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

1

Explore the Traveler’s past

Image: Bungie

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

Image: Bungie

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

Image: Bungie

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

Image: Bungie

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.