Destiny 2 doesn’t let players carry over any of the gear or progress they earned in the first game. It’s a bitter pill, perhaps, but it goes down smoother thanks to the lovely way Bungie acknowledges those of us who’ve been there from the start.
Spoilers!
When you start up Destiny 2 after having played the first game, you aren’t immediately greeted with a cutscene depicting Dominus Ghaul’s attack on the Tower. Instead, you get a series of illustrations recounting your major victories from the first game.
If you’re anything like me, you didn’t really understand how cool it was until the second or third one, when you looked at the names in the corner. Then you realized the game kept track of the friends who were by your side and has put them into the illustration with you.
I’ve seen messages like that all over Twitter for the last 24 hours. What better way to celebrate your Destiny achievements than with the people you shared them with? My favorite is from when Jason, our buddy Todd and I finally made it to the Lighthouse:
After the memories montage is over, you get a shot of a bunch of Guardians standing beneath the Traveler. “Press X to start a new adventure,” reads the prompt. My inner cynic rolled his eyes, but mostly I just laughed. Okay, okay. Well done.
It’s easy for a game to trade on nostalgia when many of its players are already three years into their relationship with it, and Bungie also gave legacy players like me a few commemorative emblems that we can assign to our characters if we want. I’ve already forgotten what most of them mean. Cosmetic items are nice and all, but turns out a well-curated stroll down memory lane was all I really needed.