Bungie/Activision’s sequel to their online FPS Destiny may not be hitting shelves until September, but players eager to scope out Destiny 2 can get in on the open beta, and some even earlier than others.
Destiny 2 was announced after great speculation and demand on March 27th of this year, with the first full trailer released three days later. The sequel will also mark Destiny’s first title appearance on PC, although at a later date. Open beta for the game will begin for console players on July 21st, but pre-ordering the game will net an earlier access date. PlayStation 4 open beta for pre-ordering players will begin on July 18th, while XBox One players can get in on July 19th. Beta for PC users will take place in late August, but no date has been officially announced at time of writing.
Bungie has released some info on what beta players can expect, although the beta release is markedly less content-heavy than the beta for the original Destiny. Confirmed content so far is an opening story mission, “Homecoming,” two Crucible Modes “Countdown,” and “Control,” new sub-classes Dawnblade (Warlock), Gunslinger (Hunter), and Sentinal (Titan), a co-op strike, “The Inverted Spire,” a new emblem available in the full game only if you’ve played the beta, and an hour’s access to The Farm, the game’s social space, available on July 23 at 10am PST.
Weapons and armor will also see an overhaul in organization and classification in Destiny 2. Primary, Special, and Heavy weapons will be categorized as Kinetic, Energy, and Power.The game will also keep in tradition of player-versus-environment for most of the gameplay, but PVP will still be available at the Crucible, both with expanded environments and modes.
Destiny 2 will be released for PlayStation 4 and XBox on September 6th, with a later release date of October 24th for PC via Steam.
