Nine minutes. In all of nine minutes, everything changes in Destiny 2. The Last City? Gone. The Tower? Gone. Your vaults? Super gone. If you've been a Destiny player since 2014—even if you are a filthy casual, like me, and joined late—then the video you're about to see could be hard to swallow. In one hard-hitting assault on the Tower and the Traveler, the one safe space you've known is about to go down in smoke and up in flames.
Yesterday's reveal showed some snippets of gameplay. But today's video is an uncut assault of what the opening minutes of Destiny 2 will look like. You might not be as confident as the developer gripping the mouse and keyboard on this one (after all, they're frighteningly practiced already), but this is some intense combat footage. I'm picking my jaw up off the floor right now. It shows off that renewed focus on storytelling and cinematics that Bungie is promising in the sequel. This new enemy, the Cabal Red Legion, are monsters on the battlefield, even as the developer puts each of them down with apparent ease. But man this opening is crazy. And to think all this leads up to that "Last Call" trailer from a couple months ago, the one where good ol' Nathan Fillion is trading war stories with no one in particular at the bar.
BUNGIE AND ACTIVISION UNVEIL DESTINY 2 GAMEPLAY WITH NEW, ACTION-PACKED, CHARACTER-DRIVEN STORY AND A BREADTH OF ACTIVITIES IN A LIVE BROADCAST
Blizzard Entertainment to Host Destiny 2 on PC via Battle.net®
Destiny 2 Gives Players New Ways to Connect and Play with Others Through
"Guided Games" Feature
Santa Monica, CA - May 18, 2017 - Bungie and Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI), debuted Destiny 2's gameplay for the first time to a global, livestreamed audience in a hands-on event at Jet Center in Hawthorne, California. Destiny 2 is the sequel to the internationally acclaimed Destiny, a first-person action game that takes the player on an epic journey to defend humanity from annihilation. The live broadcast showcased a variety of the activities, opening on a dramatic campaign mission that sets up the premise of the game to answer how you recover when your home is destroyed and your powers are taken away. The broadcast went on to detail the game's social and cooperative activities, including the all-new "Guided Games" feature while highlighting multiple brand-new destinations. In September, Destiny 2 will be available on PlayStation®4 systems with additional, timed exclusive* content, and Xbox One(PlayStation®Plus or Xbox Live Gold subscription, respectively, required for significant features). Additionally, Destiny 2 will be available on PC at retail and as the first third-party game to be offered digitally via Battle.net®, Blizzard Entertainment's online gaming service.
The broadcast was streamed globally in four languages and emphasized that the game will offer a fresh start to all players with no previous knowledge or background needed. Destiny 2's story allows the player to enjoy a heroic, cinematic journey, either solo or with friends. A key announcement during the livestream was about a new feature called, "Guided Games," that makes it easy for all players to experience the most challenging and rewarding activities the game has to offer. This new feature allows solo players to find and play with other players to enjoy Destiny 2 and earn new in-game rewards like weapons, and armor. Also available for attendees was "Countdown," an all-new competitive multiplayer mode as well as a three-player cooperative activity on a new map called, "Inverted Spire."
In the story of Destiny 2, the last safe city on Earth has fallen and lay in ruins, occupied by a powerful new enemy and his elite army, the Red Legion. Every player creates their own character called a "Guardian," humanity's chosen protectors. As a Guardian in Destiny 2,players must master new abilities and weapons to reunite the city's forces, stand together and fight back to reclaim their home.
"Destiny established a blockbuster, new franchise and a massive global community of amazingly passionate fans. And today, we are giving people their first look at the gameplay ofDestiny 2," said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision. "Destiny 2 has a great story, an iconic new villain, awesome characters you want to go on an epic adventure with, and of course, tons of the amazing gameplay that Destiny is known for. We, along with our partners at Bungie, have listened carefully to our community, and have added thoughtful innovations that make the game, and all of its content, more accessible to more types of players than ever before."
Bungie CEO, Pete Parsons, said, "This is a defining moment for our studio, and we couldn't have done it without the continued support of our partners in Activision, Sony and now Blizzard." He added, "We have an amazing community of players who have been with us on this journey, but with the sequel, the team are paying close attention to welcoming new and returning Guardians to the universe with something for every type of gamer, including gameplay for solo, cooperative and competitive players with new places to explore and adventures to conquer."
"As Destiny fans, we were excited to learn that the sequel was coming to PC," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We're pleased to support Destiny 2 as the first non-Blizzard game on our platform, and we look forward to joining fellow Guardians in their fight against the Red Legion."
Destiny 2 is currently Rating Pending (RP) by the ESRB and will be available at a suggested retail price of $59.99. The product line-up will also feature the Destiny 2 - Game + Expansion Pass Bundle at $89.99 SRP, the Destiny 2 - Digital Deluxe Edition featuring premium digital content at $99.99 SRP, the Limited Edition at $99.99 SRP, and the Collector's Edition, featuring a fully-wearable Destiny 2 - Frontier Bag, Expansion Pass, premium digital content and a Cabal-themed Collector's Box for $249.99 SRP.
