Destiny is one of the biggest science fiction franchises in video games, but in the early stages of its conception, it wasn't set in a sci-fi universe at all. Instead, Destiny was originally planned to be a sword-and-sorcery fantasy game, as showcased in recently revealed concept art.

Considering developer Bungie was known for the sci-fi Halo franchise prior to the release of Destiny, it makes sense the team would want to step outside its space-based wheelhouse and tackle a project that would set itself apart from its previous work. Looking at the current state of Destiny 2, it's easy to see how parts of the fantasy concept carried forward; the Destiny universe sports numerous fantasy elements, from classes with magical abilities to sword combat.

Related: How Destiny's Universe Is Expanding Beyond Destiny 2

Early pieces of Destiny concept art released over the years show glimpses of what a full-on fantasy version of Bungie's shooter could have looked like. If it had lived up to the high bar set by this artwork, it may have been something special.

Why A Fantasy Version Of Destiny Would Have Been So Cool

Destiny Fantasy Tiger

Bungie excels at creating universes that feel epic. It's part of the reason Halo became a blockbuster franchise, and early fantasy Destiny concept art evokes a mythic and mysterious atmosphere similar to the Halo universe. Art like the paintings recently shared by concept artist Jaime Jones on Twitter shows the usual fantasy staples - castles, wizards, and sword-wielding knights, along with glimmering cities and foreboding forests - but also more tantalizing images, like a group of goblin-like creatures riding a massive frog and a white tiger seeking shade amidst various pieces of armor and equipment. One painting shows a mysterious witch communing with creatures in a swamp in the moonlight. These set a strong mood for what this version of Destiny could have been.

To be fair, much of this mystery and wonder lives on in the sci-fi version of Destiny. During a GDC talk prior to the original Destiny's release (via Polygon), design director Christopher Barrett said the team couldn't escape the allure of sci-fi, adding that "Ancient ruins are cool, but so are derelict spaceships." Bungie's solution was to do both, blending the ancient myths of fantasy epics with the spaceships, alien armies, and technology of space operas.

It's still fun to speculate about what a fantasy version of Destiny would have played like, even when some of its early concept DNA did bleed over into the final product. Destiny was and still is clearly inspired by fantasy MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, so seeing Bungie's take on a more familiar fantasy world would have been fascinating. Destiny dabbles in traditional MMO ideas, with its vaguely warrior-, wizard-, and rogue-like classes, but the classes all use guns as their main mode of combat and generally play similarly to one another.

Bungie is working on a new, non-Destiny game of some kind, which could perhaps return to the fantasy elements that gave birth to the franchise. Regardless, fans can still always dream about what Destiny could have looked like if it had stayed closer to its original inspirations - and just how cool that might have been.

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