Destiny 2: The Witch Queen Review – Putting All The Pieces Together

Bungie gave the ultimate installment to Destiny fans after a lengthy wait. The Witch Queen is one of the studio’s most sophisticated releases, both in terms of storytelling and gameplay systems, and that complexity is especially rewarding to longtime players. This expansion offers so much depth that it can be hard for beginners or even lapsed players. For those that embrace the full scope of what’s on offer, the Witch Queen has both tricks and treats aplenty.

Destiny 2’s story has been building to this conflict for some time, and I’m impressed with the way that narrative investment pays off as so many of the pieces slot into place. Savathûn is a wily and intriguing villain, and it’s great fun to finally see her schemes brought to light. But The Witch Queen’s more impressive narrative accomplishment is the nuance with which it now treats its characters and plotlines. Prior implications of the universe’s simple light and dark duality get systematically overridden with twists rooted in character motivations and moral quandaries.

This time, the campaign missions stand out. That excellence is thanks to some awe-inspiring environments and several cleverly designed battles, but it’s also enhanced by the new legendary playthrough option. These missions require more time and strategic loadsouts. However, they offer better rewards. The new Light-wielding Hive enemy types are a favorite of mine, as they disrupt combat. As an approach to high-challenge enemy types, it feels more exciting than the Champion system we’ve seen in recent iterations and more rooted in the fiction as well.

Whether fighting those new Ghost-bearing Hive or more familiar enemies, I’m especially pleased with the balance work done on the legendary missions to make them challenging and interesting whether played solo or as a fireteam. It is all framed in mystery stories that unfold across psychic minds of memories and hidden truths. This narrative structure ties into the campaign storytelling nicely.

This new Throne world destination is visually stunning. It has two extremes. On one side is the towering edifice of Savathûn’s sprawling palace grounds – a testament to her power and moth-like beauty. This aesthetic is replaced by a swampy, otherworldly environment that feels messy and overgrown. Both ends offer secrets and incredible sights.

Guardians now have the option to craft many weapons, making it a very welcome distraction. It takes time to do so, which encourages mini-leveling for every weapon. The options for tweaking and setting a preferred loadout are great fun, but it’s also a system that dramatically exacerbates the game’s already potent currency bloat problem. This process is extremely complex and requires many different items. Even though I am a long-time player, this makes me feel like I’m just trying to acquire random resources in the hope that I can eventually get what I need. I also have been frustrated by some of the weapons I can’t craft with the system; some of my new favorite additions to the arsenal just aren’t supported by crafting.

A new weapon type, the glaive weapon aretype is at the center of all the changes. The hybrid weapon is extremely entertaining. I’ve been getting a kick out of its ranged single-shot blasts, blocking with a shield, and then rushing in for a high-risk melee exchange. The weapon type does what a new archetype should do; feel like something new that fulfills a niche and need I didn’t know I had.

Further enhancements to the weapon crafting build-crafting possibilities are possible with the revamp of the Void classes. Void’s new structure is similar to the Stasis power, which makes it extremely versatile and powerful. Smart perk and power applications can transform a character’s capabilities. At this point, my biggest problem is that Stasis and Void are now the only ways I want to play; the promised Arc and Solar reworks can’t come soon enough, as they now feel lackluster in comparison.

A variety of missions with special weapons, multiplayer assaults and exploration quests are now available. This is especially true if you have opted to purchase the season pass. In general, from the new PsiOps to the recently raid-unlocked story missions, the focus is in keeping with what we saw in last year’s content – lots of enemies, big play spaces, and plenty of opportunity for large-scale destruction. The push-and-pull dynamic in the Wellspring activity is what I love the most. Each day fluctuates between different attack or defense variants. As with the currency/resources problem, the biggest issue I have with these newest activities is the growing complexity of the language. “Risen Umbral Energy is found by using Psychogenic Intel to decode the Runic Chest awarded after PsiOps Battlegrounds” is a mouthful, even for lore devotees.

A thrilling raid is the culmination of these high-level activities. Vow of the Disciple is a deep dive into one of the mysterious pyramid ships, and it’s one of the most novel locales yet, filled with relics of arcane experiments and forgotten cultures. The reliance on visual icons and symbolism is well beyond what players have had to confront before – it’s the equivalent of learning a whole new alphabet of runes – and the encounters have a genuine sense of accomplishment as you learn the vocabulary. While I enjoy the technical complexity of these encounters, it is sometimes difficult to grasp the local language and frequent calls outs.

The Witch Queen is an especially robust expansion, with a particular focus on customizing the play experience and rewarding longtime players’ investment in story and systems. If it’s not the most welcoming moment for players to jump in, that may be a price the developers at Bungie are willing to pay at this point. The long-running story arc that opened in 2014 is gradually steering toward a climax, and it’s possible the developers are increasingly interested in building a ride for those who have been in the vehicle for a while now.