What we know about Destiny 2

Bungie recently held a live Destiny 2 event to show us our first glimpse of gameplay and reveal some of the big changes the sequel brings to the Destiny experience. Here’s what we learned:

Destiny 2 on PC runs at 4k with uncapped framerate — will be a Battle.net exclusive

At the very end of Bungie’s livestream, CEO of Activision Eric Hirschberg and President of Blizzard Entertainment Michael Morhaime took the stage to announce that the PC version of Destiny 2 (the first PC installment for the series) will make its home at Blizzard’s digital hub, Battle.net. Destiny 2 PC players will be able to use features like the Battle.net friends list. This will be the first non-Blizzard game to appear on the digital launching platform.

Following the event, Bungie revealed some details regarding the game’s features and expected performance on PC.

• 4k Resolution Support (3820×2160)
• Uncapped framerate
• Full mouse and keyboard support with custom key mapping
• Text chat
• Adjustable Field of View
• Detailed PC settings screen
• 21:9 monitor support

According to Luke Smith (game director), the PC version is expected to be released sometime shortly after the console version, which ships September 8.

New planets moons to explore — and maps to help out

Added to the roster of worlds players can explore in Destiny will include Titan, Nessus, and IO (all moons). Traveling from planet to planet will no longer require going to orbit; players will simply choose their planetary destination from wherever they are and quick-travel from there.

In addition to Patrol missions, Public Events, materials to find, and all the usual time-killers Guardians have come accustomed to expecting, planets will now have things called “Adventures” and “Lost Sectors” to discover. These Lost Sectors are described as “dungeons” where Guardians will find “a cache of treasures and a boss that holds the key,” (a dungeon design familiar to fans of Diablo and other role-playing hack-and-slash games). All of these objectives will be marked on a new world map complete with icons and markers galore. This map will allegedly inform players “where and when” activities will occur, hopefully meaning players will no longer need to rely on unofficial (and unreliable) Public Event trackers.

The environments of these worlds look pretty fantastic, too.

Clans are in Destiny 2 — and will help match players for the Raid

Since the beginning, Destiny players have long known the pain that is getting 90% through a Raid, then losing one player to the gods of sleep, leaving your team scrambling for a sixth player on online forums and ‘looking for group’ sites (LFG). Bungie hopes to alleviate some of this stress by implementing official Clans directly in Destiny 2.

Players will be able to create, customize, browse and join official Destiny Clans all within the game. But what’s more, with a new system called “Guided Games,” players will be able to look for groups interested in playing a Nightfall Strike, Trials of Osiris, or running that Raid. The system was designed in hopes to help solo players find clans looking for that last player (even if the player is new to the game and not part of a clan), making those endgame activities more inclusive.

Clans themselves will have reward benefits for all members; as players complete objectives, gain experience, and generally play the game, their actions will help progress their clan’s cumulative experience, earning all members rewards.

Destiny 2 campaign will have the most cinematics yet

As Bungie’s representatives said multiple times over during the livestream, the Destiny 2 campaign will feature a full (and hopefully coherent) cinematic campaign, featuring more cutscenes than any other Destiny campaign. No doubt, Bungie hopes to make up for the fiasco that was the first Destiny campaign — you know, the one about how the Traveler was protecting us all, that it had fought some ancient war against the Darkness. Remember the Darkness? What ever happened to that? Maybe we’ll find out more in Destiny 2 (and without the reliance on hundreds of Grimoire Cards)!

Here are a few sweet cinematics:

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