Destiny 3 should make these 4 major changes (if it ever comes out)

This week may be the end of an era — but it doesn't have to be

Speculating about what Destiny 3 could have been or might one day become feels like a challenge considering the series’ bizarre trajectory over the years. Did Destiny 2 ever really justify its existence? Narratively, the first sequel jumps right into the Red War, a story arc that ostensibly feels like just another big expansion. What it does do differently, however, is immediately make players powerless. The Traveler is caged by the Cabal warlord Dominus Ghaul. You barely survive getting yeeted off his ship, and then reconnect with the Light by communing with a shard of the Traveler in the woods. From there, it’s pretty much just business as usual: run, shoot, hurl space magic, and then keep doing that over and over.

Mechanically, Destiny 2 made a ton of balancing changes, reclassified various weapons, and shifted to 4v4 PvP matches in the Crucible. Gunplay felt subtly different. Ability cooldowns were nerfed drastically. You might call it a significant overhaul, but it still felt like Destiny. The difference between Destiny in 2017 and the early days of Destiny 2 is probably less striking than day-one Destiny 2 and what the game looks and feels like today.

We’re not getting more Destiny 2. That much seems pretty certain. Why should Destiny 3 exist at all, especially if it would inevitably just feel like more Destiny at the end of the day?

The first Destiny had only been out for three years when Destiny 2 launched nearly nine years ago. Over the next decade, the sequel transformed what began as a fairly straightforward battle between Light and Darkness into something far more nuanced. Guardians learned to wield the Darkness themselves. Savathûn, one of the franchise's greatest villains, became a Lightbearer. Former enemies like the Cabal and Fallen became allies. All of it culminated in 2024's The Final Shape, where players finally defeated the Witness, an ancient civilization merged into a single being that sought to impose perfect order on a chaotic universe. More than just another raid boss, the Witness represented the endpoint of Destiny's central conflict. For the first time in the franchise's history, the story had reached a genuine ending.

That's why the years that followed felt so strange. If there was ever a moment for Bungie to reinvent the franchise and justify a true Destiny 3, it was after The Final Shape. Instead, Destiny 2 kept going, and increasingly felt like it was searching for a new purpose after already delivering its ending.

What Destiny really needs is a full reinvention if it’s going to justify Destiny 3. It’s time for Destiny to start asking new questions and exploring new frontiers. Here are just a few ideas of what we’d love to see from a very theoretical Destiny 3:

1 Explore the Traveler’s past

What other civilizations did the Traveler uplift before humanity? What happened to them? Did any others, like the Fallen, survive? Did some reject the Traveler entirely? Is there another Last City somewhere in the galaxy built atop the ruins of a different Golden Age? The most exciting thing Destiny 3 could do isn't introduce a stronger villain or another cosmic threat. It's to restore the sense of mystery that defined the original game.

Both games have explored how the Traveler has interacted with multiple civilizations in the past, but there's no telling how long it has been influencing civilizations in the wider cosmos. The narrative depths are theoretically limitless here.

2 Let players go wild with subclasses

Mechanically, that same philosophy should apply to the Guardian. Bungie’s greatest innovation for Destiny 2came very late in its lifespan with Prismatic, a subclass from The Final Shape that finally stopped asking players to choose between Light and Darkness. Instead, it encouraged experimentation. A sequel should push that idea even further. Let players combine subclass elements in unexpected ways. Let them create hybrid identities that don't fit neatly into the traditional Solar, Arc, Void, Stasis, or Strand buckets. (Or at least give us a third Darkness-based subclass element.) After spending years blurring the line between Light and Darkness narratively, Bungie should lean further into that mechanically.

3 Leave the Sol System

Most importantly, Destiny 3 should have the courage to leave some things behind. The Witness is gone. The Light and Darkness saga is over. The Sol System has been saved more times than anyone can count. Destiny doesn't need another expansion-sized crisis threatening the same planets we've been defending since 2014. It needs a frontier. Destiny has always remained locked in the Sol System. I’m not saying Destiny 3 needs to go full-on space exploration like No Man’s Sky or anything like that, but something that inches further in that direction that at least allows us to visit more far-off places would make for a bold new direction.

The original Destiny succeeded because it made players feel small. You stepped into the Cosmodrome with no idea what the Traveler was, what the Darkness wanted, or even the true nature of the Traveler and its Light. You slowly peeled back the layers of the mystery. A true Destiny 3 should strive for that feeling again. Not bigger. Not louder. Just unknown.

4 Show us the Winnower

To Bungie’s credit, it seems like the team had been making progress towards an ominous new future for the game. Recent storylines positioned the Nine as major players shaping the future of the universe in a way that stands apart from Light and Darkness. They’re beings composed of dark matter tied to the gravity of the Sun with a vested interest in protecting humanity since their very existence depends on sentient life persisting. Part of that involves warning humanity of an inevitable threat capable of ending everything — a primordial, godlike being referred to as the Winnower.

In one scene added to the game as part of the Monument of Triumph update, the Guardian approaches that same shard of the Traveler that played such a crucial role early in Destiny 2. There, an unknown entity takes control of Lodi, the emissary of the Nine, and speaks directly to the Guardian. Players have collectively assumed that this is the Winnower.

“Hello, my good chum,” they say. “There's blood on our hands, isn't there? From this little spat. Even they know it — that our meeting is inevitable.” The entity goes on to describe a showdown at the end of time between champions of Dark and Light.

“Take a breather. Take your libations. Let that vigor seep back into your bones. Get hungry.” Then the entity just… leaves.

That’s either the very end to Destiny as we know it, or the perfect setup for something totally new.