Destiny 2 unvaulting is Bungie’s plan to bring vaulted campaigns, destinations, and raids back into the game for all players.
Bungie made the commitment in its “The Next Chapter for Bungie” post on September 21, 2026. That came four months after it announced on May 21 that Destiny 2 live service was ending.
It has not named a first piece of content or given a release date.
This guide separates what Bungie has said from outside reporting and Bungie’s own vault records. We cross-checked the vaulted-content lists against Bungie’s Destiny Content Vault page, and we label anything that is still a guess.
Last checked: October 27, 2026. Bungie is targeting Thursday, October 29, 2026 for its next unvaulting blog post. That is a target, not a confirmed date, and we will update this guide when the post is live.
Table of Contents
- What Is Destiny 2 Unvaulting?
- How We Got Here
- What Bungie Has Confirmed
- Destiny 2 Unvault Release Date
- What Is Vaulted: The Candidate List
- Strikes, Crucible Maps, and Other Activities
- Why Restoration Takes Time
- Fan Projects: Project Sunrise and Project Dawn
- Open Questions
- What to Watch Next
- Key Takeaways
- FAQ
What Is Destiny 2 Unvaulting?
Unvaulting means returning content that Bungie removed from Destiny 2 through the Destiny Content Vault.
Bungie introduced the vault in Year 4, when Beyond Light launched on November 10, 2020. It was a way to rotate destinations and activities out of the game.
Bungie’s own vault page says vaulted content has the potential to return.
For every item removed, year by year, see our Destiny 2 vaulted content list. For the campaign most players ask about, see our Red War story and vaulting recap.
Two vaulting waves matter for this guide:
- November 10, 2020: removed the Red War, Curse of Osiris, and Warmind campaigns, the destinations Mercury, Mars, Titan, Io, the Farm, and the Leviathan, and five raids.
- February 22, 2022: removed the Forsaken campaign and the Tangled Shore.
Bungie announced in August 2022 that it would stop vaulting expansions.
How We Got Here
Bungie went from ending Destiny 2 content to promising its return in about four months. These are the dates that matter:
- May 21, 2026: Bungie announced it was ending Destiny 2 live service.
- June 9, 2026: Monument of Triumph arrived as the final content update.
- September 21, 2026: Studio head Poria Torkan and Marathon general manager Josh Deane published “The Next Chapter for Bungie” and a video committing to unvaulting.
- September 25, 2026: Deane said there will be a “very intentional process” that “will take time.” He said Bungie was targeting the end of October to explain its first step, and that it would “show you the proof of work along the way.” Outlets described that as a progress bar of milestones instead of a traditional roadmap.
- October 19, 2026: Deane said the update was being lined up for the week of October 26.
- October 26, 2026: Bungie principal communications manager Dylan Gafner said the “current target is Thursday” (October 29) for a new blog post on unvaulting.
What Bungie Has Confirmed
Bungie has confirmed three categories of returning content, access for all players, and that the work is not a simple restore.
It has not named any specific campaign, destination, or raid, and it has not given a release date.
- Categories: vaulted campaigns, destinations, and raids.
- Access: returning content will be available to all Destiny 2 players.
- Work required: changes since Beyond Light mean Bungie must update lighting, encounters, combatants, and other underlying systems.
- Timing: Bungie said it would share more detail on unvaulting in the coming months. No date exists.
- Bigger picture: Bungie calls restoration the first step toward new Destiny stories and games. It has not announced Destiny 3.
Bungie’s post says bringing this content back “is not as simple as restoring old files” and that the work “will take time.” In the announcement video, Deane referred to the campaigns, destinations, and raids “that never should have been ripped away.”
The official post names categories only.
Community streams sometimes describe the Leviathan raid as confirmed. Bungie has not named any individual raid, including the Leviathan. See Will the Leviathan Raid Return? below.
Destiny 2 Unvault Release Date
There is no Destiny 2 unvault release date.
Bungie has not dated any returning campaign, destination, or raid. It has only said it will share more detail in the coming months.
