Starfield’s aerial combat is shaping up to be an interesting feature for the upcoming RPG, and other shooters should take notes, particularly Bungie’s Destiny 2. Aerial combat would be right at home in Destiny 2’s sci-fi universe, and it could also introduce some new life to the game.
The aerial combat in Starfield ultimately has a lot of working parts to it that could individually influence other sci-fi shooters. For starters, building ships in Starfield with fully modular components offers an impressive amount of variety to combat performances. Another big feature that could inspire other games is the many ways that players can confront other ships in Starfield, such as spaceship dogfights or by directly infiltrating enemy vessels.
What Destiny 2 Could Learn from Starfield’s Aerial Combat
Players in the Destiny 2 community have been requesting ship-based combat for a while now, pointing out how much foundation and support this kind of activity already has within the game. Even the trailer from the Lightfall expansion generated a bit of speculation within the community about the potential of ship combat coming to Destiny 2. Ultimately, the Lightfall campaign’s ship combat turned out to be exclusive to cutscenes, though this still hasn’t stopped parts of the community from holding out the hopes that future expansions will step up to the challenge.
Destiny 2 already has a variety of rare and unique ships for players to show off in the intermission between activities, but this is the only use that ships currently have in Destiny 2’s gameplay. Players can buy ships from the Eververse Store or earn them as rewards for completing specific content, though the only difference between player vehicles in Destiny 2 is their appearances, except for speeds and perks on Sparrows. After what Starfield has shown off leading up to the game’s release, Destiny 2 should consider the potential of aerial combat, given how the game already has an extensive amount of ships to utilize.
Destiny could also go far with how Starfield’s space combat includes the option to infiltrate foreign ships and explore their interiors on foot. Procedurally generated content like ship interiors could have huge potential in Destiny 2, considering how repetitive some of the currently available content can feel, particularly the PvE playlists.
Rotating modifiers somewhat address the problem of replayability in Destiny 2, but these are only stepping stones compared to what different combinations of randomized locations and enemies could offer. Player ships in Destiny 2 aren’t nearly as large as those from Starfield, but infiltrating enemy ships still has the makings of a fun and fresh game mode for the series to experiment with.
Aerial combat similar to what Starfield offers also has a lot of room to introduce new PvP content in Destiny 2. The last time the Destiny series explored a competitive vehicle-based game mode was with the Sparrow Racing League. Although this activity lacked combat, it’s still worth a mention since it gave players a chance to use their personal vehicles in new ways. This game mode hasn’t been available for a very long time, but it still remains highly requested in the community to make a return in Destiny 2 at some point, alongside the introduction of space combat.
After the latest round of reveals for Starfield, games like Destiny 2 have a lot to consider for their own future content. With how customizable and complex the aerial combat is shaping up to be in Starfield, it could very well shake up the sci-fi shooter genre going forward. Given Destiny 2’s existing foundations and support for an aerial combat activity, it may be a missed opportunity not to experiment with the potential this content could have in the game.
Destiny 2 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
