Warframe vs Destiny 2 in 2025: Which one should you get into?

If you play online games, you’ve probably heard about Warframe and Destiny 2. These are two of the biggest and oldest names in the looter shooter genre. However, while both games fall under the same genre, they are very different from each other. Both games have been running for over a decade, with each containing years of content.

This makes it confusing for new players to choose which one to jump into. This article aims to offer a better insight into both games and clear doubts on which one to choose.

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Warframe vs Destiny 2, which one to choose in 2025?

Featuring a variety of in-game activities to engage players, both games have established a strong community, with some people being there since the beginning. To find out which one you should go for, we’ll compare each aspect of the games.

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Why choose Destiny 2

The Traveller and the guardian at the end of The Final Shape (Image via Bungie)

Developed by Bungie, the studio behind the Halo trilogy, Destiny 2 features an expansive universe with a deep lore. Each year, the game receives expansions, which move the Destiny saga forward with a main story campaign and bite-sized aftermath stories through seasonal content.

However, if you’re not here for the story and just want the shooting and looting part, the game’s got you covered. It features three different classes, namely Hunters, Titans, and Warlocks. Each of them has unique subclasses with different abilities.

Being a looter shooter title, you’ll also be collecting weapons and armor through various activities, while engaging in a variety of PvE activities. There are small activities like Lost Sectors, Bounties, along with the free roaming you can do. But the main ones include:

Strikes

Lake of Shadows Strike in D2 (Image via Bungie)

Strikes are three-player PvE missions that require you and your team to halt an enemy activity. They are usually a small part of the story itself, structured as repeatable missions for players to acquire loot. There are various difficulty options for this activity, which increase the loot acquired.

Dungeons and raids

King's Fall final raid encounter in D2 (Image via Bungie)

Dungeons and raids are what many would call the highlight of Destiny 2. Both of these activities feature complex mechanics that aren’t explained anywhere, as part of the challenge. This implies that if you don’t have a guide, you’ll be spending hours figuring things out. Surprisingly, that’s the fun part.

Seasonal content

Seasonal content comes in all forms (Image via Bungie)

With new expansions, there’s also yearly seasonal content that brings various activities and tasks for players to complete. These are similar to Strikes, but some of the activities can have more than three players. Seasonal activities also contain seasonal weapons.

The Crucible and Gambit

Gambit transmat room (Image via Bungie)

If you like PvP, Destiny 2 also has you covered. The Crucible is the PvP arena with various game modes like Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and more. Gambit is the PvPvE game mode. Two teams compete to take down an enemy boss first, with each team trying to stop the other by engaging in periodic PvP fights.

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Why choose Warframe

Excalibur vs Arthur (Image via Digital Extremes)

Warframe is also a looter shooter game at core, but extremely different from Destiny 2. While the game also contains a deep lore, the gameplay and other content are worlds apart.

On the campaign side, the game is divided into three categories. These are Main Quests, Warframe Quests, and Side Quests. The Main Quests help progress the story, while others are related to NPCs and Warframes.

There are several locations in the game that you’ll discover throughout the campaign. Most of them are locked or hidden, so it’s highly recommended to complete the story.

Acquiring Warframes and Weapons

Arsenal in Warframe (Image via Digital Extremes)

Speaking of the campaign, you’ll start the game with one of three Warframes in the prologue. This is also the tutorial on movement and combat. Immediately, you’ll notice that the game has a very different and unique movement style.

There are specific missions that have a chance to drop their parts for collecting more Warframes. There’s also a Prime variant, which is acquired through Void Relics. One would argue that Prime Warframes are easier to acquire than regular ones.

The same goes for weapons; you collect parts through missions and craft them. Prime weapons are also inside the void relics. There are special weapons that can be acquired through events.

Stats for a weapon and Warframe are always the same, meaning every player gets the exact same thing. Instead, there’s a mod system that can improve these statistics.

Gameplay

Capture missions are quick and easy (Image via Digital Extremes)

Instead of activities like Strikes, Dungeons, and Raids, you have missions with different objectives. These missions can range from hostage rescue, assassination, defense, and several more.

The prologue mission mentioned earlier will also teach you how to navigate and enter these missions. One thing that Warframe does well for new players is randomizing mission layouts. Since you’ll be repeating them frequently, the game randomizes the mission tile-sets to make it feel different.

There are also many semi-open world zones where you can roam freely or complete bounties. One of them includes outer space, where you can take your warship, known as Railjack, for a spin.

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Conclusion and personal recommendation

Despite being in the same genre, Warframe and Destiny 2 are exact opposites when it comes to gameplay. Both offer unique content, which is fun to play, making it even harder to choose. However, not every game is perfect. There will be times when things get repetitive, and it happens faster in Destiny.

That’s why, if you have to choose a game, go with Warframe. This is coming from someone who has spent over 1,500 hours in each game. While Destiny 2 is fun, there are a few things that are hard to ignore. Here are three big reasons:

Free to play

Premium gameplay experience for free (Image via Digital Extremes)

People can indeed have different tastes, but ultimately, it’s hard to beat the low cost of $0 to play Warframe. Apart from certain cosmetics, everything in the game is free. This includes the campaign, battle pass, missions, and anything else you can think of. Even the premium currency is a tradeable item.

Destiny 2 is also free-to-play, and the game does have free activities. But most of the story and activities like raids and dungeons are locked behind an expansion. While they go on sale often, the latest expansion can still be expensive.

Casual friendly

Some missions can be done in less than a minute (Image via Digital Extremes)

Raid and dungeons are the highlights of Destiny 2, but these require you to spend at least an hour to complete. This is on top of the fact that you need other people to play with, and each class only gets rewards a single time each week.

Other content, like Strikes, also gets repetitive after some time due to its linear structure. In Warframe, things go much faster as the missions are generally short and can be completed by one person. The mission structure is randomized, which makes repeating the mission much easier when farming for an item you want.

If you’re having a hard time in a mission in Warframe, there’s a universal FAQ and help chat, where people can ask others to team up for certain tasks. Destiny 2 also has a Fireteam finder, but it’s not as efficient.

Better overall game health

Warframe maintains a consistent player count (Image via Digital Extremes)

Warframe is a game that runs itself. There’s always a new weapon to build or mods to acquire, but that’s not all. The way Warframe handles things in-game contributes to its overall health. The game has an open economy, allowing players to trade most in-game items, including premium currency. This keeps the player count up.

Despite that, people are still spending money because the devs are doing what players want, and are involved with the community through forums, social media, and interactive dev streams.

All of these things are severely lacking in Destiny 2. While the game also features several explorable aspects, there’s no incentive to come back once you get what you need. Apart from a few people taking feedback, there isn’t as much involvement with the community as Warframe.