- What has a date: Bungie’s next blog post, targeted for Thursday, October 29, 2026. That is a post, not a content release, and the target could still move.
- Why no content date: Josh Deane has described a “very intentional process” that “will take time.” He said Bungie will “show you the proof of work along the way,” which outlets read as a progress bar of milestones rather than a traditional roadmap.
- What would change this: Bungie naming a first piece of content, or publishing the milestone bar with dates attached.
- What to ignore: any video or site that states a specific day or season for the Red War or the Leviathan raid. Bungie has not said either.
We will update this section when Bungie gives a window.
What Is Vaulted: The Candidate List
Bungie’s vault records list the Red War, Curse of Osiris, Warmind, and Forsaken campaigns, the destinations attached to them, and five raids.
Forbes reporter Paul Tassi compiled the same lists after the announcement.
The full year-by-year breakdown is in our Destiny 2 vaulted content list. Treat these lists as the candidate pool. Bungie has not said which pieces return or in what order.
Will the Red War Return?
The Red War is the first campaign on Bungie’s vault list and the one fans ask about most. Bungie has not confirmed it by name.
Some headlines say Bungie named the Red War. Bungie’s post, as quoted by multiple outlets, refers only to “vaulted Destiny 2 campaigns, destinations, and raids.”
It is Destiny 2’s launch campaign, and its destinations are split between content that was vaulted and content that never left.
Bungie removed the campaign on November 10, 2020.
In a February 2025 court declaration, Bungie said the archived Red War build no longer runs. See Why Restoration Takes Time for the details.
- Campaign: the Red War.
- Destinations: Titan and Io, along with the Farm.
- Raid: the Leviathan.
- Still in the game: the EDZ and Nessus, which were not vaulted. A community breakdown by YouTuber Llama notes that a large share of the campaign’s missions took place on those two destinations.
For the full story, characters and why it was removed, read our Destiny 2 Red War guide.
Curse of Osiris
Curse of Osiris centers on Mercury, and its Infinite Forest is the hardest part to picture returning.
- Campaign: Curse of Osiris.
- Destination: Mercury.
- Raid: Eater of Worlds, a raid lair on the Leviathan.
Community breakdowns point out that Mercury’s simulated Past, Present, and Future spaces were reached through Adventures.
If Mercury returns without Adventures, the Infinite Forest loses much of its purpose. Whether Adventures come back is an open question.
Warmind
Warmind is tied to Mars and to one activity that players still ask about.
- Campaign: Warmind.
- Destination: Mars.
- Raid: Spire of Stars, a raid lair on the Leviathan.
- Activity: Escalation Protocol appears in Bungie’s Year 4 vault records. Bungie has not said whether it returns, though community creators expect it to because it was tied to Mars patrol.
Forsaken
Forsaken follows a different path from the Year 1 content. It was vaulted later and stayed in the game after Beyond Light.
- Campaign: Forsaken, vaulted on February 22, 2022 with The Witch Queen.
- Destination: the Tangled Shore. The Dreaming City stayed in the game.
- Raids: Scourge of the Past and Crown of Sorrow, which were vaulted in the 2020 wave.
- Seasonal content: the Forsaken-year seasons (Forge, Drifter, and Opulence) and activities such as the Menagerie and the Reckoning also appear in Bungie’s Year 4 vault records.
Forsaken stayed live for about 15 months after the engine changes that came with Beyond Light.
Community breakdowns read that as a possible head start, but Bungie has not said whether it helps.
Forbes’ Paul Tassi reports that seasonal stories stay out of this effort. Bungie’s announcement names only campaigns, destinations, and raids and does not say either way.
Some community creators argue the Forsaken-year seasons have the strongest case among seasonal content. That is opinion, not a Bungie statement.
Will the Leviathan Raid Return?
The Leviathan is Destiny 2’s launch raid, and it is on Bungie’s vault list. Bungie has not confirmed that it is coming back.
- Status: vaulted on November 10, 2020, together with the Leviathan destination.
- Case for a return: it appears on the Forbes candidate list, and its Calus encounter already appears in Pantheon according to community guides.
