The universe of Destiny and Halo are very similar.. if they are not connected by universe, then there is an awful lot of coincidences. There are some adaptations from Halo that Destiny expands on, but I’ll try to stick to the more closely-matched elements. I’m not claiming they’re identical — just similar. They are, of course, made by the same company: Bungie.
Here is my personal list:
Halo: Start the very first game by being revived after a dormant state
Destiny: Start the very first game by being resurrected from the dead
—
Halo: Hunters (big fat enemy alien with large physical shield but has a sweet spot), Elites (adult human-sized alien with overshields), Jackals (skinny teen-sized, accessory functions like snipers), Grunts (childlike, easy-kill infantry alien), Sentinel (flying robot/drone enemy).
Destiny: Cabal (fat bulky warriors, some have a huge shield, which has a sweet spot), Fallen Captain (adult human-sized alien with shield-health before normal health), Vandals (skinny teen-sized alien, mostly accessory positions like snipers), Dregs (child/pre-teen sized easy kill infantry alien), Servitor (flying robot/drone enemy)
—
Halo: Conversion-Zombie race aliens (“Flood”), which takes existing race aliens and converts them to their mutated species and become enemies of all including same of original species, even if previously friendly. Has classes of warriors in tiny (popcorn/spore), mid (incubator, human/covie converts), captain-like (pureforms, hunter converts).
Destiny: Zombie race aliens (“Hive”), which has classes of warriors in tiny (thrall), mid (acolyte), large (knights/wizards/ogres).
Destiny: Conversion-Zombie race aliens (“Taken”) which takes existing race aliens and converts them to their mutated species and become enemies all including of same original species even if previously friendly. Has classes of warriors in tiny, mid, captain-like based on original-species ranks.
Both of these work to influence the dynamics of gameplay to create fighting between races other than the player’s against everyone else.
—
Halo: Turret-class enemy (Ranged pureform flood, grunt/jackal on fixed mounted turret)
Destiny: Turret-class enemy (Acolyte Eye, Shrieker)
—
Halo: PVE mode where you and pals fight waves of enemies which get progressively harder (Firefight)
Destiny: PVE mode where you and pals fight waves of enemies which get progressively harder (Escalation Protocol)
—
Halo: Story elements you can discover that aren’t narrated, by uncovering clues that lead to IRL locations (I Love Bees ARG for 2nd Halo game)
Destiny: Story elements you can discover that aren’t narrated, by uncovering clues that lead to IRL locations (GPS location with Valkyrie spear prop, for 2nd Destiny game)
—
Halo: Campaign fights against aliens, PVP against fellow Spartans.
Destiny: Camapign against aliens/etc, PVP against fellow Guardians.
—
Majority of enemies are deployed by drop-ships in both, and have drop-ship size, carrier-size, and master-class size ships.
—
Halo: speedier one-player vehicle called a Ghost, tank vehicles, dropships to leave the scene by.
Destiny: speedier one-player vehicle called a Sparrow, tank vehicles (both have mostly same control scheme), and a personal ship to leave the scene by.
—
Both have a floating personal assistant (Halo: “343 Guilty Spark”, among others; Destiny: “Ghost”) that travel with you and open doors or interact with devices by hovering in front and scanning/operating.
—
Both also have a “voice in your head” character that speaks to you from loosely the back of your head. In Halo, Cortana’s physical data drive connects to back of your helmet and speaks into your ear speakers, and occasionally be removed to do something to a computer. In Destiny, Ghost stays in your backpack and speaks to you from there, but can be pulled out to do something to a computer.
—
Halo: Covenant carrier-class ship hallway design
Destiny: Cabal carrier-class ship hallway design
—
Halo: Zombie-race god-like master called Gravemind, that speaks to you by shaking and blurring screen with low voice
Destiny: Zombie-race god-like master called Xol, that speaks to you by shaking and blurring screen with low voice
—
Halo: Snarky, slicko character with witty dialogue voiced by Nathan Fillion (G.Sgt Reynolds, G.Sgt Buck)
Destiny: Snarky, slicko character with witty dialogue voiced by Nathan Fillion (Cayde-6)
—
Halo: Laser heavy weapon (M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle)
Destiny: Laser heavy-weapon (Sleeper Simulant)
—
Both have campaign level portions where you must drive somewhere relatively quickly and skip over most of the enemies instead of fighting them in person, while things collapse or explode around you.
—
Halo loading screen style (Halo 3:ODST)
Destiny loading screen style
—
..I will update pictures/video as I come across them to assist the more visual elements (like loading screens, hallways)..