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Destiny 2 is at last in our hands. It's been three years since the original launched, and in that time, developer Bungie has put some serious work into its sequel to create a richer, more beautiful world to explore. It's a game that addresses many of the original's shortcomings - adding a stronger narrative backbone, while improving what already shined in its gameplay and visuals. Evolving from the solid foundation of the first Destiny, does this sequel's revised tech truly satisfy in terms of graphical upgrades? Or is it more the case that the more profound changes have actually happened behind the scenes with Bungie's content creation framework?Key to the series' evolution is the fact that Bungie could jettison support for the last-gen Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, focusing on the strengths of the modern systems instead. According to Bungie staff members, accommodating the last-gen systems wasn't easy, with scaling across so many systems slowing production down significantly. At Handmadecon 2016, engineering director Chris Butcher explained that its engine has roots in the technology that powered Halo Reach, which ultimately formed part of the problem. Relying on legacy tech, where results are compiled on console first rather than PC, meant the pipeline for creating assets proved excruciatingly slow. Any change to a map or weapon could take hours to compile across all formats - which must surely have had an impact on the amount of content in the original Destiny. And by extension, you have to wonder what was left on the table due to workflow issues
In the here and now, PS4 and Xbox One are the primary focus, along with the Pro and X offshoots - plus a PC version produced by partner studio Vicarious Visions. The strict 512MB RAM limitations on last-gen can be pushed aside, meaning bigger, more ambitious areas built from a revised engine framework, designed purely for newer systems and PC. There may be more machines to factor in, but ultimately they have much more in common - an x86-based architecture, vastly increased memory provision and modern graphics hardware. Workflow-wise, Bungie learnt lessons from its experience with Destiny, and claims that it has changed the pipeline to make it easier to create each world. Looking at Destiny 2, the turnout really speaks for itself.
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