When it was announced earlier this year that Destiny, the sci-fi shooter from 2014 was getting a sequel, the fan reaction was huge.
The game was created by Bungie, the minds behind the popular Halo franchise on Xbox and puts players in a vast online world that requires them to either team up or face each other in intergalactic battles.
A murmur of concern came as it was announced that Destiny 2 would force players to begin fresh - meaning tens of millions of players will be losing their accumulated abilities and experience.
But it also opens up the game to potentially vast numbers of new players who maybe missed the boat the first time around.
“The coolest thing about our game is how the community interacts together,” Mirror Tech was told by members of Destiny’s development team at the E3 conference in Los Angeles.
“There’s always something to do and there’s always someone to play with. We have these experienced players - we call them ‘Sherpas’ - who are happy to help out newer players because they find it super rewarding."
Release date
The game, which will launch on Xbox and PS4 on September 6th - two days earlier than originally suggested - will also be arriving on PC for the first time.
The PC version is coming two months later on October 24 but publisher Activision says that’s because they needed time to get it right.
Gameplay
A number of changes have been made to Destiny’s gameplay based on fan feedback from the first title. The hope from Bungie and Activision is that it’ll be more accessible to neww gamers.
First up, a change to the Crucible mode (competitive multiplayer) means all matches are now 4 versus 4 rather than 6 versus 6. New subclasses will be made available to the three main classes: Titan, Warlock and Hunter.
Official clan support is also being included, letting dedicated gamers play together. A new feature called "Guided Games" will help solo players join clans and find colleagues.
“We want to make the game learnable, but still difficult to master,” Destiny’s developers told Mirror Tech.
Story
Story is an important part of Destiny and it’s what the development team keeps coming back to at E3 - where fans got their first hands on taste of the game.
Exact details are still under wraps - obviously - but what we do know is that Earth is being attacked by the Cabal group Red Legion. All the Guardians lose their connection to the Traveler and their ability to use Light. Hence, beginning from scratch as a player.
And we've got an amazing new villain in the form of Dominus Ghaul.
Finally, although the game will be available for both PlayStation and Xbox, there will be some timed exclusive content for PlayStation owners including weapons, gear and ships.
