Bungie has been a large name in first-person shooters for years now. Bungie revolutionized console shooters with the release of Halo for the original Xbox, and in recent years has continued to support and make sweeping changes to its extremely popular looter shooter Destiny 2. Bungie has said very little about what future plans the studio has, but it did file a trademark for a game titled Matter that has led to many theorizing over what exciting things the studio could bring next.
Bungie has not officially announced Matter, or what type of game it is, but a recent job posting from Bungie has pointed towards Matter being a hero shooter similar to Overwatch or Valorant. Hero shooters have become increasingly popular in recent years, and while Bungie has never released a game with hero shooter mechanics, the studio could likely do some great work in the genre. It also is not clear whether or not Matter will actually be set in the same universe as Destiny 2, but with the success of the Destiny series it is likely that the game will have at least some things in common with Bungie's flagship title.
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The Matter trademark first appeared in Europe all the way back in 2018, and it has yet to have any official acknowledgement from Bungie since. This has led to most of what is known about the title being derived from a job posting at Bungie that caught attention over the past week. The job posting asks for a Gameplay and Combat Design role on a nine-month contract. The job posting says it is looking for a candidate with previous experience working on character-focused action games with the goal of creating moments focused on teamplay.
The job posting's stipulations definitely align with hero shooters; a genre where players have access to different weapons and abilities depending on what character they are playing and with a heavy emphasis on team members coordinating and playing strategically together. The nine month contract also indicates that the position might not necessarily be related to Destiny 2 either, as Destiny 2 has a long future of updates ahead of it as a long term project.
It also lines up well with the fact that Matter has likely been worked on for a few years now, since the trademark was filed back in 2018. With Bungie's recent expansion by doubling its Washington studio's size, while also opening a second studio in Amsterdam, it also seems that Bungie may be growing in preparation for supporting a second AAA title.
If Matter does end up being a hero shooter with inspiration taken from Destiny, it could become something very original within the hero shooter genre. Destiny 2 already has established player classes of Titan, Hunter, and Warlock. While each class has a few ability trees that allow players to customize their playstyle. However, the classes still fit into traditional hero shooter types relatively well.
Titans work well as tanks, Hunters as DPS, and Warlocks as support characters. Bungie definitely has a grip on creating different ability styles in a shooter, and Matter could likely see some abilities in Destiny popping up in its heroes. It is not hard to imagine one hero being able to summon a gun with limited ammo that deals tons of damage, another creating a well of energy that heals allies, and another hero being able to put up walls.
Of course, Destiny 2 also has a large variety of visual aesthetics and cosmetic items for players to pursue as well. Destiny 2 features a large variety of items for each of the three classes, so Matter will likely also sport a similar tapestry of imaginative and impressive cosmetics. But one of the biggest features of Destiny 2 and any hero shooter is the shooting itself, and Destiny 2 has an incredible spread of weapons that could indicate what players could expect from Matter.
Exotic weapons in Destiny have always been coveted thanks to their unique mechanics and ability to define a player's play style. Bungie's experience developing those different weapons would translate very well to Matter and could lead to heroes in Matter all having very different weapons in their kits and feeling very different to play because of it. It could lead to a hero shooter where heroes are especially defined by their weapon rather than their abilities.
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It would be great to see Matter tie into the Destiny universe in some shape or form. Bungie has built a wonderful world with some very colorful and interesting characters over the years that would all be a big opportunity for Matter to take advantage of. Being able to step into the shoes of Zavala or Crota would be a big treat for Destiny fans and would make it easier for players to immediately identify the characters. However, Bungie may also want to create an entirely new IP that can attract new players while standing on its own.
If Bungie opts to keep Matter separate from Destiny, it would still hopefully keep Bungie's identity intact. It would be great to see Matter still include shield mechanics similar to Destiny and Halo while also keeping Bungie's penchant for creating mechanically interesting and diverse weapons. It also would be great to see Bungie bring its attention to detail and personalization to Matter as well. Destiny 2 grants players an impressive amount of customization through armor pieces, shaders, and ornaments, and it would be a shame for Matter to take a step backward in that regard.
Hopefully, Bungie fans will not have much longer to wait before they get a glimpse at Matter. Summer is approaching, bringing E3 and Summger Games Fest with it, and both seem like prime candidates for Bungie to reveal their newest project and start getting players excited for it. Of course, there is no telling just how similar it will be to Destiny 2 in the end, but there is a lot of potential there, so hopefully, Bungie does incorporate some of the lessons they have learned from Destiny 2 into their newest project.
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