STAYING IN ‘Destiny is the most ambitious project that Bungie has tackled in more than 20 years’
HANDS OF FATE Henry Northmore talks to Halo-creators Bungie as they prepare to launch their huge, multiplayer, open-world first-person shooter Destiny
‘D estiny is the most ambitious project that Bungie has tackled in more than 20 years of making games. The worlds we’re building are larger than anything we’ve ever given players to explore. You’ll i nd destinations that stretch out past the horizon, riddled with secret corners to explore and plunder their lost treasures,’ explains David Dague, community manager at Bungie. And for anyone who knows Bungie’s past record in videogame production, that’s an ambitious claim. Bungie developed the Marathon and Myth franchises before launching the world- beating Halo series, the game that set a new benchmark in i rst-person shooters.
Destiny is set 700 years in the future on a
battle-ravaged Earth. ‘You are a Guardian of the last safe city [on Earth],’ continues Dague. ‘Your mission will be to venture back out to the stars to beautiful but destroyed places like the moon. You’ll reclaim all that we have lost, and battle the hostile aliens that have taken up residence in our rightful homes.’ Destiny will be another FPS, but this time Bungie have widened their scope for a massive multiplayer experience that mixes the best of RPG conventions with fast-paced action, offering players three distinct races and a variety of character classes to choose from. ‘Our goal is to equip players with enough options that each Guardian feels truly unique. Creating and growing your character will give you a complex series of choices. We’re
equipping players with a wide range of options that will impact the way they look, the way they i ght, and the abilities they use to express their power.’ A vast selection of upgradable weapons, items and vehicles adds to the endless set of variable combinations. Spanning not just one world but several planets, the environment evolves as the game is played. ‘When you reach the landing zone of a destination, you’ll i nd that the world is wide open to you,’ adds Dague. ‘We’ll always provide clues that will guide you into the action, but players of Destiny will have the freedom to choose their own path. At the same time, we do want the experience of playing this game to be one of solving a mystery. The more you play,
32 THE LIST 21 Aug–18 Sep 2014