Warning: Light spoilers for the Witch Queen campaign, Vow of the Disciple raid, and Season of the Risen
The Witch Queen expansion is the 4th and latest yearly expansion for Destiny 2. The Witch Queen pits our Guardians against one of the most dangerous foes, the eponymous Witch Queen Savathûn, who has been lurking in the background, plotting against us ever since her brother Oryx was slain in the Destiny 1’s The Taken King. She has somehow acquired the Light, a power previously thought to be exclusive to humanity. Hunt her down in her Throne World, a brand-new location, and seek out the truth. Savathûn must have stolen the Light, perverted the Ghosts who serve her and her brood. Right?
Lepidopterophobia – a fear of moths
Say what you will about Destiny’s grindiness, the business model, or whatever criticism Reddit still hasn’t gotten over after several years, one of the things Bungie always nails is the environment. Savathûn’s Throne World is a spectacle for the eyes, the normally harsh, sharp, and hostile Hive environments now covered in a sheen of Light, a force normally used for good. The Throne World is a lot like the Dreaming City from Forsaken, a very fantasy-inspired location packed full of secrets to discover and breathtaking vistas and scenery to gaze at. That’s definitely one of The Witch Queen’s strengths: exploring the Throne World is fun and fascinating in its own right.
Like any expansion, The Witch Queen comes with a full cinematic campaign as our Guardian, led by Ikora and a new friend Fynch, fight to uncover the truth behind Savathûn’s Lucent Hive brood and how they were able to capture and wield the Light. Speaking of the Lucent Hive, they are not a new enemy faction, per say, like the Scorn was, but instead add to the existing roster of Hive baddies we fight in the Throne World. Hunter Acolytes, Warlock Wizards (could be an interesting DND multiclass), and Titan Knights possess abilities we thought only Guardians had access to. The first time you get Blade Barrage’d by an Acolyte or zapped with Arc lightning from a Wizard, you could swear you were playing Crucible instead of The Witch Queen’s campaign. Add on moths that fly around and can both give your enemies shields as well as blow you up, and well, The Witch Queen’s enemy roster is nothing to scoff at.
The Witch Queen campaign is split into two difficulties, a new change from previous expansions, Normal and Legendary. The normal campaign is like any previous Destiny campaign. The legendary campaign, though, is a different beast entirely. Loot drops are doubled, and an exotic armor piece and high-powered gear are guaranteed once every mission is complete. The catch? You will get your ass kicked. The legendary campaign is no joke – enemies hurt like they would in endgame activities so make sure you and your fireteam bring their A game. However, perhaps because of the difficulty, I found The Witch Queen’s campaign to be the best Destiny campaign ever. Destiny has always had great storytelling and interesting characters and lore, but now, the gameplay is ratcheted up to 11, making your successes over the Hive and Scorn feel like accomplishments, and defeating bosses feel like the world shattering events they are. There is no reason, in my opinion, to not play The Witch Queen on anything but legendary difficulty. Sure, it’s hard, but believe me, the feeling when you defat the Lucent Hive and challenge Savathûn is not one to miss out on.
Vow of the Error Code: Anteater
Vow of the Disciple is the newest raid for The Witch Queen expansion and wow…just wow. Despite some drama over contest mode remaining active for 48 hours instead of the standard 24 due to the horde of anteaters running rampant in Bungie’s servers, this raid has been one of the most intense experiences I’ve had in Destiny so far. New raids are always exciting, and Vow of the Disciple is no different. An interesting new raid exotic, wacky armor, and new, potentially top of the meta weapons means Vow of the Disciple has all of the incentives for players to enter the Pyramid and challenge the First Disciple. Although the contest experience was incredibly difficult (congratulations to all of the teams who cleared it Day 1 and during Contest), I think Vow of the Disciple will be seen as an incredibly positive addition to Destiny’s incredible line up of available raids. Now, if we can get Wrath of the Machine back from D1, that would be pretty sweet.
Season of the Risen: Short and Sweet
The seasons that launch alongside the yearly expansions have been, to say the least, underwhelming. Season of the Undying and Season of the Hunt both suffered from Bungie’s focus on the expansion itself, rather than the seasonal content. Season of the Risen could’ve suffered from this same expansion season curse, but by focusing the story on a narrower scale, Bungie is able to deliver a season that still meets previous seasons’ storytelling while not feeling like a half baked matchmade activity with some ok loot. Season of the Risen has us working with Empress Caiatl’s Cabal to stop the Lucent Hive from taking over our solar system. The PsiOps Battlegrounds are, admittedly similar to previous seasonal activities; kill bad guys, do objectives, collect seasonal currency, get loot.
However, the sheer number of enemies present and the final boss mechanics involving a new fun weapon in the Synaptic Spear do set PsiOps apart from previous activities. Season of the Risen acts like the cherry on top of a very large and filling sundae that is The Witch Queen and to be anything more than a “turn your brain off and shoot bad guys” activity might take some attention away from the main treat. It’s uncontroversial. An interesting story, fun weapons, cool armor, matchmade activity that isn’t a slog to do and won’t require too many brain cells to complete all make Season of the Risen a very middle of the road, decent season. I definitely enjoy having a target rich environment to grind out my weapon levels, that’s for sure. What’s that? Leveling up my weapons? That must mean…
Another great addition…with strings attached (again)
Weapon crafting has been added to Destiny! Finally! All those hours grinding for the perfect god roll, now I can just craft what I want with the perks that I want. Right? Weapon crafting has reminded me a bit of when Armor Transmog was first released: a great, fan requested feature that has immense potential, but feels like a bit of a wet fart on initial release. Weapon crafting is great and being able to create my perfect Syncopation pulse rifle takes a lot of the pain and suffering random drops might cause me, but material caps and a potentially arduous grind to unlock crafting frames might discourage some from really investing in this system.
Crafting being limited to only Throne World, Season of the Risen weapons and a few world drops is also a little disappointing (craftable Funnelweb when?). I think, like Transmog, Weapon Crafting is a system that we are just going to have to let breathe over time. More weapons are sure to be added with upcoming expansions, those red weapons needed to unlock frames are sure to drop, and in the meantime, there’s nothing stopping you from just using a that almost-god roll that you got playing PsiOps or from the campaign. Weapon Crafting is definitely more of a quality-of-life improvement rolled into an endgame chase than a fix for our maxed-out vaults. Just be patient. Your god roll Sweet Sorrow isn’t as far away as you think.
Everything Else
Crucible gets 2 maps back, rescued from the Destiny Content Vault, and Gambit has a rework that changes nothing fundamentally wrong with the mode but instead makes it more frustrating (because we all love immunity phases, right?). Oh, and you can target farm Gambit weapons now. That’s it. This was definitely more of a PVE expansion than a PVP/Gambit one. Oh well, maybe next season.
Not just a simple FPS anymore…
Destiny’s come a long way since its humble beginnings as a half-baked, sort of ambitious looter shooter back in 2014. Bungie becoming independent of Activision (only to return to a corporate overlord under Sony), