Destiny’s lore is vast and complex, but you’ll only be exposed to it if you go looking for it. Why? Because much of it exists in the Grimoire cards – the out-of-game encyclopaedia you unlock as you play. If you actually go and read those small bits of text on bungie.net or the companion app you’ll find some fascinating stories about the characters, guns, enemies, and much more.

The best thing about it all? The stories are still incomplete. Players are still uncovering the mysteries of Destiny’s universe, piecing together weapon descriptions, Grimoire text and spoken dialogue to understand the overall picture. There is some truly amazing storytelling in Destiny and, while the hunt for Destiny’s tales is something every player must undertake themselves, here is just a small glimpse of the secret narrative threads woven deep into the game.

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Finishing Destiny's first raid was quite the team effort with it's winding paths, challenging bosses, and teamwork-focused trials. But all that cooperation would all be for naught if Kabr and his fellow guardians didn't explore the Vault first. See, there's a relic in the Vault of Glass that is essential to defeating the Templar and Atheon himself, and Kabr was the one who made it.

The Grimoire says that Kabr entered the Vault on his own, killed a Gorgon (a Vex that erases your existence from time), and crafted a light-infused shield for future guardians to use against the Vex. After he created the relic, Kabr was assimilated by the Vex and disappeared leaving only his armor to be found by other Titans.

If you've been playing Destiny, you've seen this guy's name all over item descriptions and bounties. Well, it turns out, he is a very important character. Toland is a Guardian, but not the heroic kind of Guardian. He's more of a mad scientist type. He studied the Hive, and was actually one of the Guardians in Eris Morn's (the creepy-eyed lady that shows up in the Tower with the Dark Below DLC) fireteam that attempted to destroy Crota before the rest of us got a crack at him.

Toland delved into the dark side. He studied the Darkness to such a degree that he was able to commune with it, resulting in him hearing voices, creating dark weapons like the exotic pulse rifle Bad Juju, and experiencing all sorts of unpleasant things. Because other guardians thought he'd gone too far, he was exiled from the city for his practices and considered him a madman, but some Guardians thought his knowledge invaluable. Toland definitely lives in a the grey area between good and evil. Hopefully we'll see him return in the future.

Who or what is the Traveler? Yeah, it's that floating moon thing hanging over the city and it somehow gives the Guardians their powers, but that's pretty much everything the in-game narrative tells you. In the Dreams of Alpha Lupi Grimoire cards, you get a little more detail on what the Traveler is through rather interesting poetic verse detailing visions of the solar system, the Traveler, and the Darkness.

There are a few details to pull from the cards. The Traveler isn't actually the floating sphere you see from the tower, but is a god that drags a moon-sized ball around that contains its memories. For untold eons it's traveled around solar systems establishing civilizations and terraforming worlds. Most importantly, it ushered humanity into the Golden Age. But all that creation work the Traveler was doing came to a grinding halt when the Darkness started chasing after it. Eventually the Darkness caught up to the Traveler, stripped it of it's power, and left a husk hovering over Earth.

When you fire up Destiny for the first time, you're treated to a cinematic showing astronauts landing on Mars and finding a giant, floating sphere. If you collect the right Grimoire cards you'll find the backstory behind this scene detailing the astronaut Jacob Hardy and his crew's discovery of the Traveler. This is the time before the Golden Age, when humans were basically living like we do now, except, they have things like lightspeed travel. The Traveler had been spotted jumping around our solar system and eventually landed on Mars. Because the alien object was coming a bit too close for comfort, humanity decided to investigate.

This event was essentially the equivalent of the real life moon landing (but in the Destiny universe). The Ares 1 crew was the first expedition to investigate the alien sphere on Mars, Jacob Hardy said the famous words, "We're walking into a rising wind," upon setting foot on the planet, and they made contact with the Traveler. What's most interesting about the tale, is that after being exposed to the Traveler's Light, Jacob Hardy inherited a longer life span, saying he felt like a young man at 90 years old.

The next two slides are connected so pay attention. This Wild West tale is told from the perspective of a young boy living in a backwater town ruled by an abusive magistrate named Loken. One day the mysterious Jaren Ward, a Guardian, walks into the town carrying the hand cannon, The Last Word, and at some point (which isn't entirely clear in the Grimoire) rids the townsfolk of their dictator with a lightning fast draw and a bullet between the eyes. The last exchange between to two men: "Those gonna be your last words then, boy?" said Loken. POW. "Yours, not mine," Jaren replied. Pretty badass, huh?

