5 Best Games Developed By Bungie, Ranked

Bungie is a legendary developer for good reason. It has crafted some of the finest games ever made, delivered one of the greatest franchises in the history of gaming, and revolutionized the first-person shooter genre for the better. If it weren’t for the likes of Halo, the gaming landscape would look vastly different today. Even when it falters and fails, Bungie still manages to create experiences that garner dedicated fans who will forever be loyal to the bitter end. There’s only a handful of developers that can say the same.

So, it is only right to celebrate Bungie’s very best games in the only way the internet knows how: a ranked list. While all Bungie games are great, some are simply better than others. To be clear, every game on this list, and practically every Bungie game ever made (Gnop! included), is phenomenal and deserving of unbridled praise. However, these titles manage to beat their cohorts ever so slightly due to a number of crucial elements that help set them apart. From the expected Halo entry to an underrated classic, these are the very best Bungie games.

5. Oni

Oni is one of Bungie’s better-known yet still underrated masterpieces. It is a vastly different experience from its expected lineup of story-driven first-person shooters, opting instead for a melee-focused third-person adventure game. What it does share in common with the first Halo game, especially, is its large open levels that are fully explorable and packed with a variety of enemy types for players to punch, kick, and occasionally blast to death. In large part thanks to its heavy Ghost in the Shell inspirations, Oni remains both a visually distinct and stylistically incredible video game as well as one of the few genuinely good cyberpunk titles available today.

Some may also know Oni as being one of the best Rockstar games, and that would also be true, technically. Bungie was bought by Xbox in 2000, which meant the IP rights lapsed back to Take-Two Interactive, who purchased Oni’s publisher, Gathering of Developers, that same year. As a result, Rockstar was tasked with producing the PlayStation 2 port of the game, thus technically making it a collaboration between both Bungie and Rockstar. Obviously, it is Bungie’s game at heart, and it is a shame that more wasn’t done with the IP, as a sequel was reportedly cancelled after two years of production. Bungie would never be able to return to it, but I’d be interested to see how it would handle a third-person action title today.

4. Marathon

2026’s Marathon may be shrouded in controversy due to people’s penchant for criticizing PlayStation’s live-service efforts, but it is still very much a Bungie classic, if only thanks to the phenomenal gunplay. Bungie is capable of delivering incredibly smooth and enjoyable shooters, and Marathon absolutely falls into that category, regardless of what you think of extraction shooters. While it failed somewhat to go toe-to-toe with Arc Raiders, Marathon’s vastly improved AI, stunning visuals, and smattering of compelling extraction shooter elements that have been refined significantly since the initial betas make it an incredible title.

The only downside to Marathon is just how challenging it is, as Bungie has targeted the hardcore Tarkov audience with its foray into the extraction shooter market. Where Arc Raiders attempted to level the playing field, Marathon is aiming to play to its genre’s strengths, and while that certainly alienates a large swathe of potential fans, it does make it a better extraction shooter as a result. Marathon also fixed a huge live-service game issue by making monetization fairer post-launch, and Bungie has shown a desire to listen to and implement fan feedback. Sure, it isn’t for everyone, but for those it is targeting, Marathon is an incredible time.

3. Destiny 2

Destiny, much like Marathon, is shrouded in controversy, and that is an unavoidable fact. Riddled with baffling decisions, poorly-handled expansions, and a plethora of frustrating live-service nonsense, Destiny and its sequel are not perfect games. However, locking crucial content away for arbitrary reasons, releasing the dreadful Lightfall, and any number of equally frustrating sins aside, Destiny 2 is a phenomenal shooter that is hard not to fall in love with. Its lore is all over the place, but fascinating; its characters are memorable and expertly performed, its gunplay is perhaps Bungie’s finest, and its world design is staggeringly beautiful more often than not.

Sure, Destiny 2 has its flaws, none of which I am eager to brush over, but it is hard to deny the positive impact it has had both in terms of gameplay and mechanical innovation and on players across the world. Destiny 2 is a game I’ve returned to time and time again, one I have immensely fond memories of as I played it during challenging times, and a game that, even when weighing up the many cons, seems to shine nonetheless. Destiny 2 is the culmination of everything Bungie has been working towards, and while it certainly was never able to surpass the Halo series, on occasion, it managed to come pretty close.

2. Halo: Reach

Outside of the most underrated Halo game in existence, Reach is my personal favorite. That’s not to say it is the best (that is reserved for the final entry), but it is the game that had the most profound impact on me as a person and the one that brought me the most fun. It is packed full of phenomenal, genre-defining missions that have stuck with me even after 16 years, a legendarily good cast of characters, and a sombre tone that simultaneously reflects the departure of Bungie from the franchise and the culmination of Halo’s maturing tone across the series.

Frankly, the mission Lone Wolf guarantees Halo: Reach a spot on this list regardless, its haunting atmosphere and unbeatable waves of enemies perfectly encapsulating the hopelessness pervading throughout the game. I may be a little biased, as Halo: Reach was the game I played the most with my sibling, and is therefore forever attached to those joyous memories, but I do believe, even after all of these years, it holds up incredibly well. It is the perfect balancing of emotional and impactful storytelling with best-in-class gunplay and level design. Of course, there’s one Halo that just about manages to surpass it, but Reach is nonetheless a staggeringly impressive achievement and the ultimate swan song for Bungie.

1. Halo 3

Naturally, Bungie’s finest game is Halo 3. It is often cited as being the best in the series, the greatest entry in Master Chief’s journey, and the last genuinely good mainline Halo game. Frankly, Halo 3 deserves all of these accolades and more, as it is the culmination of everything Bungie learned across developing the series, sporting incredible gunplay, a narrative that absolutely carries the lofty expectations that six years of storytelling brings with it, and excellent level design.

Of course, one cannot forget the amazing multiplayer, a generational masterpiece in and of itself that brought together an impressive community the likes of which we don’t really see anymore. Halo 3 also introduced Forge mode, which led to a swathe of custom-made game modes and maps that went on to define the game’s multiplayer for years to come. In many ways, Halo 3 marks Bungie’s finest attempt at capturing both the online multiplayer crowd and single-player story-focused fans, something that many of us wish it was still capable of doing today.

What Bungie game is your favorite? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

5 Underrated First-Person Shooters That Are Worth Your Time