The World of Destiny
The beginning of the demo Bungie brought to E3 illustrates the immense size and scope of the world they hope to create. Destiny is set many years into the future, after a golden age where humanity spread across the stars. A mysterious force decimated the population, with a few being saved by the Traveller, a great sphere that hangs low above the surface of the Earth. Humanity rebuilt a city beneath the Traveller, and in the years that follow they have begun to venture back out into the wild to reclaim what remains of their old civilization.
The demo takes place in Russia, and while the setting is post-apocalyptic it is a sight to behold. Wind blows through the tall grass, the sun draws golden linings around the clouds it hid behind, rivers branch out through the valleys, and tall mountains loom in the distance. “All of this is playable space,” says Lars Bakken, a one of the many developers at Bungie. “This is all real geometry, you could go there.” Bungie is hinting at a huge gameplay space, but what’s staggering is the fact that this only represents a tiny morsel of what you’ll be able to visit.
For this demo, we follow the brief exploit of one of the classes of Guardians in Destiny, the Warlock. Guardians represent a group of specialized soldiers who protect the last safe city, and are able to wield some of the Traveller’s incredible power. He jumps from his personal spaceship in front of the expansive walls of Old Russia. He carries the the Viper P3, a burst-fire pulse rifle, and the Duke MK. 44, a powerful hand cannon revolver. He walks through the wreckage of a few hundred cars, some still carrying the bones of their ancient passengers. Then suddenly, the roar of a spaceship echoes through the space. A Hunter, the second Guardian class, beams closeby. He’s a friend and greets the Warlock with a wave emote; one of many to be in the final game. He seamlessly joins your Fireteam (Destiny lingo for party) and takes point, as they enter one point into the walls of Old Russia.
The Walls of Old Russia
The path ahead is dark, potentially hiding many adversaries. The Warlock pulls out his companion, Ghost. “We always visit such cheerful places.” Instantly, I knew the Ghost was going to be a clever and snarky companion throughout the journey across Destiny. Voiced by Peter Dinklage, of Game of Thrones fame, it’s a perfect match. Beyond company, Ghost is prepared to interact with old technology from the golden age; useful in your quest to reclaim your lost civilisation. Ghost expands its body revealing a bright light source, and leads the way ahead. “Oh, it looks even better up here!” he quips as he enters a large space within the wall. It’s dark, with maybe only 10 meters of visibility. “We need more light to find a way across. Hang tight. I’ll find some sticks to rub together. And by sticks, I mean highly complex circuits of which I am fully equipped...” he says, as he trails off deeper into the wall. Large lights in the ceiling boom on. The wall is even bigger than what I expected to see. “I may have over-done it. We’ve got trouble!”
The Fallen
The sudden brightness instantly attracts an enemy that was teased at the beginning of the demo, the Fallen; from the House of Devils to be exact. One of the three announced distinct enemies (the Vex and Cabal, unfortunately do not appear in this demo) fighting against humanity but not necessarily fighting together, the Fallen are four-eyed, generally four-armed, insect-like humanoids. They release Fallen Shanks to engage the player, these flying drones if you will.
Here we are introduced to several classes within the Fallen hierarchy, the Dreg (two-armed thieves) and the Vandal (long-range shooters). While not much has been revealed about the Fallen lore, Bungie has teased that their heritage results in one of the most interesting deaths in the game. Whenever a headshot or melee kill has been accomplished, a white soul-like entity erupts from their bodies.
We also see a little of what separates the Hunter and the Warlock as player classes. Each class is seemingly equipped with two sets of abilities, which when used initiates a cooldown. Warlocks have studied the Traveller, mastering some of its arcane energies. Primarily your “magic” class, the Warlock in the demo was able to release Solar Flares -- grenades with the power of the sun -- and launch Nova Bombs, a large area of effect attack. Warlocks can also glide, increasing and sustaining the elevation of their jumps. The Hunter is a combination of speed and strength, comprising of outlaws who once roamed the wilderness combining daring and ingenuity. While their class-based abilities weren’t named, one involved launching several target-seeking missiles and another imbued a gun with the magic of the Traveller, shooting one-hit blasts upon the Fallen.
