
‘Destiny 2' Has A ‘Titanfall' Mode Now And It's Very Fun
Destiny 2
We are in the 'wind down' phase of Destiny 2's current episode, with all its story content over, and only a new dungeon event going on. That's actually going pretty well ("explore" dungeons are a cool concept), but now as of this week, Destiny 2 has introduced something that I think is cool. A Titanfall mode.
Okay not exactly, but a minimalist version of the concept called 'Heavy Metal.' It's a limited time event that pits the game's tanks against the Fallen's Brigs in 3v3 matches where big shots are lobbed at each side and tracking missiles can be used occasionally. There are minor dodge mechanics and it's also a 'kill confirmed' format where enemies drop coins you need to pick up after death for more points and to regain health.
There are some 'balance' complaints about whether tanks are better (worse dodge but they hit harder) or Brigs are better (more mobility but less damage) though I have seen enough complaints about each side to say I think they…are actually pretty balanced. My games have been pretty evenly split between which side wins, though I know Bungie has all that data.
Destiny 2
I think it's fun, though I know not everyone does. The best strategy is to stick with your team, as if not, you will be ganged up on and destroyed. You need to use your dodging or your super tank boost to avoid shots, you need to learn when and where to use your tracking shots, you need to know how to lead shots, you need to know paths to sneak up on people. There's actually a lot of strategy to it!
FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™
Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase
Pinpoint By Linkedin
Guess The Category
Queens By Linkedin
Crown Each Region
Crossclimb By Linkedin
Unlock A Trivia Ladder
Destiny is no stranger to 'wacky' modes, but so far I'm finding this more fun that its Scorch Cannon mode (I sort of hate that) and even Mayhem which centers around too few useful supers that eclipse others. Here, everyone is on a level playing field and it's survival of the fittest.
I get that people are saying it gets boring fast but I mean, come on, it's not going to be the most advanced thing in the world and I don't really care if we're skipping one weekend of Trials for it. One bad thing it's doing is its currency acquisition system is horrible, and getting XP to crawl toward a brand new gun-sparrow is sort of interminable and needs some buffs. But the gameplay itself? Even if we're at 5% of Titanfall here, it's fun, and once again it reminds us how awful it is that series is dead.
Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.
Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Travis Kelce's Immediate Reaction to Shaquille O'Neal's Taylor Swift Admission
Travis Kelce's Immediate Reaction to Shaquille O'Neal's Taylor Swift Admission originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce and his brother Jason Kelce's podcast, "New Heights," announced on Tuesday that their next guest on the show is none other than NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal. They initially teased the announcement by dropping a hint that their next guest would be their "biggest guest ever." They weren't joking as they revealed shortly after that O'Neal would be their surprise guest for Wednesday's episode of the show. "New Heights" also provided a short preview of their interview with the four-time NBA champion, and one moment that stood out was O'Neal admitting that his "favorite song in the world" is Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble." Travis Kelce, who has been dating Swift for nearly two years, was extremely excited after hearing O'Neal's big revelation. Tayvis Nation, a social media fan account dedicated to the Chiefs tight end, captured Kelce's immediate reaction to O'Neal's Swiftie admission, and it showed just how happy he was in the moment. Kelce was dancing, clapping and laughing in the video clip. He thanked O'Neal for the shoutout before sending a message to his girlfriend about her recent major announcement. "Shout out to TayTay — just got that song back too,' Kelce said, 'She bought all her music back, so it's finally hers.' Kelce's statement was in reference to Swift recently announcing that she had been able to buy all of her music back amid her dispute with her previous record label. It was a major milestone for the "Fortnight" singer, and it is also clear that Kelce is very happy for her. This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 4, 2025, where it first appeared.


