Written by Lance Turner
I still love Destiny 2. That might sound strange to some people in 2026, especially after years of ups, downs, vaulting, sunsetting (remember that mess), and a live-service model that sometimes feels like it’s being held together by duct tape and Eververse receipts. But the love is real. At the same time, it’s impossible to ignore the truth: Destiny 2 is clearly approaching the end of its natural life, and the franchise desperately needs Destiny 3.
Both things can be true.
A Love That Started in 2014
I’ve been a fan of the Destiny franchise since day one. Literally. I stood in line for the midnight release of Destiny 1 back in 2014, back when midnight launches were a thing and digital preloads hadn’t fully taken over. You’d queue outside a shop with strangers, all buzzing, all arguing about classes and raids before anyone even knew what a raid really was.
I miss that. Not just the launch, but the moment. Destiny was new, weird, flawed, and ambitious in a way few games were at the time. It wasn’t perfect—but it was special.
The Friends We Made Along the Way (Yes, Really)
Over the last 12 years of Destiny games, I’ve made genuine friendships through it. Not “randoms I never spoke to again,” but people I’ve regularly run dungeons and activities with for years. The game shines brightest when you’re laughing through wipes, clutching a run at 2am, or arguing about whose fault it was (it was always the Warlock).
My regular group includes my fiancée, and Destiny was something we bonded over when we first met. That shared love for the game mattered. It still does. Not many games can honestly say they’ve been part of someone’s relationship story—and that’s not something I take lightly.
The Money? Let’s Not Pretend Otherwise
Let’s be blunt: my partner and I have spent well into the four figures on Destiny 2 alone. Special editions. Expansions. Dungeon keys. Seasons. And yes—Silver purchases, because Bungie knows exactly how to design cosmetics that hit the “I shouldn’t, but I will” part of the brain.
Do I regret it? Not really. We got years of entertainment out of it. But it does underline something important: Destiny 2 has given everything it reasonably can. You can’t keep asking players to invest more money into a framework that’s clearly creaking under its own history.
I’d Still Recommend Destiny 2—With One Big Warning
I would still recommend Destiny 2 to new players in 2026. But only with friends. Never solo.
The solo grind can be monotonous, confusing, and frankly hostile to newcomers. Systems layered on top of systems, mechanics that assume prior knowledge, and a narrative that’s been patched, removed, and reshuffled too many times. Alone, it’s overwhelming.
With friends? It’s brilliant. The same activities that feel like chores solo become highlights when you’re joking in voice chat, teaching mechanics, or carrying each other through content. Destiny has always been better as a shared experience—and that hasn’t changed.
2,000 Hours of Proof
I’ve played well over 2,000 hours across Destiny 1 and Destiny 2, with roughly 1,500 of those hours in Destiny 2 alone. You don’t put that kind of time into a game you don’t love.
But you also don’t put that much time into a game without noticing when it’s running out of road.
Why Destiny 3 Needs to Happen
Destiny 2 is carrying twelve years of technical debt, narrative baggage, and design compromises. Bungie has done impressive work keeping it alive—but at this point, every new system feels bolted on rather than built in.
Destiny 3 isn’t about abandoning what came before. It’s about respecting it enough to start fresh:
- A clean onboarding experience
- A modern engine foundation
- Systems designed together, not retrofitted
- A universe that feels exciting again, not exhausted
Most importantly, it’s about recapturing that feeling from 2014—the sense that we’re all stepping into something new together.
Loving Something Means Letting It Evolve
I don’t want Destiny 2 to limp on indefinitely. I want it to be remembered as the game that carried the franchise through its most ambitious era—and then knew when to bow out.
I still love Destiny 2. I always will.
But it’s time.
Eyes up guardians: for Destiny 3.