Yup, Jaren Ward is the righteous hero. Eventually, it seems the young boy becomes a Guardian years later and joins up with the hunter Jaren Ward and his group (probably though , lol). The last time the young Guardian hears of Jaren Ward was the sound of a duel between Jaren's Last Word and something "more sinister." And without formation from the Grimoire, we're left with a cliffhanger. That is, until you read about Thorn and the evil Dredgen Yor.

Dredgen Yor's story tells of a once great man and hero who looked to the secrets of the Hive to find a way to destroy the Darkness. But it seems, that the fallen hero lost control because of the evil magic from the Hive weapon Thorn, and got really tired of being a good guy. Once a champion of the Crucible, Yor turns to the dark side, and becomes responsible for the murder of several guardians and more .

The details on the character are still pretty scattered, but one theory out there links Dredgen Yor to the guardian Jaren Ward. As in, they are both the same person. Yor is said to have killed Ward in a duel, but other clues in the Grimoire cards suggest that the two are of the same body. It seems Ward was seduced by the Darkness. The Guardian ceased to be Jaren Ward and became Dredgen Yor. And when that happened, the good man that was Jaren Ward was destroyed. So, what the Grimoire tells us is true - from a certain point of view. Sounds like a familiar plotline, right (hint: Star Wars)? Even Jaren Ward's adopted son grows up to become the hunter that kills Dredgen Yor with the Last Word!

Something strange happens during The Archive mission on Venus – something you probably registered once and then glossed over with every repeated Daily playthrough. When you step into the Archive, you’re called Dr Shim – and your Ghost brushes it off as nothing. While it could be nothing more than your Ghost using Dr Shim’s credentials to power up the bunker (some fans have speculated you play as a revived Dr Shim, which seems unlikely given the evidence, while others instead prefer the theory that you’re Jaren Ward’s protégé Shin Malphur), reading into Dr Shim’s story uncovers a great subplot involving research into the Vex that uncovered a higher definition, but otherwise complete and intact, virtual simulation of the real world inside the Vex’s mind.

When four researchers discovered simulations of themselves debating that very topic inside the Vex mind, it sparked a discussion about reality versus unreality, the morality of preserving their simulated selves over pulling the plug, and whether the Warmind is capable of infiltrating the Vex consciousness and rescuing the simulations of humans. And you thought Inception was complicated.

You’ve seen their decals on the side of weapons and you’ve probably completed many a mission for this faction, but did you know that Future War Cult was formed around a machine called The Device that could predict the future? The FWC Grimoire entry records this story in detail: those who entered The Device were sent mad by the visions (which predicted the Darkness’ coming and the destruction of mankind), so FWC needed to employ stronger minds to help withstand these sights without breaking.

And while not explicitly clear, the inference is that FWC either created, or discovered and repaired, the Exo in order to shoulder this job for them. Which brings us to the Exo Stranger. She’s clearly an important part of the story and we haven’t yet seen the last of her. And consider this: the Stranger’s Rifle she gifts you at the end of the main questline contains parts that shouldn’t yet exist…

During the main game’s story and The Dark Below, we come to learn plenty about Rasputin – the last surviving Warmind. Tasked with protecting humanity – a mission Rasputin believed impossible when the Darkness arrived – the Warmind changed his core’s programming and implemented the MIDNIGHT EXIGENT protocol; eventually powering down to survive the Darkness’ attack.

However, analysis of the Grimoire cards points to a much darker tale during the Darkness’ arrival. Without official confirmation this story teeters on the edge of conspiracy theory, but throughout Destiny we’re told that our souls are Light – and that Rasputin knew that Light must be harnessed to defeat the Darkness. After launching colony ships from the Cosmodrome to protect what little of humanity Rasputin could, the Warmind had to alter his own code in order to then sacrifice the rest of mankind on Earth to stand a chance in the battle against the Darkness, birthing the Awoken in the process.

Have you been following Destiny's lore like I have? Do you have any favorite stories? Have you pieced together any interesting tales? Keep searching for those grimoire cards and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

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So today is turning out to be a really good day for Great Video Games That Aren't Out Yet. Following up this morning's , aka 'that game that loves letting us think we know how good it is so that it can suddenly look even better and laugh in our sweet, naive faces'.

What have I seen and learned today? Quite a lot. I've learned about a new companion character. I've learned about a new location. I've learned about the new levelling system, and seen the brilliant-looking new combat. I've also learned of the kind of names Bethesda expects you to give your characters, and good Lord, does Bethesda not expect a high standard of decorum from you at all.

