While Destiny is by no means a terrible game, its storyline leaves a lot to be desired. A mysterious Reddit post, if true, may shine some light on what Destiny's plot once was and how it morphed into the muddled mess that is the game's current story.
The original post, since deleted, contained a number of fascinating tidbits about how much the story for Destiny changed from 2013 to 2014. The poster claims to have been invited to the offices Destiny developer Bungie as part of a user research program in early 2013. While all invited to the program signed Non-Disclosure Agreements, the poster says he or she believes the agreement is now void as the game officially launched.
Obvious spoilers ahead! As Destiny is a game Bungie plans to continue updating and supporting, some of these storylines may come to the game down the line if true. You have been warned.
As it is in the released game, Destiny's storyline can be summed up in a few sentences. Guardians (players) are granted the ability to wield light as a weapon from the Traveler, the giant cosmic orb that hovers over Earth's surface. The Traveler is said to have ushered in humanity's Golden Age, before the Travelers ancient enemy, The Darkness, returned to bring it crashing down. Players travel the solar system fighting various minions of the darkness in an effort to restore the Traveler to health.
Destiny's storyline may have originally focused on a previously unheard of character called the Crow, who, according to the poster, is introduced early on in the "original" Destiny storyline. The Crow kidnaps and then takes the player to Venus, where they are introduced to his group and the idea that the Traveler may not be the "all good" deity many in the game's universe make it out to be. The Crow's followers, among them the Exo Stranger, a Speaker and several "Ghost-less" Guardians, are all people who have forsaken the "light" and the Traveler. Why? It turns out the Traveler actually is responsible for The Darkness, teleporting to Earth thousands of years ago and bringing humanity's golden age crashing down. Over the years, the truth became obscured, and the Traveler is now regarded as humanity's savior, rather than its destroyer.
The revelation that the Traveler may actually be evil has been hinted at and pieced together by some savvy fans already, but the changes don't stop there. Players would have traveled to Mars next in order to obtain a powerful artificial intelligence to aid them in their quest. This A.I. (possibly Rasputin?) is casually mentioned in Destiny's current form multiple times throughout the game, but nothing is done with the idea.
In addition to the entire planet order in this early version of the game being different, the game would have culminated in Guardians assaulting the Hellmouth on the Moon in order to stop a super weapon resurrecting the Traveler, which would presumably then proceed to destroy Earth.
This could likely all be made up, but one piece of evidence points toward at least some of this being true. During the first viDoc released by Bungie detailing the making of Destiny, the Crow's name definitely appears in a mission description. Some fans speculate the departure of Bungie's lead writer, Joseph Staten, in 2013 may be partly responsible for the dramatic shift in Destiny's plot.
Of course, some of these story pieces could still be introduced to the game over the coming weeks and months, as Bungie has repeatedly stated it has long-term plans for the game. As it is now, fans can only dream about the Destiny storyline that could have been.