- Bundled content: Eater of Worlds and Spire of Stars are raid lairs on the Leviathan, so a return would raise the question of those two as well. Bungie has not addressed them.
- Still open: how Bungie would update the raid’s lighting, encounters, and combatants, which is the work its announcement describes.
Treat a Leviathan return as an expectation, not an announcement.
Strikes, Crucible Maps, and Other Activities
Bungie has not named any strike, Crucible map, or other activity as returning.
Bungie’s vault records list nine vaulted strikes. Forbes lists six Crucible maps and one Gambit map as still vaulted.
The nine strikes, with their locations:
- A Garden World: Mercury.
- Tree of Probabilities: Mercury.
- Savathûn’s Song: Titan.
- The Pyramidion: Io.
- The Festering Core: Io.
- Strange Terrain: Mars.
- Will of the Thousands: Mars.
- Broodhold: the Tangled Shore.
- The Hollowed Lair: the Tangled Shore.
The first seven were vaulted in 2020 and the last two in 2022.
Four of them share names with campaign missions: Tree of Probabilities and A Garden World from Curse of Osiris, and Strange Terrain and Will of the Thousands from Warmind.
That gives them the strongest case if those campaigns return, but it is not confirmation.
For Crucible and Gambit, the picture is smaller than the 2020 wave suggests:
- Vaulted in 2020: eleven Crucible maps and two Gambit maps, according to Bungie’s records.
- Still vaulted per Forbes: Emperor’s Respite, Equinox, Firebase Echo, Gambler’s Ruin, Legion’s Gulch, and Retribution, plus the Gambit map Kell’s Grave.
- Community idea: offer the maps in private matches or a separate vaulted-maps playlist. Bungie has not commented.
Why Restoration Takes Time
Bungie says changes made since Beyond Light require updates to lighting, encounters, combatants, and other underlying systems.
One of those changes is documented in Bungie’s September 24, 2020 engineering post.
In that post, Bungie said it moved mission scripting from the Mission Host to the Physics Host. It warned that missions built before Beyond Light might show behavior changes or bugs.
It also said it relit parts of the EDZ and Nessus. In its words, “Many of these changes are under the hood and won’t affect your experience.”
Bungie also gave a direct engineering reason in court. In a February 2025 declaration in a copyright lawsuit over the Red War, Bungie’s head of engineering, David Aldridge, said Bungie stored the original code, but the legacy build no longer runs because “its outdated code is incompatible with Destiny 2’s evolved underlying operational framework.”
That filing predates the 2026 commitment. It explains why Bungie says restoration is not simple, and it is not a statement about the unvaulting plan.
The visual side is easier to see. A community comparison of the same Nessus location in the current game and in the pre-Beyond Light build used by Project Sunrise shows clear lighting differences.
Some groundwork may already exist, though reuse is not the same as playable now:
- Destinations in the game: the EDZ, Nessus, and the Dreaming City were never vaulted.
- Forsaken: it ran after the engine changes for about 15 months before it was vaulted.
- Raid encounters: community guides to Pantheon list boss encounters from vaulted raids, including Calus from the Leviathan and Argos from Eater of Worlds.
- Reused spaces: a community breakdown says the Leviathan was remade almost in full for Season of the Haunted. Bungie’s vault page lists the Derelict Leviathan and Nightmare Containment as vaulted at the start of Year 6.
Community analysis also raises a question about cutscenes rendered inside the game engine.
A cutscene set in the Tower would show the Tower as it looks today, which has changed since 2017. Bungie has not addressed how it would handle that.
Fan Projects: Project Sunrise and Project Dawn
Project Sunrise and Project Dawn are fan-made projects, not part of Bungie’s unvaulting.
Project Sunrise launched in August 2026 as an offline exploration mod that lets players visit vaulted content on an older, pre-Beyond Light build of Destiny 2. Project Dawn is described as its multiplayer-focused counterpart, building server infrastructure so fireteams can play together.
Progress in either project does not carry over to Bungie’s live servers. Bungie has not tied them to its restoration plans.
