I don’t watch a lot of YouTube videos to get information on games. If I’m looking for a guide or explanation of something, I’d typically rather just read some text than watch a video — and it doesn’t help that YouTube’s push for longer videos means that guides on the platform are increasingly bloated. But every week, I watch one video by a Destiny 2 YouTuber. The YouTuber is Fallout, and the video is his overview of the weekend vendor Xur’s inventory.
There are a lot of places you can get information on what Xur is carrying each week. There’s whereisxur.com, numerous games outlets, and plenty of YouTube channels. But Fallout’s videos are different. They’re branded as “Xur in 1 Minute,” and they live up to the title as a rapid-fire rundown of the Emissary of the Nine’s stock.
Fallout begins each Destiny 2 Xur video by running down the featured exotics. Since most Destiny 2 players know the game’s exotics pretty well by this point, he has a little fun with it. Last week, it was “Cabal meme rifle” (Skyburner’s Oath), “make the most annoying Super in the game even more unbearable” (Raiju’s Harness), “only put it on before popping in PVP” (Eternal Warrior), and “if you didn’t wear me on Warpriest, you didn’t beat King’s Fall challenge on day one” (Aeon Soul). It’s not just memes, though — he tells you if the rolls on them are worth picking up, before ending with his trademark “like, comment, sub, puh-eace.”
It’s a simple, fun format that does exactly what it needs to. The videos don’t dwell on the minutiae of each Legendary weapon Xur is offering, nor try to make bad rolls of weapons like Dead Man’s Tale seem worth grabbing. Fallout provides a no-nonsense, lightning-quick look at Xur, and really, that’s all most players need. Xur in 1 Minute is a welcome alternative to Destiny 2 YouTube videos that are long for the sake of engagement and monetization, and while I’m sympathetic to content creators who are just trying to get their bag, it’s nice when something just gets to the point.
