Gaming is full of redemption arcs and tragedies. No Man\u2019s Sky <\/em>is arguably the poster child for a successful comeback, while flops like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League <\/em>and Payday 3 <\/em>can easily fall into oblivion.<\/p>
Destiny 2 <\/em>fans have oscillated between the two sides in the past years. Bungie\u2019s golden goose seems to top itself, only to topple months later. The Witch Queen <\/em>was a high point for the franchise in early 2022, but its successor Lightfall<\/em> missed 45 percent of revenue projections<\/a> and dug the studio into a deep hole. Even this year\u2019s miraculous The Final Shape <\/em>can\u2019t wash away the taste of a second, more brutal wave of studio layoffs<\/a> and the prospect of anemic content going forward<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>
The occasional bickering between fans of the two titles has existed for years now, sometimes with a misplaced rivalry between these camps. Destiny 2<\/em>\u2019s grim future<\/a> brought some of this antagonism<\/a> to light again, but this old clash<\/a> has long worn out its welcome.<\/p>
Thinking these two famous titles can\u2019t coexist is foolish at best, and rooting for one of them to fail is even worse. Warframe<\/em>\u2019s now creative director Rebecca Ford called them \u201cgames going in different directions\u201d<\/a> in 2017 when she was still a producer, and there\u2019s hardly been a reason for rivalry since. They are two great experiences in their own right, and anyone should hope they thrive in tandem with each other.<\/p>
Outside the game, the main difference lies in the studios behind these two. Bungie is a titan of the industry and had a multibillion-dollar buyout from Sony (even if $2.3 million of it went straight to Pete Parsons\u2019 garage<\/a>). Canadian studio Digital Extremes, on the other hand, comprises more than 300 employees\u2014about as many as Bungie laid off<\/em> within the last year. Even after a second brutal wave of layoffs, the American studio still has around 850 staff working on both Destiny 2 <\/em>and Marathon.<\/em><\/p>
Warframe <\/em>is far more modest in its ambitions. And it often delivers, though at a much slower pace. It doesn\u2019t have as much content as Destiny 2<\/em>, but it does what it\u2019s promised to do with short updates, the addition of a handful of new Warframes (and Prime variants) every few months, and a succession of phenomenal major end-of-year updates. Warframe<\/em> 1999, scheduled for this winter, brings the action closer to our world with a nostalgic Y2K-inspired aesthetic, a splash of prequel energy, a bona fide boy band<\/a> who become alien bosses<\/a>, and a dash of romance sprinkled in.<\/p>
Any guardian would be spoiled when playing Warframe <\/em>due to the sheer amount of resources available. The Warframe <\/em>wiki<\/a> is so good it might be official, there\u2019s a detailed list of drop rates<\/a> for each item and mission, the entire game is fully free, content doesn\u2019t get vaulted, clans are actually meaningful, player-to-player trading works, and you can even farm for premium currency. This doesn\u2019t exempt the game from its flaws (including pervasive timegates and a need for Platinum if you want to improve your progression or rush your crafting), but it outweighs their downsides.<\/p>
The Warframe <\/em>community is also generally welcoming, both in-game and outside of it. It\u2019s hard to see a new player\u2019s questions go unanswered on mission chat, and someone spewing vitriol is usually a rare occurrence. Not many gaming communities can say they\u2019re so kind it makes for a feature on The Guardian<\/a>.<\/p>
Because of that, it\u2019s baffling to see a misplaced minority holding onto an imaginary grudge\u2014and thankfully, it seems to be a minority. The Warframe <\/em>subreddit already has a few \u201cwelcome\u201d posts<\/a> for any tips that could be useful to Destiny 2 <\/em>players<\/a> specifically, and I doubt the community would break its 11-year streak of kindness.\u00a0<\/p>
