Bungie gave us our first look at Destiny 2, it’s everything we expected and more. Bungie is really pushing the idea that this is a fresh start and blowing up the tower, the very social center of the first game, is a great way to do that.
Homecoming was the first missing Bungie showed off. The mission has a massive Cabal force invading and destroying the Tower. The way the cabal fly onto The Tower in drop pods feels more dynamic than anything we’ve seen in the original Destiny. There seems to be a focus on story and large set piece moments. Everything is shinier, bolder, and more polished than anything we got in the original Destiny.
While this may come off as a more moderate upgrade to some I think it shows that this studio is learning. Bungie is one of the most renowned developers when it comes to listening to player feedback and with this reveal, it absolutely showed. Gone are the days of loot cave grinding and robot Peter Dinklage, now comes the new age of understandable plots with Nathan Fillion leading the charge into a new and quite humorous future.
It isn’t just the story that has gotten an overhaul in Destiny 2. Bungie has also changed the online competitive mode, Crucible from 6v6 to 4v4 across all modes in order to create an accessible and consistent experience.
In addition to making Crucible accessible, they will be making its more hardcore counterpart Trials of Osiris, the six-man fireteam cooperative Raids, and the Nightfall Strikes more accessible and available to all players. Bungie will be introducing a new system called “Guilded Games” which will allow in-game Clans to seek out and invite other players to their end-game content. By their own admission, this was meant to be a compromise between wanting to give Clans a greater sense of community in the world and reduce the toxic impersonal detachment of a standard looking for group feature. They also confirmed one new raid, new strikes, and Crucible modes.
No new classes were announced for Destiny 2 but each of the existing classes, Warlock, Hunter, and Titan all get a new subclass upgrade. The Titan’s Sentinel class will give Titan plays a shield, allowing them to bash their way through the cabal. Hunter’s Arcstrider class will turn the Hunter into an acrobat with an electric staff. Finally, Warlock’s Dawnblade will have a flaming sword, allowing them to slice through several enemies.
Destiny 2 will be adding four new locations: Earth’s European Dead Zone, the moons of Titan and Io, and the planetoid Nessus. More importantly, players will no longer need to go to orbit in order to jump between planets and activities; every activity is just a button press away.
The console version of Destiny 2 will be locked at 30 FPS while the PC version will be uncapped. Interestingly enough Destiny 2 on PC will be released exclusively on Blizzard’s Battle Net. Up until this point, Battle Net has been restricted to Blizzard games.
Destiny 2 will be released on September 8, 2017, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
What are some of the features you’re most looking forward to?