Digital Trends
an hour ago
- Digital Trends
To make 007: First Light, Hitman's creators had to get uncomfortable
On paper, the idea of the developers behind Hitman making a James Bond game sounds like a complete no brainer. Of course that team would be able to create a great spy game that naturally plays off everything it has accomplished with its flagship series over the past few decades. Take Agent 47's suit to the dry cleaner, tailor it a bit, and throw it on James Bond. What's so hard about that, right? But for Io Interactive, making a James Bond game was an exercise in discomfort. 007: First Light aims to create an entirely new take on the character, delving into an origin story that will allow the team to make a Bond that belongs to the gaming medium. Maybe it would be easy to throw that character into Hitman's immersive sim template and let him take down targets with stealth and his cunning wit, but that wouldn't truly capture the character's ethos. To get Bond right, Io would need to step outside of its comfort zone. Recommended Videos Following Friday night's Io Interactive Showcase, where the studio shared more details about First Light, I spoke with CCO Christian Elverdam about where the project shares DNA with Hitman and where it needed to push away from it. It wasn't enough to trade one agent for another; it would require a studio that's spent nearly a decade perfecting one instrument to learn a new one. 'It sounds easy to mix Hitman and Uncharted,' Elverdam tells Digital Trends. 'I saw a lot of people say that. I'm like 'hah … yeah, sounds easy … '' A 360 Bond Ahead of 007: First Light's debut trailer, I'd wager that a lot of people had a certain expectation in mind. We were no doubt in for an immersive sim starring a debonair spy who uses his brains and charisma to outwit unsuspecting goons. That's not exactly what First Light is. It's not just that Io is going full Hollywood for 007's action; it's that James Bond himself is totally different from the suave hero we're used to. First Light will tell an origin story about the spy, showcasing him as a young, brash agent in training. The move has come as a shock to some fans, but Elverdam explains that the change came from a desire to create a Bond that belonged to gamers. 'If you're going to build a James Bond for the games medium, where do you start? We were like, let's start at the beginning,' Elverdam tells Digital Trends. 'There's this great question of who's James and who's 007? I think James has always been a rebel. He's always been at odds with authority, but we thought it was interesting that most young people yearn to find out what's their purpose. If you put that question in front of James Bond, it starts brewing some magical stuff instead of saying 'this is who you are.' This is a different version of that. I think we tried to communicate that in the trailer. It's a little bit like, hm, he's not fully fleshed out is he?' The Bond we see in First Light's debut trailer already teases a very different take on the character, but he's not totally foreign. The confident spy we know is somewhere underneath all the uncertainty waiting to be fully formed. Elverdam says that the Bond ethos is still present here in the character's moral compass. 'First and foremost, I think James Bond is a true hero,' Elverdam says. 'He will do what's right almost at any price. From the bottom of his existence, he has some element of that. I think 007 is a profession in a way. It's both about being a great spy and a great agent, and that comes at a price of humanity in some cases. It's super fun to play with this idea: What if he's not the perfect spy? What if he makes some mistakes and then learns some spy craft along the way? He's always audacious … He stirs up chaos and expects something good to come out of it. That's deep in his bones as a character.' Really getting down to the essence of Bond wouldn't just be about hanging on to the character's core personality traits. The gameplay would have to reflect him too, which meant that First Light couldn't be your average action game. It had to be something that felt custom built for Bond's skill set. The team's Hitman experience would come in handy there, as it knows how to craft action and tension that isn't just built around gun fights. 'With Bond, our insistence, which was shared across everyone that was involved with everyone in the game, was that we wanted the 360 version of James Bond,' he says. 'And that means it's not just a shooter. That was super important for everyone. It turns out that Hitman had a lot of stuff to teach us because most people who don't know Hitman think it's just an endless game about killing people left and right, but in reality, it's actually about almost not doing anything. There's just a lot of non-shooting gameplay, and that was one of the things we brought into James Bond … I think the movies are clearly action films, but there's not a lot of shooting. It happens, but it's not super frequent. It's much more action, running, driving, fighting, spectacle moments. And that's hard to build, but it's one of the things where we said we have to nail that.' Elverdam is tight-lipped when it comes to sharing any new details that haven't been revealed about the game. Every time he even alludes to a gameplay component, he treats it like a spoiler and leaves a trail of teases. All he does affirm is that First Light won't quite be like Hitman, though that series' approach to freedom will still be somewhere in 007's bones, just as Bond's do-gooder nature will still be underneath the younger hero's skin. 'A Hitman location you should be able to play 100 times. And I think our desire with Bond is not that it's one and done, but it's also not 100 times,' Elverdam says. 'You can't play a level 100 times and keep discovering new stuff. You might replay it because you enjoy the story, and there certainly are different paths you can take in the game, without spoiling too much.' Learning a new instrument Based on the bold changes to the Bond series, it may seem like Io Interactive has a lot of creative freedom here. After all, it's putting a very new spin on a character that's historically been locked to one fairly rigid interpretation. The independent studio does have free reign in some ways, but Elverdam notes that there's a bit of a self-imposed restriction too — one that's also present in its Hitman games. 'I'll be totally honest. I was a big part of reimagining Agent 47 in the current universe. I never felt like I had freedom even though we own that IP,' Elverdam says. 