Which Loot-Shooter Should You Play?
Now that you’ve overcome the existential dread of the neverending games, which of the loot-shooter variety should you devote your time to until the inevitable heat death of the universe?
Modern loot-shooters are typically games built using an online shared world model, where you encounter other players organically through structured content, allowing you to team up or compete in player-versus-player (PvP) modes.
Plus, there’s a lot of loot to collect. This loot can range from armour, weapons and cosmetic goodies, most of which is assigned a number or colour to indicate its strength and rarity. These games are built around giving you that sweet dopamine fix by enticing you with shiny things as you play. The more you shoot, the more you loot!
Here are the major loot-shooters available now, with some comparison points to help you decide what to loot and who to shoot.
The Division 2
In a sentence: Visit a gritty post-outbreak Washington, D.C. and shoot different gangs for a culturally unique tourist experience.
Available platforms: PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
Price: RRP $89.95 (PC), $99.95 (console), but can be regularly found for $79.95 at department stores.
The best bits: Arguably alongside Destiny as featuring the tightest shooting mechanics, The Division 2 backs this up with challenging missions and decent enemy variety. Additionally, a bizarre aspect to praise, but The Division 2 just straight up works. Where other large-scale online games have been plagued with server issues and bugs on launch, the wizards at Ubisoft did something to make it work theoretically out of the box…
The worst bits: However, a sizeable download for digital owners and day-one patch for disc owners dampens things somewhat, particularly for those sans NBN or hampered by a limited data plan. The Division 2 had the chance to do something interesting narratively with its Washington setting, but is ultimately bland. It also makes you aware of how germ-riddled society is.
Current and future content: The Division 2 has already promised a year of free major content updates, and recently announced “Invasion: Battle for D.C.” dropping April 5, a major addition to the endgame story with more things to loot and shoot.
Agents! Check out our updated timeline of things to come, including Tidal Basin on April 5th! pic.twitter.com/9USWhsSQMd
— The Division 2 (@TheDivisionGame) March 27, 2019
Anthem
In a sentence: Fly around in Iron Man suits of armour investigating ancient space ruins.
Available Platforms: PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
Price: RRP $89.95 (PC), $99.95 (console, 10% off for Xbox One EA Access subscribers), hovers between $69-79 in department stores. PC players can play Anthem with an Origin Access Premier subscription for $19.99/month. At the time of writing, the PS4 version can be found for the bonkers $29 at some retailers, while EB Games is selling on all platforms for $57.
The best bits: Flying around in the Javelin mechs feels incredible, and each of the four variants provide decent gameplay diversity. Anthem is arguably the best-looking loot-shooter available, featuring plenty of stunning vistas to fly dramatically towards while listening to Sarah Schachner’s wonderful soundtrack.
The worst bits: Anthem’s had one helluva rocky start with server issues and various bugs – highlighted by the PS4 version reportedly shutting some players’ systems down. However, the lack of meaningful endgame content and unsatisfying loot system to keep people playing is the most damning problem right now. One that BioWare is scrambling to fix and is actively communicating with players to address issues. Also, there’s no PvP to engage with while waiting for more content.
Current and future content: A little light-on in content in comparison to its competitors, Anthem aims to address this with free content comprised of a schedule of acts. Act one is outlined with a 90-day plan – which sounds suspiciously like a political party manifesto – leading towards the Cataclysm in-game event in May, along with more events, missions and social features. Following the first act, there are two more listed which will be detailed closer to their release.
Destiny 2
In a sentence: The sequel to the original shared-world loot-shooter — shoot space aliens while befriending, and then avenging robo-Nathan Fillion/Nolan North.
Available Platforms: PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
Price: Varies depending on which edition you’re after. Vanilla Destiny 2 without any of the expansions can be found in-store for less than $30, while console players can grab the Forsaken: Legendary Collection which includes all major expansions to date for $39 at JB Hi-Fi. PC players are out of luck, as the same bundle costs $89.95 via the Blizzard store.
The best bits: Made by the folks who brought the Halo series into the world, so the first-person shooting feels fantastic and highly responsive to control. Destiny 2’s story is told in a vastly improved way to the original, with pretty cutscenes replacing *checks notes* reading scraps of a story via a mobile app?
Destiny, 2014: "Story is, you're fighting space gods, okay? We don't know. Fuck you."
Destiny, 2019: "You must now decide whether or not to betray the organization you've served for years. This decision will have permanent narrative consequences." pic.twitter.com/4xGmoVPr1F— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) March 12, 2019
The worst bits: The Destiny series in particular cops a bit of criticism for its “bullet-sponge” enemies, which refers to adversaries that take a lot of damage to artificially increase their difficulty – admittedly, this is a complaint not unique to Destiny. Bungie’s been around the block a few times, so there’s not much inherently wrong with Destiny 2, although there are still moments of frustration with unsatisfying loot and the like.
Current and future content: As mentioned earlier, Destiny 2 can be bought with all expansions so far, and there’s also a wealth of content due through until August. However, some of this is gated behind an optional Annual Pass purchase. It will be interesting to see Bungie’s approach to future content following their separation with Activision.
Warframe
In a sentence: Space ninjas with swords and guns that’ll have you yelling “parkour!” at regular intervals.
Available Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
Price: Free! There is a sprawling microtransaction economy, which is totally optional and has even been described as “ethical” due to avoiding the luck and gambling elements favoured by many other games.
The best bits: For starters, everyone likes free things, hence the highly-active player base. Additionally, Warframe benefits from several years of content updates and patches, so there’s heaps of stuff to sink your ninja sword into (not a euphemism). It’s also the only typical loot-shooter available for Nintendo Switch players if that’s your platform of choice.
The worst bits: Can be a bit of a grind, but can’t argue with free. Hard to get into, as there’s little guidance beyond the introductory missions; currently, the most helpful negative review on Steam laments how much of Warframe’s information needs to be sourced from outside the game (wikis, Reddit, etc.).
Current and future content: How long have you got? Warframe has just celebrated its sixth anniversary and doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon. In addition to the free major content updates over the years, including the most recent “Fortuna” expansion, there’s a 2019 roadmap cataloguing heaps of new content, a revamped new player experience, and another sick-named expansion, “Railjack”.
Thank you for six years of incredible support, Tenno! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/f361kMjORI
— WARFRAME (@PlayWarframe) March 30, 2019
Honourable mentions
Although many players have moved onto the sequels, you can pick up the original Destiny and The Division games with all post-launch content for pretty cheap – some folks are still playing the first Destiny!
While not a shared world loot-shooter in the same vein as the other games listed, the Borderlands series is fully co-op and features lots of looting and shooting. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel even has an Australian twang thanks to 2K Australia’s contribution – it’s not set in Australia, but that’s still pretty cool. Plus, Borderlands 3 is coming out!
These games do share many similarities and we may get into heated arguments about which loot-shooter loots and shoots best, but the most important thing to remember is this: the real loot is the friends we make along the way.