Halo 2 vibes are real (Gaming)

by Korny , Dalton, Ga. US. Earth, Sol System, Tuesday, September 02, 2025, 17:24 (1 day, 7 hours, 44 min. ago) @ ManKitten

This game has been so fun. I've not had new game excitement like this since Halo 2. There's so much about this game that I wish Destiny would have been from the beginning.

And again...this is all relative to my play style. I just don't have time anymore to dedicate towards a pinnacle activity. And in Destiny, you can only get pinnacle gear from pinnacle activities. And even then, there's a roll of the dice if you actually get it.

One neat thing is the way even fresh players can try out most things that they are curious about. My brother made the official jump into the game in Sunday (he’d played a few times when he came over, but has no PS5). He was curious about several weapons and stratagems, so Sammy and I jumped into a bug -> bot -> squid mission with the gadgets and weapons to let him get a feel for a bunch of different gadgets in ideal/less-than-ideal scenarios. It helped him decide what Warbond he was going to grab with his token, what weapons and stratagems he was going to skip (he didn’t like the mechs, whaaaa?), and convinced him that paying $15 for the ODST bond was a no-brainer (MA5C, M90A, you’re as beautiful as the day I lost you).

In Helldivers, I can hop into a game by myself, on easy difficult. Do a mission, collect loot, gain my exp and eventually....I too will get that pinnacle gear.

Yes, there are items that require currency only acquired in pinnacle difficulty missions, but not so many that I'm riddled with FOMO, or are powerless without said item.

I’d argue that with a seasoned veteran, the difficulty 6 missions where you find the Super samples are totally doable. The enemies don’t get more health, and the big difference is mission length, enemy variety, and numbers in a wave. The only snag right now is the Predator strain that has dominated the bug front. They are relentless in their numbers, but that may have ended with today’s update… speaking of which…

The community aspect of, all players are working towards an ever changing goal, that has consequence keeps things fresh and fun.

When my brother got on, I gave him the “story so far” about the last couple of weeks, with the in-game-lore explanation of the Xbox launch, the multi-front assault from all three factions, and the reason we were establishing a FOB on the bugs this week. It was neat to have a sense that there was a cause and effect to the world, and it felt pretty impactful that the first world we were jumping into, Hellmire, was the same world he first jumped into back when he first tried the game, though that world looked VERY different than it did back then- before the Meridia incident…

The game is so neat. Sammy and I have fully jumped back in. My only complaint is that the two-minute-long friend codes make adding people on other platforms really awkward, but it’s a nitpick, ultimately.

Glad you’re enjoying it!