Even for a game focused on multiplayer—PvP, co-op, or otherwise—a good single-player campaign is often a great way to introduce the basic mechanics to newbies before throwing them to the online wolves. It's also a great way to set up a story. Technically, Activison's MMO-shooter Destiny has a single-player, story-driven campaign. But as many found after taking the time to complete it, Destiny's story was weak at best—a stumble attributed to a rocky development schedule and a hasty rewrite six months before launch.

Destiny 2 features a new story campaign to ease players into the ins and outs of its mechanics, but Bungie is promising a far richer experience this time around. It even went as far as to hire Mass Effect writer Christopher Shlerf, who will hopefully knock the story into shape. Whether or not Bungie has been successful remains to be seen. But, as luck would have it, Nvidia has the full "Homecoming" story mission on show at its E3 stand in glorious 4K on a GTX 1080 Ti.

The Homecoming mission isn't strictly new; it was first shown at the Destiny 2 reveal earlier in the year. But this is the first time press have been able to capture the game in all its 4K, 60FPS glory. None of which says much about the game's story, of course, but if you're going to try to glean what you can from an old demo, you might as well do it in the most lavish way possible. Also of note: we couldn't play any of Destiny 2's multiplayer or strike missions on PC this time around.

Destiny 2 is set one year after the events of Destiny: Rise of Iron. The Red Legion faction of the Cabal empire has attacked The Last City, led by its emperor, Dominus Ghaul. Ghaul strips the Guardians of their powers and forces them to flee the Tower. Destiny 2 begins during that very attack, with a cinematic showing the three main Guardians from the first game escaping the Tower. Having survived the onslaught, you're placed outside the burning tower, ready to take down the Cabal horde.

As much as I'd love to tell you about the clever characters, smart dialogue, sharp writing, the Homecoming mission is sadly light on that elusive element, narrativium. I can at least confirm that there are some lighthearted touches, with the opening cinematic hinting that maybe Bungie has managed to add some personality to the otherwise wooden characters that populated the original Destiny.

















































Instead, what I can tell you is that Destiny 2 has received a massive graphical overhaul and then some. Where the original was held back by the odd decision to release PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game, Destiny 2 has been built with the likes of the PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X in mind. That's not to mention the PC version, which has been developed with the help of Nvidia. In 4K and running at a smooth 60FPS, it looks fantastic.

The PC version supports high-resolution textures and improved particle effects, along with graphical niceties like soft shadows. There's a new lighting system, too, which features object-based lighting and specular highlights. The dank corridors of the Cabal shift you're tasked with infiltrating in the Homecoming mission look suitably moody, while the flashy neon-glow of your sword-swinging Super Ability pops from the screen.

For those into tinkering, there is a whole swathe of visual effects to enable or disable inside the settings menu. These include the likes of ambient occlusion, motion blur, AA, foliage detail, lighting shadow details, depth of field, and more.

Playing Destiny 2 with a mouse and keyboard gives it a different feel to its console counterpart—the faster turning speed alone is a huge advantage against waves of enemies—but it's easy to adapt if you're coming from a controller. Tweaks to the weapon system, which consists of the three categories of Kinectic, Energy, and Power, mixes up the combat, too.































































I do, however, wonder whether the PC community will flock to Destiny 2 in the same way that console players flocked to Destiny. Destiny 2 is still a console game, with all the baggage that comes with it.

As PC players we demand games that can be shaped as we see fit, with difficulty levels that go from hard to "OMFG WHY AM I DOING THIS TO MYSELF?!" Destiny 2 has yet to prove itself in that regard, and the news that it won't have dedicated servers hasn't exactly gone down well with the PC audience. Still, at the very least you can lord it over PS4 Pro and Xbox One X owners, all of whom will be stuck with 4K support at a mere 30FPS.

Destiny 2 for Windows PC launches on October 24. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions launch on September 6.