You're right about this being a massive loss and I want to get into why Myth was actually special beyond the nostalgia — because it WAS fundamentally different from any RTS that followed, and modern Bungie has arguably traded those layers for something much thinner. Let me break down what we lost in 1998:
Myth wasn't just another StarCraft clone; its core design was centered on army-level command rather than micro-management of individual units. You controlled groups through a commander portrait at the top right with orders like Rally, Attack Move, and Guard Position, while armies were summarized by strength bars along the bottom left — the UI alone was elegant and intuitive for 1996. Each faction had mechanically distinct abilities: Dwarves got heavy armor and grenades (and yes, you could blow up zombies with dwarf bombs), Elves wielded spells and stealth trees, and Humans played as balanced hybrids between both. Battles unfolded on a hex grid where units automatically maneuver toward enemies, so your role was to shape the battlefield macroscopically — not click-to-micro every unit's position like in modern RTS games. Siege battles were an entirely separate mode featuring massive fortress defenses and siege engines that you couldn't find in standard skirmishes; it turned a 40-minute battle into a multi-hour event where victory felt earned, not just calculated.
What makes the comparison to current Bungie sting is the contrast between Myth as a complete boxed product with endless replayability and Destiny 2 as a live service model that's constantly being patched. The original game had an iconic soundtrack by Michael Arlen — those opening battle themes are some of the best in gaming history, setting a mood before you even deployed your first unit. Then there was the visual style: pre-rendered sprite art on hex terrain has aged remarkably well because it wasn't trying to be 3D and succeeded as something cohesive instead, unlike many modern titles that look dated within five years of release. We won't get Myth back — Bungie pivoted away from RTS entirely by the late 90s and never looked back - but we deserve better strategy games than live-service shooters replacing them one for one.
Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/i-wish-bungie-would-stop-designing-excellent-multiplayer-shooters-and-go-back-to-making-fantasy-strategy-games-where-you-blow-up-zombies-with-dwarf-bombs/
Myth wasn't just another StarCraft clone; its core design was centered on army-level command rather than micro-management of individual units. You controlled groups through a commander portrait at the top right with orders like Rally, Attack Move, and Guard Position, while armies were summarized by strength bars along the bottom left — the UI alone was elegant and intuitive for 1996. Each faction had mechanically distinct abilities: Dwarves got heavy armor and grenades (and yes, you could blow up zombies with dwarf bombs), Elves wielded spells and stealth trees, and Humans played as balanced hybrids between both. Battles unfolded on a hex grid where units automatically maneuver toward enemies, so your role was to shape the battlefield macroscopically — not click-to-micro every unit's position like in modern RTS games. Siege battles were an entirely separate mode featuring massive fortress defenses and siege engines that you couldn't find in standard skirmishes; it turned a 40-minute battle into a multi-hour event where victory felt earned, not just calculated.
What makes the comparison to current Bungie sting is the contrast between Myth as a complete boxed product with endless replayability and Destiny 2 as a live service model that's constantly being patched. The original game had an iconic soundtrack by Michael Arlen — those opening battle themes are some of the best in gaming history, setting a mood before you even deployed your first unit. Then there was the visual style: pre-rendered sprite art on hex terrain has aged remarkably well because it wasn't trying to be 3D and succeeded as something cohesive instead, unlike many modern titles that look dated within five years of release. We won't get Myth back — Bungie pivoted away from RTS entirely by the late 90s and never looked back - but we deserve better strategy games than live-service shooters replacing them one for one.
Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/i-wish-bungie-would-stop-designing-excellent-multiplayer-shooters-and-go-back-to-making-fantasy-strategy-games-where-you-blow-up-zombies-with-dwarf-bombs/