Destiny

Destiny PS4 Box Art

Everything changed with the arrival of the Traveler. It sparked a Golden Age when our civilization spanned our solar system, but it didn't last. Something hit us, knocked us down.

The survivors built a city beneath the Traveler, and have begun to explore our old worlds, only to find them filled with deadly foes.

You are a Guardian of the last safe city on Earth, able to wield incredible power. Defend the City. Defeat our enemies. Reclaim all that we have lost. Fail and the last light of civilization will go out.

Be brave.

Destiny is a science-fiction massively-multiplayer online first-person shooter (MMOFPS) in development by Bungie, Inc., the developers of the widely-successful Halo franchise. It will be published by Activision. The game will come out on September 9th, 2014, preceded by a Beta in the summer of 2014 on the PS3 and PS4 game consoles.[1]

Set in a mysterious future. Players will create a unique and powerful character, customize the way they look and fight, and explore what remains of the solar system.

Described as "Mythic Science Fiction"[2], Destiny features a compelling storyline, competitive multiplayer, cooperative gameplay choices, wide open public combat destinations, and third-person community spaces where you can repair and rearm before going out on your next adventure.

Platforms

According to a contract between Bungie and Activision, the Destiny series will be a series of at least four massively multiplayer online (MMO) sci-fantasy action shooter titles, with the first game to be launched simultaneously on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One consoles.[3] At Sony's PlayStation 4 reveal event in February 2013, Bungie and Activision also announced that Destiny will launch with "exclusive playable content" for Sony platforms, including the Destiny beta only on the PS3 and PS4.[4] Destiny will not appear on the Wii U or PC.

Release date

Destiny is currently available for pre-order. Those that take advantage of the pre-order receive admission to the Destiny Beta in the summer of 2014 (from select retailers) on the PS3 and PS4 entertainment consoles; other beta codes are being released periodically by Bungie into the community by other means. Bungie has stated on their website that they expect it to be released on September 9th, 2014. Bungie has been teasing Destiny fans with videos of gameplay and its features.

Setting

A pretty apt description of Destiny.

Seven hundred years into future, a golden age of galactic human civilization has come to a mysterious end in an event known as the Collapse. The last vestiges of humanity live in a city beneath a large mysterious white sphere called the Traveler, the same object whose mysterious arrival hundreds of years earlier enabled humanity's golden age and which is believed to have somehow saved the human race from complete extinction.

Humanity has begun to explore the areas outside the city to find its former colonies now filled with hostile alien races. The city relies on its Guardians, the last defenders of the human race, imbued with a mysterious power granted by the Traveler, to both ensure its survival and to reclaim everything that humanity has lost.

Speculation on the Tricorn

Video: Secrets of the Tricorn

Gameplay

You heard it here first, folks!

The setting of Destiny has been described as persistent and alive, in that events may happen in the game that are not pre-planned by the developers. The gameplay in Destiny has been described as being an always-online first-person shooter that will incorporate massively multiplayer online (MMO) elements, but Bungie has avoided defining Destiny as being in-kind with traditional MMO games. Instead, Bungie and Activision describe the gameplay style as "the world's first shared world shooter,'" as it lacks many of the characteristics of a traditional MMO game. For instance, rather than players being able to see and interact with all other players in the game or on a particular server—as is the case in many conventional MMO games—Destiny will include on-the-fly matchmaking that will allow players to see and interact only with other players with whom they are "matched" by the game. Additionally, it has been confirmed that Destiny will have a day/night cycle.

The game will have both cooperative and competitive Game Modes which will utilize an upgraded version of Bungie's "hopper" technology for superior matchmaking. An included mode is Free-For-All.[5]

Additionally, the local area the game engine loads at one time is 3 kilometers by 3 kilometers, allowing for nearly seamless exploration.

Graphics

Destiny will be using a new game engine capable of simultaneous global illuminations and real-time dynamic lighting.

Design Inspiration

Destiny relies heavily on a blending of Science Fiction and Fantasy, being described as "Mythic Science Fiction". The City, a safe and welcoming place that is surrounded by darkness, and the Traveler, an ancient alien artifact protecting the City, are examples of this genre combination.[6]

Another pillar of Destiny's design inspiration is the concept of "Idealized Reality". The following are major factors and their details that helped direct what Destiny has become:[7]

• Cinema Westerns
  • Mood, palette, and costume inspiration.
• Tarkovsky
  • Composition, lighting, mood, and cinematography
• Gilliam
  • Inventiveness, imagination, set design, humor, and ancient map use
• John Harris
  • Palette, epic and larger than life feel, esoteric and abstract imagery, and monolithic shapes mixed with organic elements
  • Specifically influenced the Black Garden
• Zdzislaw Beksinski
  • Architecture, surreal landscapes, and darker mood
  • Specifically influenced the design of one of the races in Destiny
• Peter Gric
  • Patterns, surrealism, order/chaos relationships, and timeless feelings
  • Specifically influenced the feel of Venus, and the Black Garden
• Anime
  • Style and fashion, armor, and vehicles
  • Most notably work from Takayuki Takeya and Kow Yokoyama

Three core decisions were made to tie all that was created in Destiny together:

• Unifying Visual Theme
  • "Nature ascendant over lost human civilization"
• Destination Postcards
  • Define mood, palette, fiction
• World-building Tool
  • Shared workspace for artists and designers

[8]

The TV shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly, along with movies like Krull, also played a role in how Bungie's team constructed Destiny. The Hellmouth is an example of this.[9]

Some characters such as Exo were based off of characters from Halo like Master Chief.

Reception

Destiny received "generally favorable" reviews on Metacritic getting a metascore of 76/100 on PS4 and 75/100 on Xbox One. On whatoplay.com, it receives an aggregate score (playscore) of 7.44 on PS4, 7.59 on Xbox One, 7.72 on PS3, and 8.41 on Xbox 360.

Trivia

• To gain proper inspiration, more concepts were developed for Destiny than all other Bungie games combined.[10]

• Destiny is considered one of the worst kept secrets in gaming. It was not only leaked during the Activision law suits, but the image of the Traveler hovering above Earth appeared in Halo 3: ODST. Additionally, info specifics about it leaked before Bungie intended, forcing them to confirm that the game was in the making.[11]