We’ll be offering a full review of the PC version of Destiny 2 once we get some more time with the final build, but one thing that was clear during my pre-release time with the game is that Destiny 2 feels right at home on PC. This wasn’t too surprising, as I’d played the PC version before and come away very impressed. Still, with the game now set to finally arrive, it’s important to point out once again that this is the best way to play Bungie’s epic loot shooter.
Any time a game heads to PC there’s a lot of questions to be asked. Will the developer take advantage of the platform, with its open nature and usually stronger hardware? Will they lock down settings that PC gamers enjoy? Will the switch to mouse and keyboard controls cause problems? For all of these questions the answer has been the right one in regards to Destiny 2.
4K visuals help, and make for a great gaming experience, but the real star was the higher framerate
Bungie has put focus into the PC version of the game, allowing it to run well on lower end hardware. On beefier machines it runs fantastic though. During the event that Activision brought me to I played on a PC that was very capable, featuring a 1080ti graphics card I was able to play at a near rock solid 60 FPS in 4K, and the game looked gorgeous.
4K visuals help, and make for a great gaming experience, but the real star was the higher framerate. Destiny 2 has never felt this smooth. The game simply played better with the better framerate, and the K&M controls were the final thing that made everything come together to form the best Destiny experience that I’ve ever had. At least, once I messed with the key bindings a little bit, which is totally freeform and open, thankfully.
PC shooter veterans might scoff, saying that keyboard and mouse controls are always better, and while I personally agree, a lot of people don’t. Destiny 2 specifically though brought some doubts into my mind. While I had issues with the first game, I never argued about the shooting mechanics of the game, which were blissful at times, and exceptionally well designed. Translating that to PC could have gone poorly, with the game losing that special magic that Bungie had worked on the controller. It didn’t though, and the game felt better than ever, though the first tries at it were disastrous, as Bungie told us during a roundtable interview.
It was also great to see that Bungie didn’t neglect the things that PC gamers care most about. In fact, they seem to have gone out of their way to craft a true PC experience for Destiny 2. One of the first things I did in the game was jack up my FOV, putting it to the max setting of 105. This is still not as high as some gamers might like, but it was glorious nonetheless.
We were told not to fiddle with the graphical settings too much beyond this, but I was able to turn off chromatic abberation, and see that most of the settings were set to high. Some had been put to medium, but this was likely to achieve the 4K/60FPS range, which is something I’d likely tone down at home. For those who need the higher benchmarks though, the options are all there.
Destiny 2 on PC, from what I played during the event, is the definitive version of Bungie’s epic loot shooter. More than that though, the game simply works on the platform, feeling like it had been ready for it since 2014. If you’ve been holding off on the franchise until now, this is where to start, and those on console might even consider double dipping, if they’re still planning to sink hundreds of hours into the experience.
Published: Oct 23, 2017 11:59 am