Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

There's a Paul McCartney Easter egg in the Destiny 2 beta

I Am the Warlock.

There's a Paul McCartney Easter egg in the Destiny 2 beta that references the awful song he sang for the first game.

McCartney's Hope for the Future came out alongside Destiny back in 2014. The promo for the song, below, sees a holographic McCartney deliver a sermon to captivated Guardians on the moon.

Really.

Cover image for YouTube videoPaul McCartney - Hope For The Future

The song, which has become a running joke within the Destiny community, was playable from inside Destiny's Tower - specifically the lounge. But at the start of Destiny 2, the Tower is destroyed. So what of the lounge? And what of poor Paul's song?

Destiny 2's Homecoming story mission, which is playable in the beta, charges you with battling through the Tower as it's under siege from the Cabal. As I did this during my playthrough last night, I noticed an odd sound coming from behind a locked door - a door that would lead to the lounge were it to open.

I stopped to listen, and it turns out the sound was a decaying version of Hope for the Future. Remember the bit in 2001 when HAL dies and his voice starts to crumble in a sci-fi robotic kind of way? It's a bit like that.

People have of course already picked up on the Easter egg and uploaded footage to YouTube. The video below does a good job of showing it all off.

Cover image for YouTube videoDestiny 2 Easter Egg - 'Hope for the future' in the Tower's Lounge

So, what's Bungie trying to say here? Is it just a joke? Is it a nod and wink to those who always hated the song? Perhaps. Or perhaps the Easter egg is a metaphor for Destiny 2, which Bungie sees as a fresh start for the franchise. There will be no Paul McCartney nonsense - or any nonsense of any kind in Destiny 2. Hope for the Future, and other past mistakes, are dead. It's time to move on to bigger and better things.

Yep, it's just a joke, isn't it?