Bungie is now offering a free demo for their online-only shooter Destiny, giving players the chance to try the game out before they pull the trigger.
The demo is available for free on all platforms–PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360–as digital downloads on the Xbox Games Store and PlayStation Network.
The trial period is limited in ways quite like Destiny‘s alpha and beta tests, and offers “a sampling of character creation and progression, story mission content, along with cooperative and social activities”.
Your Guardian won’t be able to progress past level 7 in the demo, and you’ll get to tackle five story missions on Earth as well as check out the Tower that looms over the Last City.
As far as social interactions go, demo’ers can only take part in the Den of Devils Strike (possibly a variation of Devil’s Lair?) along with a fireteam of two other players, but do note that PlayStation Plus/Xbox LIVE Gold are required for this.
Unlike the alpha and beta tests, character progression from the trial can carry over to the full game, which is pretty fantastic.
The only catch is that you can’t import cross-console data. For example Guardians created on PS4 can’t be migrated to Xbox One, vice-versa in any number of combinations between next- and last-gen systems.
Another kicker is that the demo download is actually the same size as the actual game. For PlayStation 4 owners that means 22GB’s worth of data will be intruding your hard-drive. That’s a pretty damn big demo.
In Bungie’s handy FAQ the devs explain that the full-game install allows users to seamlessly upgrade to the final version without missing a beat:
Free Destiny trial now available: http://t.co/wyBlL6Ahuw Then bring your Guardian into the full game on PS4 pic.twitter.com/asE5bRnLiJ
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) November 19, 2014
“Once you have launched the full version of Destiny, and confirmed that your existing character progression can be selected, you may delete the Destiny Demo file, as you will no longer require it.”
The demo is a great asset for gamers who are still on the fence about Destiny, and serves as a great low-risk entry point. The installs are demanding and will no-doubt be a roadblock, but hey, it’s free.
This is also a great way to get new players in for the game’s first expansion pack. Coming December 9, Destiny‘s The Dark Below expansion adds in a host of new content including story missions, co-operative Strikes, unique exotic and legendary items, a brand new raid, and more.
For more Guardian action be sure to check out our official Destiny review to see what we thought of Bungie’s sci-fi shooter.
We also named Destiny as one of 2014’s must-have games–click here to find out why.
