Bungie Releases Beautiful New ‘Destiny’ Concept Art and Screenshots

[King Ragnar]

Bungie‘s planned epic new franchise Destiny might be designed to appeal to even the most novitiate of players, but based on what we’ve been told already the premise is hardcore sci-fi. The game takes place seven hundred years in the future and puts the player in the shoes of a hero whose civilization has been ripped apart by an invading force, saved from extinction only by the intervention of a mysterious entity known as the Traveller — an enormous alien sphere that descended to Earth and remains, silently watching, as the remnants of the planet’s population build a new city in its shadow.

Some intriguing new pieces of concept art for Destiny have now emerged over at Save Room Mini-Bar, showing both the devastation caused by the attack on mankind, and the stirrings of the rebuilt civilizations plans to venture out into the galaxy once more.















The concept art is stunning, but experience has taught us that what looks amazing when drawn by an artist in 2D doesn’t always end up being realized in the 3D generated environments of the game. Luckily, Xbox Magazine has also grabbed a whole bunch of screenshots from the PlayStation 4 announcement footage, so that a side-by-side comparison can be made between concept and the current state of the game. Thankfully, the game seems to measure up to its original artistic ambitions, and the graphics and visual design of Destiny look pretty amazing.

[King Ragnar]

New ‘Destiny’ Concept Art and Screenshots Continued













One thing that stands out in particular is the skies, both in daytime shots and at night. There’s something about looking up at a well-drawn canvas of stars or clouds that really helps immersion in the game, and there have been some amazing sky designs in recent years – a few notable examples being Skyrim and the Assassin’s Creed and Mass Effect games.

As great as Destiny looks, it’s probably best to temper expectations until we see a little more game footage and some demo reviews; even the best graphics in the world won’t help a game if the story or gameplay aren’t any good, and while Bungie has intimated that the game will revolutionize the shooter genre, that’s the kind of promise that has to be seen to be believed.

From what has been revealed so far, it sounds like Destiny will have a strong RPG and sandbox element to it. Players can pick their own character from three different races and three different character classes, though in keeping with Halo‘s Master Chief tradition it looks like your character’s face will be hidden underneath a helmet for the entire game. The story also sounds like it will lend itself very smoothly to the multiplayer elements of the game, though the fact that Destiny will come with an always-online requirement, even during the singleplayer campaign, adds an extra element of risk to the launch.

Do you like what you’ve seen of Destiny so far?

We’re still waiting on a launch date for Destiny, but so far its slated for release on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.