There is no doubt that Destiny 2 left a lot to be desired when it was first released. It felt empty, repetitive, and lacked many of the improvements that make the looter shooter innovative and creative. They continued with the same approach for the first year, bringing us the boring and rather boring Curse of Osiris and Warmind expansions, but thank god Bungie pulled together and fixed a lot of bugs in Forsaken, which was great. Since then we’ve received Shadowkeep and Beyond Light, two other expansions that included a bunch of new elements, some of which were a little criticized (yes, we’re talking about you champions). While both were interesting, they lacked solemnity in the stories, something that’s increasingly needed to give this fantastical sci-fi universe a boost toward its ultimate end goal. Now out is the latest expansion, Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, which has been teasing us for quite some time on the premise that it would introduce and tackle some thought-provoking areas and gift us with truly groundbreaking moments that have been thought of as missing since Cayde was assassinated by Forsaken at the beginning. Without wanting to anticipate too much, The Witch Queen delivers what she promises and more than that.
As you probably guessed from the expansion’s name, the story revolves around it Savathûn, the witch-queen of the Hive faction. Those who have been playing Destiny for a long time will know this character quite well thanks to his name, which has been repeatedly mentioned in the game universe over the years, but this opportunity is important because it will be the first time that we really get to know each other them, in their own way, in the game. Ruthless, malevolent, and the Mistress of Chaos, Savathûn is also incredibly powerful and nearly immortal, even more so now that she has been able to harness and manipulate the Traveler’s Light to use it to her advantage. This, in short, is the main premise of the story, which is to find out how Savathûn claimed the Light for herself and her subjects and what she intends to do with it. It’s a story unlike anything we’ve seen in Destiny before, as it’s a morally ambiguous story in which your Guardian, a staunch defender of good, is asked to question his existence due to the addition of the Lightbearers of the Hive warrior. the Wraiths use to escape the clutches of death.
Champions, the biggest enemy type, have helped increase Destiny 2’s difficulty over the past few years, something the game needed given the even more powerful nature of the Guardians. However, playing against them is frustrating as they force you to use certain mods and weapons to defeat them. Light-bearing enemies present a different challenge, a breath of fresh air but also a huge task to master. These enemies can channel light to unleash versions of Guardian Super abilities that spawn incredibly deadly things that will burn you to cinders if you don’t prepare well. Acolytes can throw sun daggers similar to those of the Hunter Gunslinger subclass, Knights can throw Void Shields around a Sentinel Titan, and Mages will roast you with flashfire just like a Stormcaller Wizard. The similarities continue, as each of these enemies can use class abilities just like the Guardian class, so suddenly fighting certain Acolytes can be agony as they swerve and dodge shots just right Hunter would.
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All in all, the reason The Witch Queen is such an ambiguous expansion is that, much like Guardians, Bearers of the Hivelight can be revived after death, so there is only one way to prevent this and that is to destroy their spirits. Doing so is very gratifying and animated in an almost therapeutic way, but also unsettling as the Wardens must strive for something so similar to themselves, something blessed with the same essence of purity and virtue as they, that you will marvel at yourself, at your spirit, at the Vanguard, and to a degree, at Savathûn himself.
All of these questions will be raised and addressed later in the campaign, which this time seems to be more standalone compared to any other Destiny 2 expansion we’ve seen before. You can play it in its entirety, mission by mission, with no real limit to your light level, because the missions themselves are longer, more expansive, deeper, and within them give you rewards at multiple intervals, as would happen in a raid . Bungie has even gone a step further by also presenting two difficulty options to play, so new or less experienced players can choose the option “Be brave”removing much of the challenge in favor of a much more accessible experience while allowing veterans to opt into the mode “Become a Legend” to have a much more rigorous experience, for which you will receive greater rewards in return. The latter is ideal for those who want to quickly re-enter the typical process of moving towards maximum light levels, which can certainly be quite tedious.
As for the location chosen to tell this story, the new location is the World Throne of Savathûn, a terrible setting but oddly beautiful. It has the fiendish and ferocious aspect of Hive architecture, but it’s presented in such a polarized, pure, and whitewashed way that, in turn, it contrasts with the cold, damp, and rotting swamps that surround it. As one would expect from a Destiny 2 locale, it’s brimming with mysteries and issues to uncover, be it lost sectors, public events, mini-bosses, and mysteries, and it’s where those go Those who know how to decode the Destiny codes can waste hours and hours researching.
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Those of you who like heavy lifting will find The Witch Queen most satisfying thanks to the introduction of weapon customization, which contains a variety of new materials and resources to collect and challenges to complete. It’s a system that offers a lot more freedom in choosing your weapons and is revolutionary in that sense, even if it costs you an arm and a leg to get the most out of it. Provided you do, however, you’ll be rewarded with beautifully crafted weapons, including new Glaives that make swords seem outdated by comparison and make you marvel Where have the Glaives been all your life?
Despite the fact that Bungie has been polishing the Destiny 2 experience for years (e.g. by changing vendors and tweaking how ammo works), The Witch Queen naturally benefits; There are still elements that seem outdated to me. As I mentioned, the campaign helps a lot with powering, but accepting that you have to hit 210 power levels over the course of the season is exhausting and a bit pointless to me, as is the incessant grind to do other activities, for marginally loads of experience so you can level up merchants for better gear and items. However, Bungie is working to improve and add to the game Vacuum 3.0, which changes the Light class to reflect how Stasis works, a highly customizable subclass, lets you view Solar and Arc as if they were dregs of the fallen next to a Kell. Such is the improvement in experience.
All of this culminates in that Destiny 2: The Witch Queen is the best version of Destiny 2 we’ve seen. The campaign is groundbreaking and attracts a lot of attention; the new enemies are quite a challenge, but fighting them is rewarding; The world it is set in is full of mysteries and full of opportunities to explore. Everything Bungie has done has led to this point, including delaying the expansion for months, which has worked wonders. It has given me hope that the path the story is taking will finally reward us with something never before seen in video games, something similar to what Marvel has achieved with the Infinity Saga, and it has shown as well , that long-awaited wait after the season of Lost was gone for good reason, as I’d happily wait another 18 months… who cares, until 24 if with incidence of light They will give us this kind of extension. The Witch Queen makes Bungie shine again.
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