No point beating around the bush here. That's legitimately a thing you can do in Fallout 4. Bethesda has recorded Mr. Handy - the game's plummy-voiced robot companion - saying 1000 of the most popular names players might want to bestow upon their character, in order to give the game that extra-immersive personal touch.

We were presented with a demo video of a few names to show off Handy's versatility. The final two of those names were "Mr. McFly" and "Mr. Fuckface". And lo, a million players who had never considered calling their character Fuckface will now be calling their character Fuckface. Because that is how humans work.

There are going to be around a dozen companions in Fallout 4. We already knew about Handy, Dogmeat, and Preston, but now we can add Piper <(i>not pictured above) to the list. Which is good, because she's pretty damned cool.

Initially encountered trying to get into a locked down Diamond City (built in the ruins of Fenway Park baseball stadium), she opportunistically uses the Sole Survivor's presence to get in, pretending he's a trader with valuable supplies to sell, in order to bluff past the guards. Once inside, it transpires that she's the editor of the post-apocalyptic newspaper, Public Occurrences (is it just us, or is Fallout feeling distinctly more civilised these days?). The mayor hates her, referring to her as a "devious, rabble-rousing slanderer". Clearly, she is not on message with the local political PR. We like her.

Yup, the leveling system has been given an overhaul. Customised via a brilliant, animated Vault-Tec poster in-game, perks (which can be unlocked at level-up, as usual) are tied to the various ability stats in your character's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. ratings.

There are 70 base perks, but each has a series of XP rankings of its own, meaning that it can be leveled up alongside its respective S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stat in order to unlock greater abilities. With all graded perks taken into account, the total comes to 275. Happy grinding.

Later on in the Quakecon presentation we got an extended gameplay demo of a new town area, Lexington. With a lengthy new stretch of the game on show, it rapidly became clear just how radically upgraded Fallout 4's world is from that of its predecessors. In short, it makes Fallout 3 look like a game made out of cardboard.

It's not the result of any one change, but rather a raft of little tweaks that seem specifically designed to address the issues that cropped up in F3's world after prolonged exposure. There's the vast swath of vibrant colour. The sheer, open airiness, the sense of light and space. There's the amount of movement and fully structured environmental detail in each frame when exploring. There's the way that multiple camera angles during conversations make them feel like properly directed cutscenes, and the way your fully-voiced character reacts to even the most innocuous discoveries and events. As compulsive at it is to explore, navigating Fallout 3's world can at times feel like silently observing a diorama. Fallout 4 feels like having a real presence in a real place.

Speaking of real presence, holy crap, does Fallout's combat look to have improved. As in, it looks like a genuinely respectable open-world FPS now, rather than an RPG with a rather crap, rather static shooting model tacked on. The VATS slow-mo targeting system looks a whole lot faster and slicker for a start, but that's not the really exciting bit. The really exciting bit is that it doesn't look like you'll be wanting (or needing) to rely on it half as much.

While hardly as fast and flowing as its Quakecon sibling, , Fallout's gunplay looks much smoother and more dynamic than before. While enemies (Ghouls in particular) still have a habit of charging straight into your face, dealing with them is no longer a case of frantically back-pedaling while waiting for VATS to recharge. Sidestepping, strafing, and weaving all look entirely viable while shooting smoothly and accurately, and level design looks set up to properly accommodate that stuff this time around, with well-placed cover, choke-points, lines of sight, and exploding hazards aplenty. And throughout it all, the Sole Survivor looks delightfully capable and versatile.

Leading on from that last point, sweet crap, does Fallout 4 look effective as an action game. While the core combat mechanics look immensely improved, it's the stuff around them - the presentation and feedback of combat, and the bigger situational picture - that really pushes things to the next level.

We've seen hand-cranked laser muskets (effectively a clunky retro sci-fi shotgun) hit with delightful impact, and leave the burnt meat of Ghoul flesh billowing with smoke. We've seen crucial hits with bats shatter knees and set up skull-cracking executions, and that's just the start. The end of our demo sees the Sole Survivor dashing between cover points in an open street to avoid and retaliate against rooftop snipers, just as a Brotherhood of Steel gunship arrives. The aircraft starts peppering the road around him with cluster bombs, forcing a frantic, improvisational fight on two fronts, until the Ghouls above send it spiraling down into a nearby building. It’s still Fallout, but now it has set-pieces, and genuine, visual spectacle. Seriously.