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In the Destiny 2 beta I got a chance to play the single strike that Bungie made available for us, The Inverted Spire. The strike itself was pretty great, but it felt totally different to any other Strike from Destiny, so I want to talk about how different strikes feel in Destiny 2.

In the original Destiny we had Strikes that took us from point A to point B, and then revealed a boss that needed an insane amount of bullets putting into it before it finally died and rewarded us with loot. After a couple of expansions the Strikes have changed, giving us more to do than simply move around and kill stuff, tasking us with taking down shields and shutting downs systems in order to access new areas. This key difference made Strikes more interesting and far easier to play one after the other if you needed to grind for some new gear.

The Inverted Spire feels like an incredible Strike, but that’s just because it’s so different. Firstly the Strike is so much more open than anything in Destiny. The map gives you a huge chunk of Nessus to run around and explore in, meaning players were even able to uncover areas believed to be Lost Sectors, and what might be a secret unlocked by completing a number of tasks in a certain order. The Strike also makes the acts of the Vex and Cabal feel much more real, with giant drills actively ripping the planet apart around you, and small caves opening up into huge city-like structures.

The boss of the new Strike also feels completely different to any other Strike boss before it. The boss arena changes twice, first to an area where the boss has elemental control over sections at a time, and then to a much smaller area around which there is damage causing Vex Milk. After a point the boss then starts to throw in new ads, and even charges you on the platform right at the end. This constantly changing battle makes the boss far more interesting, and basically an entire section of the Strike in its own right.

Finally, the Strike respawn rates are greatly increased. As I was running around it became apparent that if I didn’t revive my mates at the time then they’d take ages to respawn, and then take ages to reach me and the other person who were struggling up ahead with all the enemies. The Strikes in Destiny 2 feel like they’re making it easier if you stick together as a team, rather than go it alone.

Image Source: VG247

The Destiny 2 Beta went live for those who have pre-ordered the game on Playstation 4 this week, and I have been playing loads of it since the unlock time. I think there are a lot of things to discuss about the Beta, such as the weapons you get given, the different systems we can make educated guesses about based on what we can see, secrets, Subclasses, and mission. However, I think the most important think we need to talk about first is how different Destiny 2 feels to play when compared to the original.

The first thing that hits you is just how much better Destiny 2 looks over the original. This is an obvious difference and one that many people aren’t talking about because it’s taken for granted. However, there is a massive difference in the way the game looks, and that plays into pretty much every other change in the game.

Everything is faster. This is first noticeable when you take control of your Guardian. Moving everything from the weapon your using to physically running around in missions and the Crucible. The faster movement makes everything feel better, and it’s not that the original game was even particularly slow it’s just that the increased speed gives you that feeling of extra power and control that totally changes the game. Hunters especially are granted additional dodge abilities that were previously only available through Exotic gear. Finally, the game now also features ledge-grabbing, enabling you to finally reach all of those places that were just out of reach, or that you just misjudged the distance for your jump on.

The new weapon slots make far more sense than the old ones. Instead of Primary, Secondary, and Heavy weapons we now have Kinetic, Energy, and Power, and they make a lot more sense believe me. Now you can pack two Hand Cannons, one with elemental damage and one without, one with massive range and one with very little. The beauty of the Power weapon slot is that it still holds the heavy hitting guns such as your Rocket Launcher and your Machine Gun, but now it also holds your Sniper Rifle. It might sound like the game is limiting the use of certain weapons, but when you’re playing it really doesn’t feel that way, instead it feels like you’re playing with a wider range of weapons.

Ships can be destroyed. In the Strike, The Inverted Spire, you can destroy a ship as it flies low over the planet Nessus, which is totally different to the original Destiny! In the first game you could shoot at ships and bring down their weapons yes but you couldn’t destroy them at all.

A lot of players are saying that more changes have been made to cater to the PVP crowd, altering how the game plays to optimise Crucible matches. This isn’t the case, but the changes are way more prevalent in PVP because of how compact the Destiny 2 experience is in the Crucible. The smaller maps and intense combat enhance the changes and make everything feel much better, far better than in the original Destiny.