You May Never "Finish" Destiny, Bungie Says

Destiny is a big, big game with loads of activities that will keep you busy for countless hours. That's the message Bungie's community manager David "Deej" Dague tries to get across as part of a recent Best Buy Google Hangout. Asked how many hours of gameplay we can expect from the upcoming title, Deej wouldn't give a specific estimation, but said you're not likely to "finish" the game anytime soon, if you ever do.

"We saw people invest dozens of hours into the beta alone, and that was one destination," Deej said. "These destinations are stitched together with our new tech so that there are so many different locations to visit. Expansive outdoor locations where you can just enjoy your personal vehicle; there are indoor dungeon-type spaces where you can really pick through the bones of our shattered civilization."

"If you're a speed-runner, and all you want to do is blaze through and complete one story mission after one story mission, you're really just scratching the surface" -- Deej

Beyond Earth, players will get to visit planetary destinations like the Moon, Mars, and Venus with all types of ancient civilizations and geographies to explore. In addition, Destiny will offer raid-like Strike missions, which challenge players to team up to complete an objective. Deej said players who zip through Destiny's story missions and don't try other modes will be missing out big time.

"If you're a speed-runner, and all you want to do is blaze through and complete one story mission after one story mission, you're really just scratching the surface, because the Strikes add such an extra level of complexity," he said.

On top of that, Destiny has a competitive multiplayer mode--the Crucible--that you're unlikely to ever truly finish. "And as we said before, [there are] endless amount of hours of fun in the Crucible," Deej said. "Until you've kicked every single ass that plays this game, you haven't finished. And once you have, someone else just bought their first copy. So, fresh meat, Christmas noobs."

Also during the Google Hangout, Deej said players can expect to find out more about Bungie's post-release plans for Destiny this weekend at PAX Prime.

"This is a game that we'll be able to support a lot more aggressively than anything we've ever had out before," he said. "That's one of the things we're actually going to be talking about at our PAX panel; once we get this game up into orbit, how do we keep it there long-term and what sorts of things do we do to refine the game in the ways that we detect needs some refinement?"

Bungie's PAX Prime panel will be held on Sunday, August 31 at 12 noon PDT. GameSpot will have editors on the ground at the show, bringing you news as it happens. For more on PAX Prime, check out GameSpot's hub dedicated to the show.

Destiny launches September 9 for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4.