DESTINY 2 FLICKERY EDGES UPGRADE
DESTINY 2 FLICKERY EDGES FULL
DESTINY 2 FLICKERY EDGES PRO

DESTINY 2 FLICKERY EDGES FULL

The full Digital Foundry Destiny 2 tech analysis and cross-platform comparison - settle down with a coffee for this one, it's an epic.ДЄll of these flourishes help to give Destiny 2 more character. And yes - it may be basic, but physics are used on the outskirts to create a throw-away football mini-game. It's even the moss draping around giant, rusting structures to the Farm's edge, and swaying army camouflage overhead, creating dynamic shadow details on the ground. It's the turn of the watermill, with rippling water showing off the game's eye-catching reflections, complete with anamorphic lens flare and bloom. It's the small touches that make up a grander picture the detailed brickwork surrounding the fountain, and the books and abandoned monitors lining the hangar.

DESTINY 2 FLICKERY EDGES UPGRADE

Take the new Farm hub area as an example: the attention to detail is a big upgrade over the original Destiny's tower. Thrown into the misty forests of the European Dead Zone, there's simply a more organic, developed look to the game's planets. Looking at Destiny 2, the turnout really speaks for itself. 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. 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. 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.

DESTINY 2 FLICKERY EDGES PRO

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. And by extension, you have to wonder what was left on the table due to workflow issues

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.

Relying on legacy tech, where results are compiled on console first rather than PC, meant the pipeline for creating assets proved excruciatingly slow. 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. According to Bungie staff members, accommodating the last-gen systems wasn't easy, with scaling across so many systems slowing production down significantly.

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. 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? 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. 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.

Destiny 2 flickery edges