Destiny 2 2026 preview: Expansions, Major Updates, Marathon, Portal changes, unvaulting and more

About a month ago, I drafted up a version of this article that almost felt like a eulogy to Destiny 2, a game I love but that felt insistent on spinning its wheels with a power grind that sapped out all the fun of being a superpowered hero in a dangerous universe.

Then, the Star Wars-themed Renegades expansion launched, and in many ways, it was like meeting an old friend again, and it felt like they’d never been away. Community perception is always on a knife-edge with Destiny 2, and every time you’ve written it off, it re-emerges – but with the sheer volume of missteps in the first year of the Year of Prophecy, it might not get that chance again in 2026.

Ahead of another calendar year of looting, shooting, and the game’s revised content cadence, here’s what we can expect from Destiny 2 in 2026.

About last year

After 2024’s The Final Shape, plenty of Destiny 2 plot threads were nicely wrapped up with a bow, but there have still been mysteries to solve in the game’s deep lore, and the follow-up ‘Episodes’ served to string us along until Edge of Fate could kick off a new expansion schedule.

Still, the first chapter in the new Fate saga fell flat for a few reasons. Its campaign was fine, but with a focus on destination-based abilities and the new Portal essentially sanding Destiny 2 down into what felt like an endless number-crunch, players dropped off.

Renegades did improve things considerably, ramping up the enemy density and storytelling stakes at the cost of sacrificing some of Destiny’s soul at the altar of Star Wars. So what’s next?

Summer 2026 will bring the Shattered Cycle expansion, while Winter will see The Alchemist arrive. In between those, there’s likely a free content update (more on that in a moment), but it’s hard to tell whether the community prefers one big annual expansion to the two medium-sized ones, or vice versa.

Taken as a whole, the Year of Prophecy (which includes Edge of Fate and Renegades) undoubtedly marks a low point for Destiny 2, the likes of which we’ve not seen since Curse of Osiris back in its earliest days. Does this mean Bungie might consider shifting back to annual expansions, or is it too early to say?

In any case, we still have two chunks of content spread throughout 2026 to look forward to, and if Bungie has fixed the issues Edge of Fate introduced by then, it should be a smoother ride.

Is it worth the low cost of ‘free’?

In between Edge of Fate and Renegades, Destiny 2 got a ‘Major Update’ called Ash & Iron, but it would be fair to say that it underwhelmed – even as a free update.

The new activity, Reclaim, was promised as something ‘never seen before’ in the game, except it was essentially a few standard combat encounters stapled together by hopping into your ship and flying between them.

A single campaign mission was at least joined by an Exotic Mission, but even that was shorter than many expected.

We’re still waiting for news on the Renegades-era free update, Shadow and Order, but we know it’s coming on March 3, 2026. Will Bungie continue with the idea in 2026 and beyond? It feels likely we’ll get a free update between the Shattered Cycle and Alchemist expansions, but we’ll be hoping for better than Ash & Iron, that’s for sure.

Portal to pain

One of Destiny 2’s biggest pain points since Edge of Fate has been The Portal. This new system is designed to allow players to jump into just about any activity and feel rewarded for their time, but it fell way short of the mark.

Confusing power deltas, annoying modifiers like only being able to use new gear, and just a dearth of activities meant many players spent weeks farming the same things over and over again. This, tied with the glacially slow power climb post-Edge of Fate, meant that Destiny felt more like a job than a game.

Bungie started trying to make changes to the Portal fairly early, but it took until Renegades and the subsequent patch to make more wholesale improvements. To its credit, the Vanguard Alerts system essentially means you can sidestep many of the Portal’s frustrations.

Being able to jump into Fireteam Ops and Arena Ops and be almost showered with loot has smoothed out the power climb massively, and while I think the UI could do a better job of highlighting those playlists, it’s fun to just enjoy playing Destiny 2 again without needing to keep an eye on modifiers, power levels, and all of that nonsense.

From the Vault

A recent survey conducted by Bungie hinted at the possibility of a lot of exciting things for longtime Destiny 2 players, but after five years, it feels like we need an update on the Destiny Content Vault.

As of 2020’s Beyond Light expansion, Bungie began removing content from the game (even the stuff you’d paid for) to keep the file size manageable and rewards relevant, with the promise of cycling things back in over time. That’s not happened in a while, though.

We’ve seen seasonal content gone after a year (sometimes within weeks), whole campaigns put on ice (Red War, Forsaken), and while some raids like King’s Fall have returned, others are nowhere to be seen.

I’m not saying bringing back Leviathan, or even a Destiny 1 raid like Wrath of the Machine, would bring millions of players back, but if Bungie can do so, it would certainly show it hasn’t forgotten about those classics.

Shaw Han, Tutorial Man

However long you’ve been playing Destiny, there’s a good chance you’ve found yourself more than a little lost while looking at its menus, lore books, quest log, and more. Bungie has created a dense game, but that means there’s no real on-ramp for new players.

If you don’t buy any expansions, you have a few missions to run in the Portal, the Crucible, and Gambit, and a few dungeons and raids if you stick around to learn to love the game’s idiosyncrasies as so many of us have.

Is Bungie really selling Beyond Light and Witch Queen expansions with any regularity in 2026? Or could they stand to drop both of those into the free-to-play package, especially since that gives new players the chance to earn Stasis and experience one of the best campaigns in the game?

It’s hard to say, but the free-to-play, new player experience clearly needs plenty of work if Bungie is going to be able to bring new players in.

A Marathon, not a sprint

The Cabal Colossus in the room is that, come March, Destiny 2 won’t be Bungie’s only live game.

Marathon is just months away, and while it’s ridden its fair share of controversies already, the recent ViDoc showcased that the extra time taken appears to have paid off.

If Bungie can balance the two games (no mean feat, especially given how the company has been decimated by layoffs in recent years), then it might retain its autonomy after all and avoid being assimilated into PlayStation Studios proper.

Could Marathon cause issues for Destiny 2? It seems possible, but it could also help tighten Bungie’s grip on its own projects if it goes well.

Roll on, Year 9

Destiny 2’s problem has never been gameplay. Its combat is some of the best around, its world (once you get past the new player experience) is rich with detail, and even the characters that were once just vendors in the Tower have some light behind their eyes nowadays.

It feels as though Bungie needs to hit Year 9 of Destiny 2 in a way it didn’t ever get to do with the Year of Prophecy. Can it do it? I hope so.