“Nothing lasts forever” and “all good things must come to an end.” These two phrases are perhaps the most universal of all the proverbs floating around out there. Time is always progressing, and in no other context is that more apparent than in the world of video games. As we move closer and closer to the end of this console cycle, I find my thoughts focusing more and more on its beginning. A lot has happened in the past 6 years. Many great games have come out, and circumstances have shifted for most of us (quite dramatically in some cases). In particular, lately I’ve been thinking a lot bout Destiny and the bygone circumstances surrounding it. Games come and go, but Destiny represents something special for me, something I wish could have lasted just a little while longer.

In many ways Destiny represents the zenith of my life as a gamer. I had never and have never been more excited for a game than I was for Destiny. It was going to be a literal game-changer, blowing all past shooters out of the water with incredible gunplay, an amazing story and a gigantic world ripe for exploration. Destiny was going to be the kind of game that only comes around once a decade, and I was ready for it. All my friends were. We couldn’t wait! Well…it turned out that Destiny would only live-up to the gunplay expectations. Disappointing to be sure, but still more than enough for all of us to get completely hooked for the next two years.

Destiny was the first (and to date only) game that brought my entire friend group together. Even with all its flaws, Destiny was the only thing any of was wanted to talk about for a long time. Every day was filled with solo stories, personal goals, quest progress, raid plans and shared memories. We were all of us a team, and Destiny was our stadium. It wasn’t meant to last of course. I mean, how could it? New games are always coming out and life circumstances are always in flux. Eventually the day came where we all started to lose interest, only putting in a fraction of the time and energy we had before. At the very least, we were still playing. Destiny was still relevant and would remain so until the sequel came out. We all were already missing the old days, but were unable to return to our former zeal and so the hope was that Destiny 2 would rekindle it.

Unfortunately, Destiny 2 did the opposite. It killed it. So much was either watered down or missing at launch that most of my friends (and I) just stopped playing entirely. Even after it got decent with the Forsaken expansion, some of them never came back. I eventually bid my Hunter farewell too and committed all of Destiny to the past. Never again would we take to a game in the same way the horrendous launch state of Destiny 2 ensured that no real interest would ever surface again.

I’m sure this all sounds overly dramatic, and that’s most likely because it is. Games are just games after all, and it’s not like I haven’t enjoyed a lot of them in the years since Destiny. Even so, I cannot fully express how much that game meant to me at the time, nor can I really say how much I miss that shared connection now that I’m basically living half a world away from everything and everyone I know. I suppose I just wish that I’d done more to enjoy the game (and the simpler circumstances surrounding it) more at the time. Destiny 3 is coming eventually and I’m sure that I and my friends will wind up giving it a try. It won’t be the same though, that time has passed.

I’m complaining a lot here and I really shouldn’t be. There’s a lot of exciting games coming out to look forward to, and there are all manner of possibilities to explore were I am now. All in all, everything is looking good! It’s just that nostalgia really hits like a truck sometimes, you know?

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Do you have a game you really miss? What was it that made it special for you?

Lede image captured by Hatmonster