So my favorite game of recent years is Destiny. I play it exclusively on the XBox One. At times, my XBox One and I disagree (it hurts my eyes, I swear at Cortana) but mostly we get along ok. Some games are harder to look at than others - 60fps is still rough no matter what.
So Destiny 2 came out. And on my main gaming setup (Original XBox One -> LG 60" Plasma) ... it hurts. I've been trying to figure out why, but it gives me pretty serious eyestrain after moderate exposure.
Why is this the case? I've narrowed down a few factors:
It's higher resolution. The first game was clearly not native 1080p... it was likely 720p and scaled up. Textures were clearly 720p. This game's textures are at 1080, and based on the size of text (see next point) it clearly renders internally at 1080 - or higher, they've advertised this game as being 4k ready.
Everything is smaller. The text labels are smaller. The icons are smaller. Interface elements are smaller.
It's "busier". I get less strain on the maps which are set in futuristic/industrial settings. The ones set in the jungle/overgrowth just have too much going on at one time.
I need new glasses. My prescription changed, and this game might be challenging enough on my eyes that the 0.25 diopter makes a difference!
There are several people on the Bungie forums who have reported this. I suspect that the game is running in a different screen mode/resolution than before.
My first experiment was to sit closer, and screen centered. It helped a lot, boosted my play time from 20 minutes to a couple hours! Still not an all-day session, but I played from 9-11 last night and today my eyes are tired but not unbearably so.
Next I'll try moving the XBox to the LCD TV. The colors aren't as good but it's brighter/crisper than the Plasma, and will be a good reference point.
I may also try forcing 720p to see if that makes any difference.
It's possible that it is simply time to get that XBox One S I've been delaying getting, or save up for an XBox One X.