For so long as there have been Destiny and Destiny 2 expansions, these expansions have adopted a particular method. The add-ons have at all times been standalone choices with new weapons and a brand new playable vacation spot, dropping gamers into a brand new story kind of impartial of what got here earlier than. Each included a pile of recent content material and a recent story marketing campaign, however they have been much less like subsequent chapters for a dwelling sport than semi-discreet new modules bolted onto an current, sprawling complete. The Witch Queen adjustments all that; moderately than connecting one thing new and separate onto Destiny 2 with no context, it as a substitute is an natural, evolutionary outgrowth. This is Bungie’s reside sport molting, rising from a cocoon as one thing higher, smarter, and extra full than it was earlier than.Back when it was first discussing The Witch Queen, Bungie referred to as the growth’s new story “the definitive Destiny campaign.” Despite being advertising converse, that assertion has turned out to be true–Destiny expansions are largely constructed on multi-mission story choices, however The Witch Queen’s marketing campaign stands alone amongst its predecessors. It is, with out hyperbole, the perfect marketing campaign Bungie has launched for the sport, eclipsing even the most-loved releases of the previous, like Forsaken or The Taken King. This is what folks like about Destiny, boiled down into approachable missions you’ll be able to play alone or with buddies.Destiny campaigns lean towards the straightforward finish of the spectrum, giving gamers an on-ramp into the extra complicated choices that basically outline the sport: its six-player raids and three-player dungeons. The drawback with this strategy has at all times been that, whereas the early components of any given Destiny 2 growth really feel good–the sport is nothing if not extraordinarily satisfying when it comes to simple taking pictures mechanics–they aren’t actually indicative of what makes the sport good. Destiny 2 has actually been outlined by its raids, that are filled with sensible mechanics that require adept groups to be taught the principles, set up roles, talk intentions, and work collectively just like the intricate parts of a clockwork system. You do not actually get a way of what is nice about Destiny 2 till you play its greatest content material, which is at all times the high-level stuff that may be powerful to get to.Gallery
The Witch Queen upends that, clearly taking cues from raids, dungeons, and different high-level content material to deliver those self same emotions and experiences to its story. Fights aren’t simply large arenas with bullet-sponges that must be chipped away at; they’re fast-moving conditions filled with combatants that usually have you ever working your mind to unravel a puzzle or develop a technique when you’re additionally figuring out targets and prioritizing threats. One standout second has you preventing a boss who’s proof against your assaults and chases you thru a darkened maze. Your job is to search out and destroy the hidden crystals powering the boss’s protect, however they’re nestled off in darkish corners someplace, guarded by smaller foes. It’s virtually unimaginable to see your path, however you’ll be able to shoot glowing orange pustules protruding of partitions to spray their incandescent goo all around the floor, lighting your method. So you are working from an enormous monster, blasting his minions, looking the objects that may can help you harm him, and attempting to gentle your method by a maze. Levels drip-feed you new mechanics and concepts all alongside the best way in order that all of it comes collectively within the boss battle, and paired with Destiny 2’s already wonderful fight basis, it makes for an intensely fast-paced, hectic expertise.The marketing campaign is full of these standout moments, with wonderful stage and area design all through, and every mission feeling considerably totally different from the others. Along with nice ranges, although, Bungie has additionally introduced a slate of useful quality-of-life enhancements, like additional checkpoints and the brand new “main encounters” strategy. Much just like the inclusion of the brainier raid-like mechanics, that is one other web page borrowed from endgame content–major encounters are large fights with a transparent begin and finish level, the place you’ll be able to refill all of your ammo beforehand so that you’re prepped for what’s coming, and the place you get an enormous pile of kit rewards on the finish. Each of those arenas seems like a serious occasion, one that may problem your talents and offer you an enormous feeling of accomplishment as soon as you’ve got bested it.That’s very true when taking part in the story marketing campaign on the brand new Legendary problem, which is an outstanding addition to the general package deal. Because they’re geared towards being on-ramps for brand new gamers, Destiny story campaigns are typically simpler experiences than many of the remainder of the sport. Bungie acknowledged, nonetheless, that veteran gamers have the weapons and expertise for a considerably more durable battle, and the Legendary marketing campaign obliges superbly. It caps participant Power ranges beneath the advisable maximums whereas including a number of key modifiers and different tweaks, elevating the stakes by making every thing simply that rather more deadly. The tactical consideration of defending your self and taking down necessary targets earlier than they’ll significantly threaten you–coupled with the sensible mechanics and encounter design–make for a wonderful problem that’s persistently, exquisitely harrowing.That high-intensity menace feeling is amplified additional by the inclusion of a serious new enemy within the Hive Lightbearers, mini-boss-like foes who present up at key moments and in main encounters. These new foes wield the identical house magic superpowers as gamers, invoking a type of center floor between taking part in in opposition to computer-controlled enemies and taking part in in opposition to different people within the aggressive portion of Destiny 2. What’s extra is the Lightbearers are legitimately lethal; every time they present up, they fully upend the scenario of which they are a half. They demand you assess the brand new menace and alter your technique accordingly, lest you be annihilated by a burst of lightning or reduce in half by a flying Captain America-like vitality protect. The Lightbearers add an additional dimension to The Witch Queen’s story encounters that additional shifts the standard Destiny 2 paradigm, forcing you to make use of what you recognize of your personal capabilities to counter these of your enemies.Gallery
