I’ll be honest: being aDestiny 2player feels like being in a toxic on-and-off relationship–while it’s the most fun you’ve ever had, unfulfilled promises and a blatant disregard for your needs make you wonder why you even loved them in the first place. And when you do try to leave, it reels you back in by delivering someof those promises, repeating the endless cycle of push and pull.
I loveDestiny 2. I really, really do. It’s one of my favorite franchises of all time and a special interest since middle school. My tenure as a Guardian began at launch in 2014, and I’ve done just about everything the franchise has to offer, clocking in at least a total of 3,000 hours.
My love for this franchise goes so deep that I even got the Titan symbol tattooed on my shoulder as my first. Destiny has been a core part of my gaming identity. And like many others in the Destiny 2 community, I’ve thrived in the good times and weathered the bad.
When Destiny is good, it’s astonishingly so. The combat has remained consistently enjoyable, the worldbuilding is massive and has a lot of potential, and the grind has only improved in rewarding its players.
But when it’sbad, things can get outrageous:dense and bloated file sizes,sunsetting (until Final Shape) andvaulting content, and stale core activities that no longer feel as rewarding as they once were.
As someone who has loved this game for 10 years, I find it increasingly difficult to stay positive about the future of this franchise.
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Overpromised And Underdelivered
In 2022, Justin Truman, the General Manager forDestiny 2,presented at the Game Developers Conventionabout the franchise’s growth and how its success impacted Bungie’s approach toward game development. In it, he revealed the “beware of overdelivery” mantra that has been memed by the community since then.
This drew the ire of many Destiny 2 fans. Many understood that because of the scope and live service model of the game, Bungie simply cannotsustain the amount of quality content they’re promisingwhile trying to stay afloat.
But that doesn’t excuse themass layoffs Bungie has been doing for the past two years–around 100 in 2023 and 220 just last year in 2024.Bungie CEO Pete Parsons' million-dollar penchant for classic carsalso doesn’t help.
Yeah, I know. I’m jumping on thebandwagon of complaining about the “rise and fall of Destiny 2”like everybody else. This might just seem like one of those “we’re so back/it’s so over” loop memes, but the conclusion of the 10-year saga feels like a point of no return.
This feels much more personal and demoralizing than just complaining about seasonal content or a campaign. Watching beloved creators likeDattoandByflament about the declining quality of the game is an increasingly saddening trend over the past year or so.
The Final Honeymoon Phase
The Final Shape exceeded all expectations–Salvation’s Edgewas a blast of a raid, the campaign was a tearjerkingly heartfelt sendoff to the franchise we knew and loved, and gave us an unexpected new power in the form of Prismatic. But to many, Cayde’s farewell was a reminder of why he was so beloved.
It also left a Witness-sized hole that is nearly impossible to fill. With the conclusion of the Light and Dark Saga that spanned ten years, it’s safe to assume that the epilogue-like Episodes just weren’t going to measure up. Still, we need them to wrap up the major remaining plot threads left open in previous seasons.
But ever since completing the Final Shape campaign, I just felt drained. Like with many other fans,the urge to hop on regularly began to fade.Episode Echoes made the story even less appealing; Maya Sundaresh’s evil machinations felt uninspired, and Fikrul’s threat was barely felt throughout the episode. The pacing just fell flat.
Because the episodic formula has trimmed down the filler content past seasons once had, the glaring problems with the storytelling have also finally reared their ugly heads.
With the seasonal content all densely packed into an act, it’s easy to tell just how bare bones the story content is for Echoes and Revenant. Aside from thehours of grinding, each Act only contains less than an hour’s worth of story content. Mind you, this is supposed to be stretched out for weeks, so seeing all the weekly content compacted into something you’re able to play in one sitting feels janky and disjointed.
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Progressing the main story requires tediously going back and forth to talk to NPCs when it could’ve been a single dialogue, and certain narrative moments don’t reflect the overarching plot or theme. Even though Bungie is trying to “respect” the player’s time by stitching weekly content into a more digestible form, they didn’t exactly plan the story content around that concept, and instead things turned out poorly executed.