'You are beholden to the fans, and to a legacy and to an understanding of the core. I don't think James Bond is different. You have to respect that there are a lot of people out there who have an opinion about what the character means to them. So, we have a lot of freedom, but we don't have a lot of freedom. And that's actually a good thing.' It's always uncomfortable to learn stuff. If you play the piano the first time, it sounds miserable. As we discuss this, the conversation turns to the Hitman series. While it has been around for decades, its defining moment truly came in 2016 when Io Interactive retooled the series into what it is today. Like First Light, that too was a risk that had to balance fan expectation with creative vision. It paid off, as that game spawned a trilogy that was collected into one live service offering that's been going strong for nearly a decade now. It expanded once again last night with a new 007-themed update that brings Casino Royale's villain to the fold as a new target. I ask Elverdam what he feels the studio did right to make that happen. He cites a lot of reasons, such as its unshakable desire to turn it into a service, but one part of his answer stands out in context of First Light. 'I kind of always felt like you're either making a Hitman game or you're not, which means that you cannot pretend that this is a game for everyone. It really isn't,' Elverdam says. 'And by doing that unapologetically, I think we found a really engaged audience. We're not going to be Fortnite. That's not in the cards. And being independent allowed us to just double down on that. We're here to build the absolute best version of what Hitman can be. And that's the real first right call we did.' It's with that answer that I can clearly see how First Light is a product of the Hitman team, even if the games don't look as similar as you'd expect at first glance. This is a team that has the utmost respect for its audience and wants to do right by them, but also understands that sometimes the right thing to do is what fans aren't expecting. First Light seems to be a product of that thinking, telling a reimagined take on Bond because that's what's going to make for a better story, even if not every fan can see it right now. It's about pushing fans out of their comfort zone, because that's exactly what Io Interactive is doing to itself too. It's creating a game with more cinematic action, a narrower structure, a pure hero, and a James Bond that no one has ever met before. And the studio is embracing it all. 'There has to be an element of growth and discomfort,' Elverdam says. 'Man, we have to learn something here. We have to invite some new people into Io to teach us how to do stuff, which is great! It's always uncomfortable to learn stuff. If you play the piano the first time, it sounds miserable. There's some growing pains there with James Bond. How do we do this again? That's why we do it.' 007: First Light launches in 2026 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Conservative fashion magazine editors explain why style is 'coded' left politically
The editors of a conservative fashion magazine called The Conservateur explained in a new interview why fashion, "hotness," and other industries or concepts have been coded left or right-wing politics. "I think that there's been an uglification, whether you see modern art or you see progressives kind of pushing onto women to reject men, dye your hair blue and wear a septum piercing," Jayme Franklin, founder and CEO of The Conservateur, told Fox News Digital. Franklin founded The Conservateur magazine in 2020 after graduating from the University of California-Berkeley as a response to the fashion industry and stylists often signaling left-wing political sentiments. Ny Mag Cover Accused Of Cropping Out Black Attendees Of Trump Inauguration Event "We started our Make America Hot Again hat. Obviously, it's a fun hat that was so popular for us that people loved. But it does touch on a bigger thing. We say at The Conservateur, we are all about being our best self. That's what we're promoting to women," Franklin said. The Conservateur editor-in-chief, Caroline Downey, argued that male-led podcasts have been coded "right-wing" for merely being "fundamentally irreverent." Read On The Fox News App "They weren't policing words, and they were also fundamentally trying to pursue truth. Joe Rogan gets a lot of criticism for platforming controversial figures, but his podcast style has always been the same, which is to ask questions of people who know more than him on a specific subject and to just have stimulating conversations," Downey said. "That alone was considered provocative during a cancel culture, very word policing time when you were supposed to just take the propaganda from the Democratic Party and accept it. So just free discourse on these podcasts, just speaking in an unfiltered way, is unfortunately right-wing coded," she added. Their comments came after they spoke with Emma Goldberg of The New York Times about certain activities and institutions being "coded" in a politically polarized country. 'Make America Hot Again' Socials Bring Young Conservative Singles Together In New York City For instance, Goldberg wrote that Broadway plays like "Hamilton" and "Rent" are "left-coded" and that comedy and wrestling have been "right-coded." "People have often signaled their values in the shows they watch ("The West Wing"), clothes they wear (white pantsuits) and restaurants they frequent," Goldberg explained. "But it has become wildly popular in recent years, and especially in recent months, to read cultural tea leaves with the word 'coded.' In group chats, on Reddit and on X, we're calling anything and everything right or left 'coded.' It's like playing a game of charades, gesturing at the qualities a certain celebrity or bar or podcast has without saying exactly what you mean." Downey argued that such left-wing and right-wing coding of activities has led to a "dual economy." "I'm not sure if that is sustainable for the future. I'm not sure we can have red and blue coffee," she added. She further said that the use of the term "coded" has been pervasive in our culture due to the polarized nature of political alignment in the U.S. Society Has A New 'Perverse Attraction' To Toxic Male Characters, Ny Times Column Argues "I think the coding is a natural byproduct of the fact that leftism has infiltrated and hijacked most institutions in our culture, including fashion editorial and fashion production," Downey said. "If we have a coded brand, that is meeting the moment for many young women who don't feel comfortable or necessarily welcomed by what is already available on the market." she added. Building upon that sentiment, Franklin argued that such conditions motivated her to launch The Conservateur fashion magazine to appeal to women with traditional values. "I think a lot of fashion brands tend to lean left, unfortunately. So I think what we want to do at The Conservateur – one: we want to get more women on our side, because I do believe our lifestyle, whether it be getting married, having a family, working hard in your job, and loving this country, and going to church … I think makes for a more successful and happier life for women," Franklin article source: Conservative fashion magazine editors explain why style is 'coded' left politically