Their main relevance here is that creators use their footage to show what vaulted content looked like before the engine changes.
Open Questions
Several questions will decide how Bungie’s restoration feels. None has an official answer yet.
- Loot: Bungie has not said whether returning content will drop current-tier gear. Forbes notes that many players assume it will. In an informal poll on a Destiny live stream, 80% of voters chose both weapons and armor over either alone.
- Platforms: we found no platform-specific details from Bungie. In another informal stream poll, 94% of voters said last-generation consoles should be left behind if needed.
- Order: Bungie has not named a first campaign, destination, or raid.
- Strikes and maps: none of the nine strikes or six Crucible maps has been addressed.
- Activities: Escalation Protocol, the Menagerie, and Adventures are all unaddressed.
- Seasonal stories: Tassi reports they stay out, and Bungie has not said so.
What to Watch Next
The next signal is Bungie’s blog post, targeted for Thursday, October 29, 2026.
Deane has described a “very intentional process” that “will take time,” so a date may not appear.
These are the details that would settle the most questions:
- First content: which campaign, destination, or raid Bungie names first.
- Format: whether the milestone updates Deane described have a schedule.
- Loot: any mention of current-tier gear for restored content.
- Scope: any word on strikes, Crucible maps, or activities.
Key Takeaways
- Bungie confirmed that vaulted campaigns, destinations, and raids are returning for all Destiny 2 players.
- There is no Destiny 2 unvault release date, and Bungie has not named the Red War or the Leviathan raid as returning.
- Bungie says old content needs updates to lighting, encounters, combatants, and underlying systems.
- Bungie’s vault records and Forbes point to four campaigns, five destinations, and five raids as the candidate pool.
- Nine strikes and six Crucible maps remain unconfirmed.
- Bungie is targeting October 29, 2026 for its next unvaulting blog post.
FAQ
Is Destiny 2 unvaulting confirmed?
Yes, in broad terms. Bungie said in “The Next Chapter for Bungie” that it is beginning work to bring vaulted campaigns, destinations, and raids back for all Destiny 2 players.
It has not named specific content or a release date.
What content is being unvaulted in Destiny 2?
Bungie has named categories only: campaigns, destinations, and raids.
Its vault records and Forbes’ list point to the Red War, Curse of Osiris, Warmind, and Forsaken campaigns. They also point to Titan, Io, Mercury, Mars, and the Tangled Shore, and to the Leviathan, Eater of Worlds, Spire of Stars, Scourge of the Past, and Crown of Sorrow raids.
Those are the candidates, not an announced lineup.
What is the Destiny 2 unvault release date?
There is no release date. Bungie said more details would come in the coming months.
Josh Deane has described a “very intentional process” that “will take time.” A new blog post is targeted for October 29, 2026.
Will unvaulted content cost money?
Bungie says returning content will be available to all Destiny 2 players. It has not published an entitlement breakdown for old expansions or bundles.
Forbes’ Paul Tassi has reported that it will be free for everyone, including players who never bought the old expansions. That is a report, not a Bungie pricing statement.
Are vaulted strikes and Crucible maps coming back?
Bungie has not said. Nine strikes and six Crucible maps remain in the vault, and none has been named.
The four strikes that share names with campaign missions have the strongest case if their campaigns return.
Will the Red War campaign return in Destiny 2?
Bungie has not confirmed it. The Red War is on Bungie’s vault list and in Forbes’ candidate list.
Bungie has confirmed that vaulted campaigns are returning as a category. No specific campaign or date has been announced.
Will the Destiny 2 Leviathan raid return?
Bungie has not named any specific raid. The Leviathan is on its vault list and was Destiny 2’s launch raid, so a return is a reasonable expectation.
It is still an expectation, not an announcement.
Can you play vaulted Destiny 2 content now?
Not in the live game. Fan projects such as Project Sunrise run older builds of Destiny 2 on their own.
Bungie did not make them, and progress there does not carry to Bungie’s servers. Bungie has not tied either project to its unvaulting plan.
