In this video, you can experience my reaction and response as “MMO Jesus” up close again:
Destiny 2 was extensively playable on PC at Gamescom 2017. Jürgen ventured into the MMO shooter as a Destiny noob to see what the Destiny phenomenon is all about. You can find his impressions report here!
Destiny! No game is as popular on Mein-MMO as Bungie’s MMO shooter. But for players like me, it has always been a mystery. The reason: I have no console and therefore never got to enjoy the game and only understood train station when I heard Tom rave about it.
But I always wondered: What is so good about it? What makes Destiny so appealing?
Destiny 2 – Finally on PC!
So I was really happy when I found out that Destiny 2 is not only coming out for PS4 and Xbox One but is finally also being released on PC. At the same time, I heard all sorts of doomsayers like:
- “This will only be a lame console port, Bungie is just throwing the PC version together haphazardly to squeeze out a few bucks from the dumb PC players!”
- “Destiny can only work on consoles, the brilliant gunplay is designed for aim assist and would never work on PC with mouse control!”
- “Destiny is a console game and that’s good too! You monkeys from the PC Master Race already have everything, we simply won’t grant you Destiny!”
This somewhat dampened my enthusiasm, but I was still curious. Destiny 2 couldn’t be that bad; after all, there are professionals at Bungie and not total beginners. And maybe they really have a heart for poor PC players like me. So I was quite excited when I got the chance to play Destiny 2 on PC at Gamescom 2017.
Destiny 2 on PC – “Click the ball!”
Together with my colleagues Dawid and Leya, we waded through the crowds at Gamescom and finally found Bungie’s booth, where we finally got to experience Destiny 2 on PC. I was assigned a free PC, where I found a Hunter in the specialization “Arc Striker”.
The Arc Striker is a Guardian that summons an electrically charged combat staff as a special power and dishes out brutally. At first, I had zero idea about the game and tried for minutes to even start a game. Only Dawid’s impatient “Click the ball!” finally got me into the game.
Destiny 2 – Who, how, what? Doesn’t matter, let’s shoot first!
Right at the beginning, I was greeted by a nicely staged cutscene where some folks were talking about something. A cheeky robot, a grim woman with short hair, and a weird blue bald guy appeared in it. Then bulky ships attack and stick some kind of cuff to a large ball hovering over a city in the background.
I don’t really get anything, but still, my interest is piqued. Who are all these characters bravely resisting the attack? And who is attacking us anyway? And what is that weird ball? While I was still pondering that and stumbling through the ruins of a square, a sort of landing capsule suddenly drops next to me and a horde of huge, clumsy armored aliens descends upon me! Luckily, I have a large-caliber pistol at hand and, with a few shots, I take down the enemies.
But that’s not all, the blue bald guy from the intro video is under heavy pressure and needs help! Wave after wave of armored aliens attacks him and the poor guy cowers behind a wall fragment seeking protection!
I come to his aid and a fun shooting gallery ensues. Aliens repeatedly try a storm attack and I keep mowing them down. I can finally try out my superpower for the first time and use the lightning staff to take down enemies by the dozen without resistance.
Destiny 2 – Gunplay, atmosphere, graphics – everything just clicks!
No matter if with a pistol, assault rifle or sniper rifle, Destiny 2 gets everything right in its king discipline – shooting. In Destiny, it’s known that the main objective is to blow the heads off stupid aliens, and it succeeds excellently thanks to the fluid gameplay. The mission I played was ultimately just a tube full of scripted events, but they were simply great!
Something was always happening, aliens were landing, buildings were exploding, and in the background, more and more of the huge alien ships were pushing through the sky, pressing against the mysterious huge ball. All of this looked super thanks to the stunning graphics of Destiny 2 in 4K quality and 60 FPS on the high-end PC on site.
Superior Mouse Control
The shooting comes easy. Even total noobs get in quickly, and thanks to the good gunplay, you can mow down enemies in droves. I didn’t notice any aim assist like on consoles. However, many of my shots hit, and headshots were no problem thanks to the precise mouse control.
In no time, I was through the entry mission, and when the final sequence finally came, I stood eagerly in front of the screen, hoping it would somehow continue, as I was having so much fun!
Destiny 2 – A hit on PC too!
The entry mission was enough: I went from being a Destiny noob to a passionate fan who can hardly wait for the game to finally come out on PC. I’ve gotten a taste and want to keep playing, NOW IMMEDIATELY!
I want to take revenge on the alien scum that stole the beautiful ball, I want more weapons and shooting action! And I want to finally know what Destiny 2 is all about and what it has to do with the ball, the bald guy, and the robot joker.
P.S. Sorry to all Destiny fans for not using the correct terms. I promise to improve once I can play the game after release. Then I will happily dive into the lore of Destiny and name everything correctly!
In this video, you can experience my reaction and response as “MMO Jesus” up close again:
