10 Incredible Video Games That Were Awful At Launch

3. Destiny

No Mans Sky Next
Bungie

Infamous for its troubled development cycle, that Destiny made it to retail in 2014 as anything other than a broken mess of non-conforming ideas brainstormed by current and former staff alike is a marvel in itself, but its disjointed nature didn't go unnoticed.

Light on content and full to the brim with repetitive, luck-based endgame grinds swiftly turned Guardians off, the promise of a rich, story-heavy shooter with refined MMO elements quickly turning to disappointment once the new game shine had worn off. Those that stuck around did so purely thanks to Bungie's continued mastery of the FPS genre.

A year and two bite-sized add-ons later, Bungie successfully revitalized its stagnating universe with The Taken King. From start to finish, the central narrative unfolded with a sense of focus and continuity that vanilla Destiny so clearly lacked and even once the big bad villain had been vanquished, a total overhaul of the endgame loot chase and character progression meant Guardians were sticking around to indulge in the revamped, more rewarding grind.

Unfortunately, history appears to have repeated itself with Destiny 2, but with Forsaken on the horizon, Bungie's on course to save Destiny's successor from a similarly precarious situation.

Contributor
Contributor

Joe is a freelance games journalist who, while not spending every waking minute selling himself to websites around the world, spends his free time writing. Most of it makes no sense, but when it does, he treats each article as if it were his Magnum Opus - with varying results.