This is the First 30 Minutes of Destiny

It’s been a long time coming, but Destiny is finally here!
Ever since we saw our first glimpses of gameplay at e3 2013, and with the taster we got with the Beta we’ve been eager to get our hands on the game proper even since.

So what’s in store for you when first hopping into the universe?

First up we get into all of the usual set up screens, changing our screen brightness, setting our subtitles on, and all of the standard set up to make sure that our experience really brings the next-gen world to life in ways we have yet to really see on the PS4 and Xbox One.
Having quickly sorted out the formalities, it’s time to choose a class for our character, we pick Titan, as we’re bloodthirsty monsters and it seemed like a perfect fit for us, before moving on to add those personal touches to our Guardian.
Now it’s the tricky bit, designing our character. To be honest we could probably have spent 30 minutes on this bit alone, it’s nothing overly complicated, but when you’re going to be spending a very long time with your new Guardian over the coming months it’s something you have to get right.
All of the usual options are here, race, gender, face, hair and unique markings, which provide us with a fair few presets each, just enough to be able to create a unique character that will stand out from your friends, without going to the depths of some more serious RPG style character-creators, so all in all it’s another pretty painless set up.

After some hesitation, we confirm our character selection, and immediately jump into an opening cutscene.
A small ship passes us by, headed straight for the surface of a dusty planet which pans into view. It is the present day, and three astronauts, armed with machine guns, step foot onto Mars.
Making their way through the barren landscape, they walk a great distance over the rocky surface, with one struggling to find his footing over the Martian mountain.
After a long journey, they reach the crest of a hill, slowly bringing into view the planet-sized Traveller. Welcome to Destiny.

Flying through time, we track the rapid expansion of humanity throughout the galaxy over hundreds of years, aided by the mysterious Traveller. We come back to Earth, arriving in the Cosmodrome, Old Russia, where the last remnants of human life on Earth take refuge.
A small drone scans for signs of life inside a long abandoned highway, where strange alien creatures are desperately hunting *something*.
The drone, calling itself a Ghost, tracks the player Guardian down, ominously telling us that we have been dead for a long time.

Finally in control of our Guardian, the Ghost helps us flee from the aliens, known as ‘Fallen’, directing us towards shelter inside the wall that protects civilisation, sprinting through the rusted remains of the old world.
Inside the dark and forgotten section of the wall, where The Fallen are creeping around in search of us, we quickly get our hands on a rifle, just in time for a huge pack of Fallen to come at us. Straight into the action.
Shooting our way through Fallen Dregs, and the stronger Vandals, we keep moving through the breath-taking looking wall, picking up our special class weapon as we move forward.
Continuing to push through a field of trip mines, and completely flooded with Fallen, the music kicks in for the first time. It’s a special moment, it’s intense, it’s a frenzy, and already we know that we’re in love.

Once again in the open, and after a startlingly impressive change of colour scheme as we pass through, we continue the fight through what we’re told by Ghost is the old Cosmodrome, seeking our escape from invading Fallen ships, an apparent anomaly this close to the surface; something big is up in Old Russia.

Punching a Fallen Vandal who managed to sneak into close quarters, we level up for the first time, getting to pick an upgrade and make some further customisation to our character.
After this we reach a break in the combat, and find a ship that looks like it might just be able to get us out of trouble. It may be rusted and forgotten, but it will do as our first ship. We make our escape under gunfire, being watched all the while by a mysterious onlooker.

And that’s the opening mission!
We hit an ending screen showing us our performance and current status, as well as any rewards we’ve picked up in the process.
Flying our way many miles through storms in our new (rusty old) ship, we approach the last civilisation on Earth, the home of the Guardians, The Last City.

After a short load we now find ourselves amongst other players for the first time.
Now playing in a 3rd person view, we are free to explore the tower a peaceful hub area where we are to free to explore, trade, and dance at will.
Being guided to our Class Vanguard, we get our hands on some slightly less beat up weapons and armour. Our tour of The Tower then continues, meeting a number of traders and catching a glimpse of activities we can partake in alongside other players.

Getting back to the story, we enthusiastically jog back to our ship in the Tower Hangar, where we can make simple repairs before heading out into orbit.

Choosing our next mission, we head right back into the wastes of Old Russia, trying to track down a missing Guardian ship.
Right after dropping in from our ship, we quickly dispatch some now slightly strengthened Fallen, and keep watch over our Ghost as it recons the crash site.
Fallen are in no short supply in this area, and we have to fight for every inch you take inside the underground Cosmodrome network. Fortunately our regenerating health ensures that we’re in no danger after a particularly tough fight.
Back on the surface, we’ve managed to track down an interplanetary warp drive, which is going to be quite handy if we’re looking to visit other worlds in the Destiny universe. Collecting plenty of loot in the form of Glimmer as we search, we find that the Fallen have already gotten their hands on our warp drive.
And so it’s into a Darkness Zone to ‘ask nicely’ for it back, where if we die, we’ll have to go all the way back to the start of the area again, no second chances!

 It’s a tough fight, but we quickly make our way towards an even bigger problem, Riskis, a Devil Archon, and the boss enemy for this area who we previously encountered as we made our getaway at the end of the opening mission.
Ducking behind pillars and keeping our distance, we manage to chip away at the Archon until he falls, dropping a ton of loot, our warp drive, and levelling us up.
We get a brief moment to pick up any extra loot, and then it’s back to base with our new reward equipment.
With our new warp drive now in hand, the Universe is now ours for the taking!

And there it is, the first half an hour of Destiny. It jumps right into the action, and we’re hungry for more!

Are you enjoying Destiny so far? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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