Destiny 2 is now Xbox One X Enhanced with 4K and HDR

By Dan Thorp-Lancaster
published

The solar system will look a whole lot prettier the next time you fire Destiny 2 up on your Xbox One X.

Destiny 2.
Destiny 2. (Image credit: Bungie)

In support of the new Curse of Osiris expansion (opens in new tab), the latest update to Destiny 2 is rolling out with improvements for everyone. Among them is specific support for the Xbox One X, visual improvements including support for 4K and HDR on Microsoft's powerhouse console.

With the move to 4K, the game should automatically look much sharper on 4K displays. Presumably, the boon should even trickle down to anyone using an Xbox One X with a 1080p display, as the console will supersample the image, essentially scaling down a 4K image to the 1080p screen to ensure a sharper image.

Possibly even more important than the base improvement that the jump to 4K brings is HDR. When playing on an HDR10-enabled TV, you'll now see greater levels of contrast across the whole game, bringing out even more detail in the environment. It's often argued that HDR is a much more noticeable improvement than 4K alone, so the combination will add up to a much better looking experience overall.

Xbox fans can also take comfort in knowing Xbox One X gameplay tops PlayStation 4 Pro, which features an "adaptive 4K" resolution. In contrast, Destiny 2 on Xbox One X is described as just "4K," which indicates it's likely to maintain that resolution throughout.

Destiny 2 is available now on Xbox One and PC for $59.99. If you already own the game, you can pick up the latest update with all of these improvements now. And for more, be sure to check out Bungie's full patch notes.

Dan Thorp-Lancaster
Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl. 

10 Comments
  • Any word on how large the update is?  Thanks!
  • 6 gigs
  • Nice! This thing is a BEAST!
  • Does One S get HDR improvements or only One X?
  • The Xbox One S cannot utilize HDR in gameplay, it is only for media playback (i.e. streaming from Netflix, play DVDs/bluray). It does not have the power to dynamically process HDR content but can process data that's fed to it from a disk or stream.
  • Horizon 3 has HDR on S. Gears 4 as well. There is even an HDR brightness slider in the options menu of Gears.
  • The Xbox One S does support HDR in gameplay. I've played Gears 4, Battlefront II, Forza Horizon 3,and ESO Morrowind in HDR on one; around forty more games support HDR on the One S. That said, Destiny 2 is not one of them, only the PC, PS4 Pro, and One X versions of D2 suppport HDR.
  • Please. please. please......ad the battlefield 1 to the Xbox one X enchanted games. I'm wating for it very much
  • Having now played it, I can say that HDR and 4K make an improvement. HDR makes the unique environments of Destiny 2 really pop. 4K makes the details shine. I do notice some issues with framerate though. It's like it tries to achieve 60fps then decide that it can't or shouldn't and drops to 30. It's kind of annoying.
  • It's locked on 30 fps