The story, too, is among the many higher ones Destiny 2 has advised, largely as a result of it is not a standalone addition to the sport that got here out of nowhere, however the end result of years of storytelling, and notably the final 4 seasonal tales that appeared within the sport in 2021. Since earlier than the discharge of the Beyond Light growth, the trajectory of the Destiny 2 world has been altered by the gravity of Savathun–an eons-old godlike alien whose modus operandi is manipulation by lies and deceit. After literal years of Destiny 2 gamers seeing Savathun’s machinations play out in small-scale altercations, The Witch Queen brings her plans to fruition.It’s a reasonably good story, all issues considered–one that’s aware of gamers investing within the sport, not only for the final 12 months, however a minimum of because the launch of Destiny 2 in 2017. It makes use of key parts of Destiny 2’s deep lore, bringing a few of the strangest and most fascinating features of the universe to the forefront, and recontextualizing issues we thought have been settled concerning the story. After greater than a 12 months of build-up to this precise second, The Witch Queen is each a satisfying unification of the threads Destiny 2 has been weaving for a very long time, and nice at dropping intriguing clues that hold you invested. Like Beyond Light, although, it excels most when it is centered on its characters and the conflicts between their ideologies and the threats they’re dealing with.The Witch Queen upends what we’ve got lengthy accepted about key parts of the sport, specifically our relationship with the immortality-granting “good” power referred to as the Light. When the Hive, an alien dying cult recognized just for conquest and genocide and arguably humanity’s best enemy, additionally declare the ability of the Light, it shakes everybody to their core (though the participant character, who a minimum of has a number of traces this day trip, stays sadly stoic more often than not). The greatest moments of the marketing campaign are when the participant’s Ghost, their stalwart companion and the character manifestation of their reference to the Light, explodes with rage at seeing that energy within the fingers of the Hive. Watching different characters who’ve handled the Light with spiritual reverence questioning these beliefs and selections helps make the stakes really feel extra necessary than simply taking pictures one other large alien earlier than it might do some sort of magic ritual to spoil everybody’s lives. The Witch Queen feels prefer it issues past what you are taking pictures; it is affecting the individuals who make up the muse of the sport.The battle of Destiny 2’s story and its expansions is that a lot of the required context to make sense of it exists in lore passages dropped as taste textual content on the weapons you discover or in particular lore books you unlock–it has lengthy been an issue with the sport that its greatest tales have a tendency to not occur within the sport you are truly taking part in. Bungie has gotten rather a lot higher about this in the previous few years, and The Witch Queen might be the perfect job it is ever carried out of blending its nice lore concepts with the precise participant expertise. But it nonetheless struggles with the truth that it is attempting to convey complicated in-universe ideas to all players–from those that’ve learn all of the lore to the brand-new people simply leaping into the sport for the primary time. Although it actually tries, The Witch Queen cannot fairly thread that needle; it compromises the complicated stuff in an try and make issues clearer for gamers who have not been within the sport lengthy sufficient to determine context, and in so doing, it undercuts the impression of some parts for individuals who’ve been round the entire time. What’s extra, even the simplified story is not easy sufficient to hold new gamers through–so the compromises find yourself weakening the story for each audiences. While this chapter makes clearer sense than some previous ones have, it is nonetheless greatest loved by individuals who have a agency grasp of Destiny’s long-term story and lore, and even then, it has its complicated spots.Still, there’s plenty of nice story being advised right here. Following the marketing campaign, there’s a complete host of issues to do within the new vacation spot the sport provides, Savathun’s throne world, which is stuffed with secrets and techniques to uncover, extra missions to play, and weapons to earn. The Witch Queen additionally provides a brand new weapon-crafting system that gives a complete new component to the standard loot chase that defines Destiny 2. It’s nonetheless a bit early to guage simply how efficient the system is, because it requires plenty of participant funding as you earn the parts it’s worthwhile to construct your weapons, however for essentially the most half, the system provides plenty of cool new issues to chase and customise. After a number of days with it, I’ve developed a model of the brand new first-person melee weapon, the Glaive, that I really like, and I’ve loads of plans for brand new auto rifles and scout rifles. It’s a system that feels prefer it may want tweaks to how briskly it doles out parts and rewards, however general, investing in your arsenal and making precisely what you need out of it’s an addition to Destiny 2’s loot system that feels prefer it’s paying off my investments and incentivizing customization.There are a number of extra adjustments to Destiny 2 with The Witch Queen that elevate the sport, like changes to the Void participant subclasses that supply a complete lot extra freedom to make loadouts, and tweaks to the Gambit exercise that make it extra aggressive. Those changes, too, really feel like Destiny 2 persevering with to evolve as Bungie hones it to its very best model.While we’ll nonetheless have to see some extra of what Bungie has lined up for the Witch Queen endgame–including the brand new raid launching on March 5–the first week of the brand new growth have been extraordinarily spectacular and a ton of enjoyable. The centerpiece is the laudable story marketing campaign, making plenty of the sport’s greatest design extra approachable for quite a lot of characters, however The Witch Queen additionally invokes the perfect components of Destiny’s previous, as well–like the secret-laden, dense, and engaging areas present in The Taken King and Forsaken expansions. The Witch Queen is an enormous step ahead for the sport, the end result of a latest historical past of nice refinements and additions, leading to a Destiny 2 that is in its greatest kind but.