Destiny Rising, a new free-to-play mobile game set in an alternate universe from Bungie’s main series, has been released on iOS and Android. 

In the hours since the game’s official launch, players of the new mobile FPS MMO have discovered prominent uses of AI voices inside the game. 

Players of the new mobile game – which is also playable on PC via an emulator – quickly found that NPCs inside Haven aren’t voiced by actual voice actors. Instead, the game makes use of the same text-to-speech voice banks many use on services such as TikTok and YouTube shorts. 

Characters standing next to an information board speak with extremely basic text-to-speech. Unlike games like The Finals, which controversially paid human voice actors to provide vocals to turn into more complex sound banks, the new Destiny game’s voices sound like you’re watching some kind of TikTok tutorial. 

As it stands, the use of the AI voices in Destiny Rising is extremely jarring with tone-deaf, flat delivery that takes you right out of the experience. 

“Destiny Rising using the TikTok AI guy voice is hilarious,” one player said on social media. “Almost lost my sh*t when I walked by and heard that, had me gut laughing till I had a headache,” commented another. 

Developer NetEase did reportedly use AI voices for multiple NPCs during the game’s Alpha period as placeholder. In a statement to fans last year, community manager Marunaru told fans the voices were “indeed placeholders and will be changed in the final build of the game”.

However, at the time of writing, the developers have not changed the text-to-speech voices for real voice actors for the game’s release build. Additionally, the awful text-to-speech voices are infinitely repeatable with numerous players finding instances of the bog-standard AI in NetEase’s new mobile release. 

For more FRVR gaming news, read about the upcoming DLC expansion for Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl. Additionally, read about the impressive Baldur’s Gate 3 mod that recreates the opening of the original game.