Destiny 2's Beta comes with an install screen. I love install screens.
In a world where digital installs have all but destroyed this archaeic statement, a few stellar studios still put in the effort to create these. They're effective at creating moods and setting the stage for what's to come. Grand Theft Auto V comes to mind as one that gripped me. The "Mona da Vinci" music and the classic GTA character art? It's an effective introduction to the deeply worried mind of a story that rarely broke from its cynical, over-the-top opera. You can see the game gestate, its spirit truly rising to the surface--and gamers had the pleasure of watching its beautiful spirit rise to the top before playing with it themselves.
Destiny stands out as one of my favorite install screens of all time. The sweeping vistas of Venus, the ruins of the Cosmodrone, the vivid wrecks of the littered Reef...they set the mood. Immediately grasping my attention was a Fallen Captain, cold as the room, staring into a orb that he grasped with bitter purpose. A Fallen Archon--massive and adorned--sweeps his fist across a brightly lit, colorful room, battling a Warlock whose purple glow raises its hand with arcane power. A bulbuous, writhing creature rises, cackling and burbling its first words--deep in the chitinous dungeon of its collective mothership--only just grasping its own monstrosity.
Then, a calm plain, lined with rusted planes. And a Guardian looking forward into the sunset, and past the sun into the blinding space beyond. That was Destiny. The first hours experiencing Destiny happened long before I chose a character or headed into the first story mission. The installation screen showed me a world that I love to this day.
Destiny 2's beta offers us a "vertical" slice into the new game, but Bungie shows us the choicest cuts of the spread. And I've been enraptured. My eyes aren't worthy; lend me yours:
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