a tiny amount, then you're more likely to spend again in the future. I call this out as predatory, except it's literally in every mobile game these days. so just be mindful of how these things psychologically affect you.

Of course, there's also the unfairly priced whale packs for the in-game gacha currency. If you want to spend hundreds of dollars to guarantee the newest Mythic Lightbearer, this is the worst bang for your buck, so unless you're a whale, I'd stay out. Aside from some other cosmetic items purchasable from the premium currency, I checked the menus and found out that was it.

For a free-to-play mobile gacha game, Destiny Rising's gacha and monetization feel very fair. It doesn't have pages upon pages of battle passes and cash shop deals. It doesn't berate you with constant flash sales.

To give a comparison of just how egregious gacha game monetization can get, Here's AFK Journey. Not only is the cashout filled to the brim with multiple battle passes and seasonal reward tracks, the game constantly shoves flash sales down your throat. Let me just say, for a gacha game, it can be so, so much worse.

After playing until the latest story chapter, I can honestly say that I had a really good time with Destiny Rising. However, I find that a lot of the gameplay features and mechanics will tend to favor those that are already familiar with Destiny's core gameplay. as most gachas typically don't have this many interactable elements with other players.

This game is likely gonna be mostly for existing Destiny fans. Gacha games are generally more centric towards single-player content, so if you never played Destiny before, the gameplay loop might feel a little hit or miss for you. I originally thought that Mythic characters will gain an inherent advantage due to their rarity.

Except after playing with a couple characters, I actually like the gameplay of some of the legendary units instead. I found that the game has a good balance of PvP, PvE, and casual content. It's got its own card game, a racing mode, fishing, and lenient grind that lets you continue farming even after you've expended all your stamina.

Despite this, I also want to briefly talk about the overall public perception of Destiny Rising. As a mobile gacha game, it's very solid. I think anyone that has tried out the game can admit that. I know that NetEase also developed Diablo Immortal, which takes on quite a lot of stigma. Though I'm one to judge titles by themselves.

I don't really understand this mentality that just because Rising is a mobile game, that somehow makes it unplayable. Just because it's monetized through a gacha system, it's a low effort cash grab. A good game is a good game.

However, I do have a couple of main concerns for those planning to play long term. There's a plethora of different currencies to keep track of. You can make a decent argument that the game does this to intentionally confuse you.

Although, from someone that's been brain-rotted by gacha games, you can basically just think of a single mode having its own separate currency. I would say it's not that bad, but console gamers will probably call bullshit. There's also no full sweep feature in the game.

If you need a lot of certain upgrade materials, prepared to run the raid levels over and over again. These are daily chores that you want to knock out immediately, so whether you're down to grind this repeatedly is up to you to decide. Obviously, the game monetizing itself through gacha is gonna get some pushback no matter where you look.

If you're someone like SkillUp that thinks that the existence of a gacha system irreversibly degrades a game, then, you know, I think gacha games can be fun when played with moderation, But this is not an argument you can objectively win. So despite everything I talked about, if you just can't stand gacha games, then feel free to skip out. As someone that has never played Destiny, I thought this was a pretty neat first look into what the franchise has to offer.

Maybe I'll try out Destiny 2. Probably not though. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this launch review of Destiny Rising. So let me know if you played it or will be trying it out.

If you want to catch more gacha-related content, you already know what to do. For those that want to go the extra mile, you can support me for as little as $2 a month on Patreon. Thank you for watching as always, spend moderately, and always remember, have fun out there.

Destiny: Rising is a free to play gacha game set in the Destiny universe.

After my jaws dropped open at the fact of this game even existing, I wanted to try it out and see if it's actually any good.

Developed by Netease and (likely) has a lot riding on its shoulders given the current state of Destiny 2, let's see what it's all about.

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Game overview – Progression – Gacha/Monetization

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