I think you nailed it

by Beorn , <End of Failed Timeline>, Saturday, March 09, 2013, 08:18 (4374 days ago) @ Cody Miller

Bungie has always been good about creating universes and backstory. In my opinion Bungie hasn't been so good lately on the narrative portion, but there is imagination and fun stuff to explore in the settings.

Agreed.

I remember finding tons of secret terminals in Marathon, and going places I shouldn't and finding out a lot of behind the scenes stuff in Deus Ex. That kind of thing you can't really do in other mediums. It's not a narrative; it's exploration of a setting.

I've missed this exploration component in modern games, particularly in the FPS genre. I think this is one reason why Marathon (and Star Wars: Dark Forces, as well) really stood out to me in the first place; you as the player weren't completely on rails, had the freedom to explore the environment beyond what was required by the mission parameters, and were duly rewarded for your exploration throughout the game.

If Destiny can capture that sense of awe and exploration, then it's going to be a huge hit!