Early details on the purported Destiny sequel are pouring onto the web, courtesy of internal leaks and a consistent source of early Destiny news. Many of the changes being discussed for the next game will please the existing audience. But not everything we’re hearing about Destiny 2 will go over great with those who’ve spent the most time with the franchise thus far.
The latest unofficial update on Destiny 2 began with a NeoGAF post from someone claiming to have a friend at Activision privy to information about the oft-rumored Destiny sequel. According to the insider, the next game in the series will include raid matchmaking, easily the most-requested feature for the current iteration of Destiny. They also claimed the sequel is heading to PC, now that Bungie doesn’t have to develop for last-gen platforms, and two other studios (High Moon and Vicarious Vision) will contribute to Destiny 2 in some way. Taken at face value, the post wouldn’t necessarily warrant much attention. People try to fake news about triple-A games all the time. But the rumors were quickly corroborated by Kotaku’s Jason Schreier.
According to Schreier, Destiny: The Taken King director Luke Smith and executive producer Mark Noseworthy will fill the same roles on the Destiny 2 dev team. The duo apparently scrapped the studio’s existing story plans for the sequel and want the next Destiny to feel drastically different from the existing product. The goal is to deliver the complete overhaul that many fans expected when The Taken King arrived last year. Schreier also acted as a second source for the reports about High Moon and Vicarious Visions, along with the PC port. He also says “people connected to Bungie” have compared the transition between Destiny and its eventual sequel to the jump from Diablo to Diablo 2. Both are undoubtedly part of the same franchise. But D2 was a new game.
To close out the day, industry insider Shinobi602 hopped on NeoGaf to disclose the information he’d heard about Destiny 2 . For starters, the action will apparently shift to Saturn, which will offer a larger playable area than the combined spaces currently in Destiny . Sadly, it seems the Cabal will take center stage in the sequel, instead of an entirely new faction, and the studio apparently plans to flesh out many of the existing enemy types in the game. Shinobi says fans can also expect major changes to the existing narrative “in terms of plot direction, pacing & structure.”
On the plus side, both Shinobi and Schreier say fans can expect sweeping improvements to the Destiny engine. The larger playspaces we see in Destiny 2 will also offer more for players to do, including numerous towns and other activity zones meant to replace the patrol quests from the first game (and its expansions). Unfortunately, it sounds like there’s a decent chance players’ existing progress won’t carry over to the next game, despite previous promises from the studio.
Be sure to check back with iDigitalTimes.com and follow Scott on Twitter for more Destiny news throughout 2016 and however long Bungie supports Destiny in the years ahead.
