Year 2 of Destiny 2 has officially begun with its latest expansion, Forsaken. It adds features such as a new story centred around The Reef and a team of Fallen Barons that you must hunt down, a new destination in The Tangled Shore and Gambit, a new gameplay mode that fuses PvE and PvP.
Does this expansion give us any clues as to what to expect from the next title in the Destiny series? The short answer is: not really.
On the other hand, Destiny 2's previous expansion, Warmind, could have given us a clue as to what we could expect to see in Destiny 3.
When you're in the Warmind expansion campaign, you can explore Mars and head to Aurora Reach. If you access the computer terminal located there, you'll notice that all of the weapons on the list (beside two) are unfamiliar to us. Note Hades Flame and Aurora Knives? Yeah, we have no idea what they are and if they're even coming to Destiny 2 at a later date. Neither of them are in the Warmind campaign, so maybe they'll be coming to Destiny 3 ?
Whatever the two are, we'll have to wait and see which game Bungie decides to save the mysterious weapons for, but considering it has hinted that it has already started work on plotting out Destiny 3, the studio may have just put the two weapons in as Easter Eggs for the future game.
In any case, you can read on to find out everything else we know about Destiny 3 below.
Destiny 3: Everything we know so far
Destiny 3 may seem a long way off – after all, Destiny 2 has only just had its third DLC – but with projects of this size, rumours start flying sooner than you’d think. A third instalment is inevitable, especially as Bungie has already stated that it sees Destiny as a ten-year project, but the question of how soon Bungie will bring Destiny 3 to market still remains.
In all honesty, I don’t think we’ll see Destiny 3 for a long time yet – which, in my opinion, is a very good thing. While Destiny 2 was praised by critics on launch, over time the cracks have begun to show and fans have realised how janky many of its PVP elements are. Since the outcry began, it’s emerged that Destiny 2 shared a similar fate to Destiny, with rushed development causing many of the issues.
To bring you up to speed, here’s what’s been happening with Destiny 2 so far, and how it might affect Bungie’s handling of Destiny 3 going forward.
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Destiny 3: Everything you need to know
Destiny 3: What’s wrong with Destiny 2?
Shortly after the release of Destiny 2, fans discovered that Bungie had been throttling XP. After addressing fan concerns in a series of blog posts, Bungie promised it would fix the game and deliver a slew of additional content to make up for the error.
Problem solved, or so you’d think. As it turns out, the extra content plans have also backfired. After releasing the first Destiny 2 expansion “Curse of Osiris”, an in-game weapon known as the Prometheus Lens appeared. Unfortunately, it was terribly overpowered, ploughing through anyone standing in its path. Bungie addressed the issue by stating that the weapon’s appearance was a bug and removed it from the game. However, Destiny’s exotic weapons seller Xur had started selling it and so it was still wildly available for those who wanted to capitalise upon the exploit.
And these errors are only the tip of the iceberg of the issues plaguing Destiny 2’s PVP every day. It’s likely most of these issues have arisen due to the incredibly tight turnaround: director Luke Smith took control after the previous director left just 16 months ahead of the game’s launch.
Destiny 3 release date: When’s it out?
Taking all these issues into account, it’s not quite clear when Destiny 3 will arrive.
Confusion during the development of Destiny 2 made it seem that Bungie had no clear roadmap for the project . Plans to continue player characters and weapons were thrown out of the window in favour of simply bringing across character cosmetics, and plans seemed to change frequently throughout development. That’s why I think it’s safe to dismiss comments made by Nolan North , who voices Ghost in Destiny, about how Bungie had already planned out the story for Destiny 3.
It’s also worth remembering that Destiny had two years of expansions after its release, leaving almost three years between Destiny and Destiny 2. With that in mind, as well as all the troubles of Destiny 2, it’s hard to imagine Destiny 3 landing any sooner than 2020 or 2021.
Destiny 3 story: What’s it all about?
Despite all of its problems, Destiny 2 was loved by fans and critics alike: its main story thread and campaign were fantastic. Unlike the original Destiny, Bungie actually threaded together an interesting story around the fate of The Traveller and the Guardians sworn to protect it.
It’s highly likely Bungie will continue this story through its expansion packs and extra DLC, meaning Destiny 3 is more than likely to be another world reset like Destiny 2’s was to Destiny. However, just because the story will start a new chapter, it’s unlikely Bungie will move away from a narrative-driven main game.
Destiny 3 platforms: Will Bungie finally bring Destiny to Switch?
Destiny 3 is likely to come to PC, Xbox One and PS4 , just like Destiny 2 did. However, there’s a slim chance we could see Bungie and Activision eyeing up the Switch , too, thanks to its phenomenal growth within its first year . Once Nintendo brings its online platform to Switch , perhaps Bungie will be tempted to bring its online shared-world shooter to Nintendo’s latest console too.
