14 DAY TRIAL // Destiny 2 is a PC game, and that is the only conclusion anyone will reach after playing it on the PC platform.
The first Destiny game was Bungie’s attempt at putting Halo behind and to trying something new or at least newish. It’s still a sci-fi first-person shooter with a unique protagonist that has some special powers, but at least it’s not happening on a ringworld.
It didn’t have a proper single player campaign, and it was more or less a multiplayer game with some less than apparent indications to a background story. It was made available only for consoles, and it was quite successful, although not revolutionary.
Now, the second Destiny game has arrived, with some substantial improvements and differences. First of all, now it has a somewhat proper single player campaign that’s basically one big PvE match. It’s not amazing or anything, but it does fill some of the missing lore and background.
It’s on PC, and it really matters
The other important difference between the first and second Destiny game is the fact that it’s now also available on the PC. I was a little bit skeptic because porting games to PC seems to be hit and miss. Some work great, while others a=tend to be a massive problem for publishers.
Fortunately, the developers announced early on that they are not contented to port the game to the PC; they were going to build it specifically for this platform, and that means more than just unlocked framerate.
Now that we can finally play Destiny 2, it’s evident that they actually kept their promise and that truly it’s a PC game. In fact, I dare say that it has found a much better home on the PC than on consoles, but we’ll get there in a moment to explain the reasons for that.
It’s better on the PC in every conceivable way
Destiny 2 is a really good looking game, and there is no doubt about that, but it really shines on the PC. All the nice features that are available only on this platform bring the game to life, and I can mention here SMAA, which is a post-processing anti-aliasing technique, much better shadow resolution, and of course the improved ambient occlusion, just to name a few.
Pretty much all of the technologies available for the console versions, have a better counterpart on the PC. This, in turn, translates to smoother experience, not to mention that PC users can make changes that are impossible to console users.
For example, some people have been complaining that Destiny 2 looks a little bit washed up and that it could have used a little bit more color. This can be easily corrected from the drivers and players can make everything more vibrant.
Of course, Destiny 2 is not a perfect PC game, and it does lack a few features that would have made all that much better. The biggest problem is the lack of a more intensive anti-aliasing solution that would have had a much more significant visual impact. On the other hand, a lot fewer people would have been able to hit that 60FPS sweet spot with full anti-aliasing.
60FPS is the only way to go
Despite beefing up the power in new consoles, hitting 60 FPS in console games seems elusive, and for good reasons. First of all, it’s a game that requires pretty much all of the console’s resources, and new drivers optimized for specific games are unheard off.
I played Destiny 2 on an Nvidia 970 GTX card and with a regular Intel i5 processor, and I must say that it ran smoothly, with everything set to maximum. The only setting that really needs a much powerful processor and probably a 1080 GTX is a feature called Rendered Resolution. This means that if the default resolution I’m using is 1080p, setting this option to 200% will render the game in 4K. It drastically increases the quality of the textures, even on regular displays that can't do 4K resolution.
To be fair, Activision, the game publisher, did partner up with Nvidia for Destiny 2 and it shows. The developers have integrated a ton of options, and it’s really well optimized for this platform. Also, Nvidia released drivers for Destiny 2 to provide the best possible experience. There is even a dedicated article detailing all the features and settings that are available to users.
The conclusion is that even if the game was initially designed for consoles, it looks and feels much better on the PC. Not to mention the fact that the PC community saw the amount of work put into the game and they welcomed it with open arms.
If Bungie continues to build their games for the PC, instead of porting them, I foresee that Destiny 3 will have a much bigger following on this platform than on any console.
