As the year comes to an end, despite this being the beginning of theDestinyfranchise’s fifth year, it’s easily the biggest year so far for developer Bungie. Midway through January, Bungie and Activision officially parted ways and the developer gained complete control of the publishing, followed by the release ofDestiny 2Shadowkeep expansion, a new free-to-play module, cross-save, launched on the new cloud streaming service Google Stadia, and begana new on-going narrativethat weaves each content season together. Now that the series is finally moving in a cohesive line narratively speaking, when and how will it lead toDestiny 3?
The originalDestinyreleased back in 2014 and told a very self-contained story of a Guardian being resurrected and putting an end to a world-ending threat from an alien species known as the Vex. Sure,Destiny’s lore was incredibly expansive and detailed, but the in-game narrative wasn’t. From there,Destinyreceived two full-sized expansions in The Taken King and Rise of Iron as well as two smaller entries,but just like VanillaDestinyand all ofDestiny 2, things have continued to happen without the overall plot of the Traveler and the Darkness ever moving forward. So far, all of the rumors forDestiny 3are hinting at that exact plotline, and it looks like Bungie are starting to move toward it.
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For argument’s sake, we’re only looking at rumors and leaks relating to the story and release ofDestiny 3to try and work out what will happen next. By far, thebiggestDestiny 3rumor arrived earlier this yearfrom a Redditor by the name of AnontheNine, a well-known informant at the time that has since deleted their account. Supposedly,Destiny 3would finally bring players face to face with the darkness with a new and mysterious race called the Veil, the same race that is currently on their way to Earth in the Pyramid Ships. Considering the Pyramid Ship reveal at the end of theDestiny 2campaign, the even bigger reveal inShadowkeep, and the general mention of these ships in-game and in the lore, it seems pretty likely that Bungie will be saving this storyline for the next game.
The Veil are said to be an alien race that serves the darkness in the same way that the Guardians serve the light. By introducing these new elements, players would also be able to wield new darkness based subclasses and explore new locations including Old Chicago, one of the moons of Jupiter known as Europa, the return of Venus, and a Pyramid Ship as an endgame location. Going even further back to the end of 2018, another leak from AnontheNine claimed thatactive development onDestiny 3had only just begun in recent months, which would mean that the game isn’t going to arrive anytime soon. And that seems to line up with what Bungie has expressed publically so far.
Right before Christmas, Bungie did make somewhat of anofficial comment onDestiny 3when Bungie communication director David “DeeJ” Dague said in an interview that Bungie’s commitment and attention were focused on the seasons that will unfold over the course of the next year,” and that no comment could be made about future moves. Bungie has moved to a four-season structure to keep players invested throughout the year with each seasonal story and activity leading into the next with the overarching story reaching its conclusion at the end of the year. It’s unlikely that these miniature stories will set off a chain of events that lead toDestiny 3and the Veil as it’s clear they’re already coming; however, players can expect more teases on their presence in future.
In mid-September, Bungie released a 10-minute video called “The Moon and Beyond,” offering players an in-depth look at the next expansion,Destiny 2: Shadowkeep,and indirectly states that the team has a 5-year vision for the game in question. Based on the development cycle required by Activision,Destiny 3likely would’ve released in September 2020, yet now that Bungie is makingDestinyon its terms, a longer development cycle feels in-line with its goals. Shadowkeep was the beginning ofDestiny 2: Year 3, meaning there isstill another two years of active contentwith Year 4 presumably beginning in late 2020, Year 5 in late 2021, and possibly leading into the launch ofDestiny 3in Late 2022.
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Of course, all of this is just speculation based on an offhand comment made that Luke Smith made in theDestiny 2: ShadowkeepViDoc. However, Bungie wouldn’t have released that edit if it didn’t want to and knowing how Bungie operates and the talent that studio has, there’s no way that it’s going to release another product that’s not ready to go just to meet a deadline. It stands to reason, then, thatDestiny 3will be a next-generation game coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X, so this is the studio’s chance to give it everything its got for the next game while thestudio begins work on what comes afterDestiny.
Destiny 2: Shadowkeepis available now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
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