Destiny 2 (PS4)

Destiny 2 (PS4)
Destiny, the blockbuster multiplayer shoot-’em-up/RPG that launched Halo developer Bungie from the confines of the Xbox into multi-platform games development, is back for its first true sequel. It’s one year since the events of Destiny: Rise of Iron and the situation is dark. The Red Legion faction of the Cabal, a military industrial empire of huge turtle-like aliens, attacks humanity’s last safe city under the leadership of Dominus Ghaul. Believing that the Traveler was wrong to give humanity the Light, he has stripped the Guardians of their powers and forced them to flee the Tower. Scattered across the solar system and powerless, the Guardians must explore new worlds and gain new powers so that they can rally and begin the fightback. New areas will include Saturn’s moon Titan, Jupiter’s moon Io, the planet Nessus, and Earth’s European Dead Zone (previously only a PvP map). With the Tower gone players will also get access to a new social space in the Dead Zone called The Farm. Patrol missions make a return, but this time out gameplay leans more into Destiny’s role-playing game roots with an emphasis on exploration, including new towns that players can visit, featuring friendly NPCs who will dole out side-quest type missions called adventures, complete with dungeon-like areas and bosses in many cases. Bungie certainly hasn’t forgotten where it came from, however. Player versus player combat is back in a big way. This time out all PvP modes will be four vs four, with the developer focusing on tighter combat with stronger map design. Two new modes have been announced. One is ‘Countdown’, an asymmetric mode in which one team must plant a bomb in the opposing team’s map and defend it until it detonates. The other is ‘Survival’, in which a team has a certain number of lives between them. Once they’ve all been used, they lose. Simple. Whether you’re a new or returning player, casual or competitive, the wealth of content in Destiny 2 means there’s sure to be something in its vast world for you to set your crosshairs on.