Bungie finally released the Destiny 2 (PC) beta this week and have I’ve been impressed. Don’t get me wrong, I fully intend on playing the Xbox version of the game — after all, didn’t I just order the Xbox One X, which will arrive sometime in November? But there is no denying the exceptional goodness which revolves around the PC version of Destiny 2.
First and foremost, I’m fortunate enough to be able to rock both the Xbox and PC gaming platforms. And though my gaming PC has fallen behind in recent years, I just liquidated some toys in order to fund the purchase of a EVGA GTX 1080 graphics card. That’s fun, isn’t it? Taking those old, slightly used, marginally abused toys and converting them to hard currency. That currency can then be used to buy a new toy completely guilt-free. Zero impact to the bank account, permission not required.
Thus, my previously underwhelming gaming PC has been brought relatively up to spec in plenty of time of the Destiny 2 (PC) release in late October, and nicely in time for the release of the PC beta.
I jumped into Destiny 2 (PC) minutes after it unlocked on the Blizzard launch application and logged in quickly. I drank in the initial cutscenes and prepared myself for combat. When presented with an early choice, I selected the Warlock and began. Running at 1440p resolution and supported by the delicious new GPU I’d just installed, the game was butter smooth while presenting incredible detail. The environments were shockingly vivid, with nuanced textures, and a wide spectrum of effects laced nicely together. Once in combat, the joy only continued. Mouse movement was precise, easily managed, and a natural extension of the mouse + keyboard control scheme. As I dug into the game interface, my initial positive impressions were further reinforced.
The wide array of settings offered by Destiny 2 (PC) showed nice detail. I found some very granular settings like a difference between normal and ADS mouse sensitivity. Well played, Bungie. The key bindings were very intuitive, as were the graphical options, including the color of the reticle for the gun sight. White never worked for me, I much prefer the bright green of yesteryear. I continue to examine the depths of the interface and found nothing but well thought out options and additional controls.
All in all, my first foray into the world of Destiny 2 (PC) has been nothing short of amazing. The screenshot (below) was taken while players had a limited 2 hour window to explore the new social space. I’m unsure this screen captures the moment but it certainly comes close.
Next Tuesday, September 06, the Xbox version of Destiny 2 will be released but I wonder how I will react to the changes. We will go from a wide FOV to the narrow console version. We will drip from 75 fps to a static 30 fps. We will lose the vivid, staggeringly detailed environments in favor of a watered down console equivalent. How will these changes, reverting back to something less, affect me? I’m unsure. All I know is I will be playing with good friends, on a console which has treated me well, on a brand new game we’ve all been waiting for. I’m going to invest in the Xbox version for the moment but you’d better believe I’ll have one eye on the horizon, waiting for the October 24, release of Destiny 2 (PC).
Good time to be a gamer.