Shortly after eliminating the Fallen within the wall, in a larger room, Rixis, an Archon Slayer (clearly a Fallen miniboss of sorts) engages our heroes. The Hunter goes down early on, requiring a timely revive from another player. Revives on solo-play are still being worked out at Bungie, but they assure us that any way you play will be fun and accessible. As the Warlock takes out Rixis, he explodes in a shower of blue Glimmer and leaves behind a yellow orb. Reviving the other player first, he then picks up the yellow orb.
Loot
Similar to dungeon crawl video-games, Destiny provides a plethora of ways to customize your character, from skill tress to weapons and gear. Bungie has stated that every loot drop is attached to a private stream, so your drop is yours. This is excellent news as I loved this system in Diablo 3, and hated the “race of clicks” without private streams in Borderlands 2.
This is where we’re introduced to a (probably work-in-progress) inventory screen. Your character stands in the middle, equipped with all the gear you’ve got on him or her. The column to the right of your character represents your gear, with feet, body, arm, head and one more uncertain slots. The left column represents your firearms, and a “pattern” slot (which carries an unknown use for now).
Within that loot drop from Rixis, was a new Exotic Machine Gun called Thunderlord. Expanding the Thunderlord slot reveals a skill tree with impressive upgrades, ending with Rolling Thunder, which causes your rounds to become explosive. Each upgrade seems to be powered by Glimmer, which currently could be the new currency or simply an upgrade currency, Weapon Kits and Talent Points.The Hunter receives a new sniper rilfe, which has carried names like “Shut Up and Get Behind Me” and “Better Than Yours” in multiple playthroughs. Bungie’s definitely had a fun time naming these weapons.
Our heroes press forward and finally reach Old Russia beyond the wall. Ancient colony ships tower and spot the ruined landscape. Here, another spaceship roars and a Titan, the final announced Guardian class, beams down. The Titan executes another emote, before rearing up and smashing the floor beneath him (one of his Traveller abilities). He also takes out an ornate rocket launcher that apparently shoots “wolf missiles.” Show off. Suddenly, the sky darkens. Out in the distance, a huge black ship warps into the environment, the resulting shockwave toppling surrounding colony ships and blasting the player; definitely screaming for your attention. A public event, Fallen Assault, begins.
Fallen Assault
Public events in Destiny are incredible, but highly optional. These instances seamlessly bring players together to tackle foes one would normally not be able to overcome. Imagine playing Destiny solo, you’re exploring the environment when suddenly one of the huge ships come in. You travel towards it to investigate and find out other players in area have seen the same thing and are doing as you are. This gives Destiny an staggering scope and scale, that I’ve only seen so far in Guild Wars 2. Our current Fireteam witnesses another travelled through on Sparrows, these speeder bike vehicles (which Bungie has stated are personal craft). They team up and tackle a large group of Fallen in a nearby space when suddenly a transport carrier drops a spider tank, called the Fallen Devil Walker. Instantly all players drive their attention towards the tank. The tank is damage soaker and draws in a level 20 Fireteam from the distance. Eventually they take it down with a few well-placed hits and we’re treated with an extended E3 trailer.
The Trailer
We catch a quick glimpse of the Tower, where players will meet up and gear up for their journeys across space. A potentially non-playable character is introduced, and while unconfirmed I’m speculating that he’s voiced by Bill Nighy (Total Recall, Love Actually). We also see our Warlock character unmasked and voiced! Also seen are brief clips of the other enemy species, the robotic Vex, the space zombie Hive and the large armored Cabal. We see another potential non-playable character, an Awoken Hunter, in the wild. The exotic, beautiful, and mysterious Awoken represent one of the three playable character species alongside recognisable Humans and the sinister, powerful, and tireless robotic Exo. Player species will only bring aesthetic changes to the game, as Bungie doesn’t want to force you into your character species and lets you choose your species on a “gut feeling.” We get a lot of environmental clips from the number of planets you’ll be able to visit from Destiny, including Venus, Mars, and Saturn. Bungie clearly has put a lot of time and effort into developing these environment spaces. We get a look at the hanger at the Tower, where you’ll store your personal craft. The personal craft shown seems to be a part of the Dead Orbit faction.
Destiny launches in 2014 for the XBOX One, PS4, XBOX 360, and PS3.
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