Bungie admits Destiny 2 story has “become predictable” but has big Final Shape plans

Bungie has admitted the Destiny 2 story structure has “become predictable” in recent years but is excited for the switch to Episodes that will come in The Final Shape.

Destiny 2 is slowly moving towards its end. The Final Shape looms on the horizon, with the Witness ready to take on the Guardians within the Pale Heart of the Traveler. However, the Traveler may have to wait a bit, thanks to delays that have pushed the release of the expansion until June 2024.

Until that time the Destiny 2 devs at Bungie have been hard at work ensuring players have enough content to tie them over. This is particularly true for the game’s story team, who had to scramble to essentially double the story of Season of the Wish thanks to the delay.

Despite all this, the devs mentioned how grateful they were for the story framework Bungie had put in place, especially with the unforgiving deadlines that come with creating a live service game. However, a round table has shown that the devs believe the story structure has “become predictable” because of it.

“Just speaking for the narrative team, we hear our audience loud and clear that the structure of our story may have become predictable, even if the story quality is still high,” lead narrative designer Jonathan To explained.

Destiny 2’s stories, particularly the seasonal ones tend to offer a drip feed of content to players, asking them to return each week to see what happens next in the story. Players have critiqued this method of delivery in the past, as it can promote a sense of FOMO or urgency to be constantly playing to not miss story beats.

This will change come The Final Shape, as Bungie moves towards a three-episode-per-year structure, rather than sticking with the current four seasons. Whilst the devs weren’t exactly ready to share how this shift would help mix things up and surprise players, they are keen for the change.

“We’re working on a number of things right now that we can’t explicitly share, but that involves changing up the structure so we can pleasantly surprise you guys more frequently in the future.”