The current state of Destiny 2 is looking a little bleak. The Episodic releases have become a major breaking point for veteran and casual players alike, andcontent fatigue has taken a major toll on player retention, further exacerbated by themany technical issues in the Dawning event in late 2024.Bungie either knows how precarious this is or doesn’t care enough to make any meaningful changes. Morale is low, and you can see that on theRedditandBungie forums.
Break Up With Destiny 2?
I’m not going to pretend that the franchise hasn’t always been like this, because that seems to be the pattern for many live service games: release a half-baked, lackluster expansion in one year, and then follow it up with one of the most hyped-up expansions in the franchise.
The Destiny community is tragically trapped ina perpetual prison of fluctuating content.Forsaken was universally loved by the community, while Shadowkeep got lukewarm attention at best the year after. Lightfall’s disappointing story dimmed fans' hopes, while the buildup and anticipation turned the subsequent Final Shape into the most well-received expansion upon release.
Because of this Sisyphean cycle of abusing player trust with ups and downs, Bungie islosing the faith they have long cultivated. It’s safe to say that Bungie has a lot of work to do to earn backand keepplayer trust.
It saddens me to say this, but Destiny 2 is hemorrhaging players, with a depressing all-time low of less than20k reportedconcurrent players compared with the typical 80k. I miss the days when people were actually excited to hop on, but now it just feels like a chore.
Worse yet, it’s almost impossible for new players to join.The New Light experience is hostile and confusing at best, as the tutorial barely explains anything crucial before throwing new players into the deep end, which is the exact reason I warn anybody who expresses any remote interest in the game despite how fervently I express my love for it.
Meanwhile, Destiny: Risingseems to be gaining a lot of positive attention in contrast to Destiny 2despite the former still being in Alpha testing, though a mobile game withpredatory gachapractices can only go so far. WithBungie putting its chips into developing Marathonandincreasing turnover rates,Destiny is bound to become a husk of its former self unless Bungie learns from its mistakes.
I have no cure-all solution to this sticky situation we find ourselves in, nor do I have a definitive call to action. Theonly way forward for many fans might just be to either leaveforgreener pasturesor keep chugging on.
The Future Of Destiny 2
I don’t thinkDestiny 3will ever happen,nor is a remake ofDestiny1.An endeavor into either one of these projects is surely going to make the current game dip in quality, and Bungie’s already stretched thin as is. Meanwhile, NetEase seems pretty content with their non-canon gacha game inDestiny: Risingso a tie-in seems implausible.
As it stands,Destiny 2might never be able to top the build-up and satisfying conclusion that the Light and Dark Saga had. Those ten years that we had with the franchise were special and nothing can take that away from us.
Still, withEpisode Heresy, which will introduce several changes, coming outin February 2025 andFrontiers, which is set to release in September 2025, Bungie has indeed expressed its determination to change things, releasing a roadmap for the game’s future.
The live service model is still a hotly debated topic. While there seems to be a general sentiment that it’sactively hurting AAA games likeDestiny 2, it’s unlikely that this will change how Bungie develops its game.
Players want Bungie to implement many things inDestiny 2, includinghousing for players(a la Warframe),a firing range,sparrow racing, and more. But remember that Bungie leadership makes decisions based on profits and will not implement them if they are deemed too costly or risky.
If you’re tired of Destiny 2, take a break. Play some other games while Destiny gains its footing again. We’re at a low point, and in a somewhat defeatist way, this feels on track with the franchise. There’s no shame in pausing or even quitting. I did when Shadowkeep came out, and I didn’t come back until Beyond Light was released.
It’s easy to get caught up in the negativity surroundingDestiny 2. I mean, I’ve been bemoaning the state of the game just like everybody else. But it’s also important to remember just how much love was put into the game. The atmosphere of the destinations and the beautiful saga crafted by amazing writers gave us so many moments that will never leave us.
I don’t plan on leavingDestiny 2. If this ship is going down, then I’m going down with it. This game means too much for me to leave, and besides, I’m curious to see where the future will take this game, for as long as possible.
WHERE TO PLAY
Destiny 2 is a sci-fi epic looter shooter mmo that takes Guardians across the solar system and through alternate dimensions in the pursuit of defeating the enemies of Light.
