By huge, I’m not referring to the size of the game world here either, which I’m sure will be sizable. I’m talking about the scope of the game, and what they plan to do with it.
If you haven’t heard about Bungie’s new game in the works, Destiny, then you’re in for quite a treat.
Bungie (creators of the world renowned Halo franchise) and Activision (Call of Duty ring a bell?) have partnered together in a ten year deal to create an FPS game with some MMO qualities, the likes of which haven’t been seen before. They’re calling it a “shared world shooter”, and I call it a brilliant idea.
This is far from the only thing that will make this game stand out however. Bungie’s intent is to create a somewhat “live” world, where some events that unfold that aren’t necessarily scripted. From what I gather, we are talking about random events that NPC’s take upon themselves to partake in, like riots, festivals, battles, etc.
Destiny will also feature a persistent online world that requires a constant internet connection, similar to what Blizzard did with Diablo 3. This type of “online only play” is rare for console games, but it provides a method to deliver content and events that wouldn’t normally be possible in a regular offline game. Instead of your typical run of the mill story, this opens up the possibility for Bungie to create special events that players can participate in, allowing gamers to connect in new and interesting ways.
The setting of Destiny takes place hundreds of years in the future (naturally), where our technology has pushed us far enough to fully explore our solar system. Things were good, they called it a “Golden Age”.
All good things come to an end however, and something took us by surprise and just about destroyed us entirely.
An entity only known as The Traveler, a larger than life spherical ship of some kind, came to our rescue and sacrificed itself in order to save our existence. It’s been long enough that no one knows exactly how it happened, all they know is that human kind owes their lives to this Traveler.
The Traveler still sits there hovering above the earth, and the majority of survivors live in a city beneath the floating orb.
You play a Guardian of the city, with powers bestowed by the Traveler to protect the city. Naturally there are all sorts of enemies threatening the city, and it’s your job to see that human kind survives, and tries to get back to their former glory.
Don’t think that this will be a one-off game either. Destiny will be the first chapter in a long line of games built around this universe.
Not a lot has been shown about the features yet, but we do know that characters will be customizable far beyond what you’ve ever seen in a previous Bungie game.
You’ll be traveling between planets to complete missions, and teaming up with other players online to complete some of these missions as well.
You’ll have a hub called the Tower, which will likely serve as your location for gathering missions, and meeting up with other players. This will likely also be the best location for shops, auction houses, skill trainers, and other things you would typically see in an MMO style primary city.
Detailed information on Destiny is extremely limited at the moment, but rest assured that we’ll be covering every moment of this game as it develops.
If you’re looking more information on Destiny, check out the Destiny website for screenshots and videos of what has been released so far.
Personally, I’m really excited about this one. Obviously games don’t always live up to the hype, but if anyone can pull this off, I think Bungie can do it, and partnering with Activision just adds a lot of weight to that equation.
Keep an eye out for this one, because Destiny could seriously be a game changer, and yes that’s a huge pun right there!
Here is the first trailer released for Destiny. Check it out and enjoy.