Destiny Turns 10 And Bungie Finally Talks Destiny 2's "Frontiers": Smaller, More Frequent, Non-Linear Expansions

Destiny 2 fans have been eagerly awaiting news on "Frontiers," the shooter's future in a post-Witness universe. With all the major players on the "bad guy" side dealt with, fans are a bit curious (and nervous) about where Bungie will take things in future updates. While we've known about "Frontiers" for a while now, we've had no real look into the actual plan besides it being more frequent, but smaller, expansion updates.

This is a trend we're seeing in quite a few places lately. Guild Wars 2 started this approach and more recently World of Warcraft's Worldsoul Saga aims to take the same tact with The War Within and its subsequent 2 expansions. It's a good deal all the way around, provided the smaller amount of content feels meaningful and players don't walk away feeling just flat out short-changed.

As the Destiny franchise turns 10, literally today, Bungie has started to peel back the curtain on Frontiers a bit. Here's what we know so far:

Two expansions have been revealed as part of a new roadmap. "Project Apollo" will drop in spring of 2025 with "Project Behemoth" coming in the winter. Each expansion will have 2 major updates within its season. These updates will be free to all players. Obviously we expect these expansion to include new content, stories, missions, loot, and season passes.

In an effort to be more transparent with the community, Bungie is going to be showing off changes more frequently, just know that this could lead to the occasional date change or "false start" as the team brings the players into development earlier than they ever have before.

Game Director Tyson Green explains that this new model is made to break the current mold for Destiny 2 saying, "We recognize that it has become too rigid. Expansions have started to feel too formulaic and are over too quickly with little replay value. Seasons and Episodes keep getting bigger but can still feel like you are just going through the motions. We believe it’s time for Destiny to change and evolve, and that our community wants this game to grow and innovate too. And to do that, we need to start breaking some of the molds."

Green also expresses a desire to break away from "one-shot" linear campaigns. This doesn't mean Destiny 2 won't continue to tell stories, but it does mean that expansions could "challenge your idea of what Destiny can be." Metroidvanias, roguelikes, or even survival shooters could be inspiration for gameplay loops in certain expansions. 

In addition to changing how you play, the team wants the game to no longer require new players to have a PhD to decide how to play or how to get rewards you're after. This means big changes to the Director UI first and foremost. (Mercifully! As a more casual player who jumps in and out between expansions, this is my largest issue with Destiny 2.)

Challenge and rewards also get a mention in the blog post, with plans focused on allowing players to customize more of their own difficulty and get rewards based on that level of challenge. This means we will likely see higher tiers of Legendary gear.

On the story front, Narrative Director Alison Lührs explains the non-linear approach the future holds. You will be making choices in your character-driven experience in Apollo. You won't simply go from story beat A to B to C. After A, if you like, you can go to C. You can go back and experience the choices you didn't make later if you want to do so. 

These are all very big changes for Destiny 2, but we're going to need to see more details as it is all very nebulous at the moment. Luckily, the team will be hosting additional reveals and Deep Dives over the next few months.

Hopefully the story is one players are happy to see. There's still not a lot revealed on that front, and that may be the largest concern right now.

Finally, from art shows to celebrations, to a NERF version of Cayde 6's favorite Hand Cannon, there's also a slew of 10th anniversary items planned for you super fans to check out.