First Descendant may have copied many of Warframe’s systems, but now the community is accusing the developers of also copying the Destiny 2 icon with little to no changes

From the moment The First Descendant was released, the feeling among many players was that it was a hodgepodge of mechanics, ideas, systems, structures, and designs from other popular online loot shooters.

Until everyone Actually Those feelings were largely confirmed when I started playing. When Connor and I played the game more than a year ago, we pointed out its lack of originality, but now that it’s in the hands of millions of players, more of its flaws are starting to show.

While it’s fair to call him the “first descendant”… Inspiration Warframe’s ever-improving Digital Extremes shooter isn’t the only game Nexon has drawn inspiration from. We even compared the prices of microtransactions in The First Descendant to Warframe to see if they’re as outrageous as everyone says they are.

However, the more time players spend with The First Descendant, the more they’ll discover elements from other games that go beyond simple inspiration. The latest controversy revolves around some of the game’s icons, which are very similar to those in Destiny 2.

According to Forbes, the game has six icons designed in a way that reminds players of Bungie’s classic shooter. The problem isn’t what the icons are supposed to represent, but the way they’re drawn. They look like early versions, or perhaps spruced-up versions.

There are a few other things here, like the Different Dream weapon from The First Descendant that looks very similar to Destiny 2’s Sleeper Simulant, while also bearing some resemblance to the IKELOS sniper rifle.

The game’s promotional artwork includes a depiction of the Ghost from Destiny. In that sense, the original Descendants had no companions, so this was just part of the game’s character’s skill set – but again, the similarity is hard to ignore.

Of course, it remains to be seen how much of an impact these findings will have on gaming. Games often make their own interpretations of ideas from other games – that’s how genres are born.

However, the similarity in design language of in-game icons isn’t something that can be easily explained away. It’s likely not a big enough issue for Bungie or Nexon to cause legal trouble. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

That being said, now that the information is out there, you can count on players to intentionally seek out examples to add to the mix.