At long last, the PC edition of Activision and Bungie’s sci-fi shooter juggernaut, Destiny 2, has launched worldwide. And for PC gamers, the wait has certainly been worth it.
With Destiny 2 on PC, a GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card will get you 1920x1080 gaming. But if you’re looking to crank up its visual fidelity even further, the GeForce GTX 1070 will get you stunning 2560x1440 gaming, while the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti will get you gaming at 3840x2160.
And if your gaming hardware is due for an upgrade, there’s no better time to do so. For a limited time when you purchase select GeForce GTX 1080 Ti or GTX 1080 graphics cards, systems, or laptops at participating partners, you will receive Destiny 2 on PC.
With GeForce Experience, you'll find it easy to hit the right balance between eye candy and that all-important frame rate. GeForce Experience automatically keeps your drivers up to date and optimizes your game settings so you get the best experience with your GeForce GTX graphics card.
But what's so special about Destiny 2's visuals on PC, anyway? Here's a quick rundown of several graphical delights on PC you should know about. Be sure to also check out this guide for more on Destiny 2’s next-gen visual effects and settings.
Uncapped Frame Rate
On PC, Destiny 2 has an uncapped frame rate that'll go as high as your GPU will allow. If your rig is armed with a GeForce GTX 1070, you’ll be able to unleash 120 FPS High-detail gameplay at 1920x1080 in Destiny 2. If you have a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, you’ll be able to get stunning 120 FPS gameplay at 2560x1440. It’s worth noting that running at 120 FPS requires some serious CPU power, so a high-speed, preferably-overclocked, i7-K or i7-X CPU is strongly recommended.
High Quality Light Shafts
Light Shafts—you might also know them as god rays or crepuscular rays—add dramatic lighting effects at key moments in games. In Destiny 2 on PC, turn the Light Shaft quality up to High (it won't hit performance unless you're on a PC at the bottom end of the scale) and you can enjoy smoother, higher-resolution shafts with finer shadow-casting details being captured.
Improved Shadows
Shadows are a vital part of any good-looking 3D game, and Destiny 2 is packed with features that'll help you crank the quality of the shadows you see right to the max. A five-step shadow quality setting affects shadow definition, resolution and draw distance. Screen Space Ambient Occlusion further enhances shadows and adds depth to almost every game detail. And a separate Foliage Shadows Distance setting controls the distance at which shadows cast by plants, trees and other foliage are rendered.
Render Resolution
As well as anti-aliasing, there's another way to get crisper images out of Destiny 2. Its Render Resolution features allows you to render the game at a higher resolution than your monitor can support, then intelligently shrink it down to fit your screen. So if you don’t yet have a 4K display, you can still enjoy 4K quality on your HD monitor.
Bokeh
Destiny 2 uses cinematic depth of field blurring at various points in the game, and while on low-end systems this is done using a simple blur filter, its High and Highest settings instead use a beautiful Bokeh depth of field effect that greatly improves the blurring and gives it the look of having been filmed through a camera lens.
FoV
Want to see more? On PC you're free to turn up Destiny 2’s Field of View to give yourself a wider angle of vision. It comes at a price, though—because the game's having to draw more things, the higher your FoV, the slower your frame rate will become, but you can always compensate for this by dialling other setting down, or investing in a more powerful GPU like the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti.
Motion Blur
It's not to everyone's taste, but if you want to give Destiny 2's higher frame rates on PC a little more kick, you can switch on motion blur to get that added impression of speed. If you're jetting about on a Sparrow it'll really make the landscape look like it's whizzing past, while when you're on foot the effect is a lot more understated, with only a little blurring happening in the corners of the screen.
Better Foliage
High-quality foliage can make a big difference to a game's atmosphere, but all that added detail can also be quite a performance hog. Luckily, on PC Destiny 2 lets you control the detail level and visibility of all those trees, flowers, plants, bushes and more, enabling you to enjoy rich, dense undergrowth on higher-end systems, while providing plenty of greenery with less demanding overheads for less powerful machines.
Wind Impulse
To give Destiny 2 that final extra push, Wind Impulse sets everything in motion. Everything from vehicle thrusters and grenades, down to your footsteps or just a gentle background breeze, causes foliage to move and bend if Wind Impulse is switched on. It gives Destiny 2 a lovely dynamic touch, and it comes with barely any performance cost.
Destiny 2 is now available on PC. If you are looking to get the best quality visuals out of your experience with the game, upgrade your PC with select GeForce GTX 10 Series hardware by purchasing the GeForce GTX Destiny 2 bundle here and you’ll get Destiny 2 on PC.
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