Let’s not kid ourselves, there won’t be any meaningful Destiny 2 reviews for at least a month. Anyone who puts one out will not have sampled enough of the game to do so. Instead, we can only look at what is in front of us. Spoilers follow but Destiny 2 does more for non-fans in the first hour than the last game did at launch. Along with Metal Gear Solid V, it is among the best openings to a game we have experienced to date.
Starting at the tower from the first game you are immediately struck by the beauty and levity of the graphics and cutscenes. Destiny was notoriously lacking in humour at the outset and Peter Dinklage as the voice of the Ghost was lambasted for this. Destiny 2 looks beautiful and from character interaction in the first scene gives players that were rightfully bored of the first game something to really interact with.
SPOILERS FOLLOW
The tower is soon attacked by a newish enemy. Looking like the Cabal from the first game, they are a mobilised division of them under a new protagonist, the massive and intimidating Dominus Ghaul. They attack the tower bringing it to its knees and assault the traveller, the massive, spherical being from the first game. Needless to say, this attack and the first hour is amazing to behold, especially on a PS4 Pro and will be even better on a beefed-up pc.
The major difference noticeable to me a lapsed ‘vanilla’ Destiny player is the level of intensity. Any fight with the enemy suddenly ramps up to a perfect level of difficulty. While I didn’t die during the intro sequence I was constantly close to death had I not taken some evasive action. Being in my 30’s my FPS reflexes have dimmed but I’m far from useless, so this is a great indicator of the balance of the game. The original felt too easy, too quickly and the grind lost all interest by the end of the short campaign.
You are genuinely hooked into the storyline immediately as the game breaks you down to nothing only for you to begin your quest. Compared to the first where you were just dumped without exposition, it is a stark and welcome contrast.
Here after playing a few hours, there isn’t even the hint that you are grinding. Loot is plentiful and well spaced and the attraction of playing alone is catered for equally as well as playing in a group. In the middle of a small mission, a random event happened and suddenly a group of around 10 guardians were in constant battle with Red Legion forces, during this the balance of combat was perfectly shown again as guardians needed reviving on a constant basis. If this is what a random event is like then the raids will be truly epic.
At this early stage, it is a very comfortable game to recommend. However, as I said this can only be an impression so early. Further impressions will follow as the game carries on. For now, Destiny 2 has made an incredible and unexpected first impression that has pulled me back into the universe.
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