Let me start with this: [b]Destiny 2 is, hands down, a better game than Destiny 1 in most ways[/b]. The gameplay is smoother, the systems are deeper, and I’m genuinely hyped for Kepler and Lodai. The game is still absolutely worth playing and loving. That said, it feels like something has been slowly slipping away. With the Light and Darkness Saga wrapping up, it’s hard not to look back and feel a bit of loss. Destiny used to feel mysterious; The Awoken were a mystery, the Hive were terrifying, and the Fallen had unknown motives. A lot of that has been explained now, and that’s natural for a game that’s been around for ten years. But something about that early wonder, that sense of "space magic", feels like it’s gone. And I think the new Portal is emblematic of that. The Director used to be a big part of how Destiny felt. It was our map, but more than that, it was how we [i]entered[/i] the world. You’d load into orbit, open the Director, and choose where to explore. When new planets were added, they showed up there. It felt meaningful. Now, the Portal is just a screen full of boxes; it doesn’t feel like you’re looking at a world, it feels like you’re browsing a to-do list. It’s functional, but it’s not Destiny. Not the way it used to be. It’s not just the UI either. The tone has shifted over the years. The worlds look more polished now, but they also feel safer? (I think the change to the lighting engine has something to do with it.) Skyboxes are more realistic, but less fantastical. The darker parts of the universe don’t feel dark anymore. Destiny used to feel strange and alien. Now it feels more and more like any other sci-fi shooter. I get why Bungie has made these choices. Destiny has always struggled with new player onboarding, even before the DCV, and the Portal is clearly an attempt to fix that. But it comes at the cost of immersion. The game now feels like it’s trying to be approachable first, and magical second, and I think we’re losing something important because of that. The soul of Destiny was never just about loot or raids or metas. It was about feeling like a Guardian in a strange, beautiful, dangerous universe. And every time the game moves toward being more efficient or more polished or more “modern,” it takes another step away from that feeling. I still love this game. But I miss what it used to [i]feel[/i] like. --- [b]TLDR[/b]: Destiny 2 is a better game, but it’s lost a lot of the mystery and magic that made the original feel so special. Moving away from the Director to the Portal reflects that shift. The game is more polished, more accessible, but less immersive and less weird in all the ways that made Destiny [b]Destiny[/b].