Destiny 2's major May reveal event in Los Angeles came with a substantial hands-on demo, and I walked away from it pretty impressed. Some fans were kinder to the sequel's unveil than others—with many wondering if this was really worthy of its "sequel" designation. Those fans didn't get to play what I played: the new, monstrous Inverted Spire "strike" mission.

That changed on Tuesday (for those who jumped through Bungie's pre-release hoops) with the launch of the Destiny 2 closed beta. Anybody who pre-ordered the game for PlayStation 4 can now redeem a code and download the beta, which will be live until this Friday. Xbox One players must wait 24 hours longer for their shot, on Wednesday, July 19 because of whatever fat check Sony wrote years ago.

Would you like to know what Ars Technica thinks of the beta's content? You already do! The Destiny 2 closed beta is comprised entirely of content that was shown off at the May reveal event, with one notable difference.

The game's revealed campaign level is now bookended with a longer introduction, complete with a sequence showing your Guardian character flying into the calamitous mission, and a more bombastic conclusion. While the former does a better job setting the stage for Destiny 2's premise—that the Guardians' safe harbor is toast—the latter is the compelling bit. The level's new conclusion delivers a meaty slam of weak-yet-obnoxious sniper characters trying to pick you off from various points of cover (with, you know, fire-shooting behemoths at their side). It contains a few really nice Halo-reminiscent shootouts before you finally go face to face with the game's apparent super-villain.

Meanwhile, the four-on-four team combat found in Destiny 2 is exactly the same that I played at prior events. Beta players get two options: traditional team-zone deathmatch in a ho-hum, rocks-and-forest level called Endless Vale, and a much more compelling "countdown" mode in the cleverly arranged Midtown city level. Countdown sees Destiny 2 try on a Counter-Strike objective format, in which one team has a short amount of time to either set a single bomb (only on one of two pre-marked platforms) or kill the opposing team. The other side can either pull off its own team-wipe set of kills, defuse a bomb if one's been set, or wait the timer out if the bomb is not set. This a solid taste of the game's new objective-focused format, though I'm curious to see how much each Guardian's chargeable super ability will break the fairness of this mode.

And lastly, friends can now group up and try out the Inverted Spire together. Like I said in May, this strike mission demonstrates the increased geometrical scope of Destiny 2. Its huge battle setpieces and bonkers "avoid the massive drills" running sequence are a blast to tear through with friends.

I've included screenshots grabbed from the new beta above. PC players will have to wait an additional month for their shot at the beta, and we've yet to hear whether or not the PC beta will contain different or unique content.

Listing image by Bungie