We delivered a solid experience on all platforms we shipped Destiny on. With Destiny 2 being on modern hardware we’re able to create bigger environments, more elaborate activities for more players to enjoy, and put more enemy combatants on screen.
The action continues after a short cutscene (yes, there are cutscenes in missions now). We’ve boarded the Cabal capital ship and need to take down the shields. The level ended in the shield generator room where we were introduced to Destiny 2’s main antagonist, Ghaul. Large and menacing, Bungie claims that he’s a more complex villain than, say, Oryx, but he didn’t come across that way in the demo. Hopefully, we’ll see another side of him in the main game.
There were some 3v3 modes like Trials of Osiris. With Destiny 2, we’ve met somewhere in the middle. Every game mode is 4v4 now instead of 3v3 or 6v6. We’ve created a scenario where every single player in the Crucible plays an important role on their team. We’ve placed an emphasis on strategy, teamwork, and communication. You’re going to think a lot about how you back each other up, how you play together.
The strike displayed just how big of a leap the sequel is over its predecessor. The Inverted Spire is an exciting mission from beginning to end, showing off the design philosophy that will hopefully permeate the entire game. The maps were far more open, allowing us to approach the battles in certain ways. At one point, we had to cross a huge battlefield with Vex and Cabal battling in the craters. While there will be a lot of returning enemies, there will also be plenty of new ones. For example, the Cabal have War Beasts, doglike creatures that aren’t afraid to get in close and maul unsuspecting Guardians. Even the returning enemies have some neat new abilities. The Cabal Phalanx now has the ability to put down a bigger shield for a small amount of time, meaning you’ll have to jump over and walk around if you want to get them.
While including a loot box that doesn’t award duplicates is better than only having completely random loot boxes, doing so doesn’t take away from the fact that Bungie’s game is still highly encouraging its players to engage with loot boxes instead of actually earning loot. It also doesn’t take away from the fact that they’re still pushing random microtransactions in a game with a sixty dollars price tag and paid DLC. What’s more, they don't appear to see anything wrong with this.
I’ve played a lot of Destiny, whether that be in Destiny or Destiny 2 form. This of course means I’ve also done everything Destiny has to throw at me. Being someone who likes Destiny 2 Missions means you’ll probably end up grinding toward the be all end all raid content for whatever iteration the series is on. Destiny 2 has a serious problem, though, and it's its raid Leviathan and what it exactly it wants to be.
Destiny nailed its gameplay mechanics perfectly out of the gate and those carry beautifully into Destiny 2. Aiming and shooting feel fantastic, while platforming has been tightened up with Guardians now able to clamber over ledges. Jumping is still a little floaty, but the clambering should help players avoid some unnecessary deaths.
The competitive multiplayer experience in Destiny 2 has probably been the thing to see the most change from the first game, or at least the most noticeable. It seems like Bungie is taking cues from both highly competitive shooters of today like Overwatch, while also harkening back to their old series, Halo. In terms of new, the first things you'll notice are the user interface changes and the four versus four setup. The UI shows new details, most notably the ability to see what subclasses both friendly and enemy players are using, if they are alive or not, and whether or not they have their super ready. This information is helpful. To my own detriment, I don't usually adapt how I play first person shooters, but this small inclusion has made me think differently about how I was playing; how aggressive I was deciding to be, where I was going to go next. It's a small but useful things. The 4v4 change doesn't affect things too drastically, although sometimes when a big fight breaks out, it does seem even more hectic than the first game. Where Destiny 2 hearkens back to Halo is in the fact that there's a noticeable difference when it comes to TTK, or time to kill. It's a good deal higher, which means it's going to take longer to get an enemy down.
While there no new classes, each of the three returning classes get a new subclass. Hunters get Arcstrider, Titans get Sentinel and Warlocks get Dawnblade. Each of the new subclasses is a joy to use and players can unlock their other Destiny 1 subclasses (Gunslinger, Striker and Voidwalker) and The Taken King subclasses (Nightstalker, Sunbreaker and Stormcaller) if the new ones aren’t their cup of tea. Each returning class has been tweaked to make them more viable in Destiny 2, and both new and old are fun to play.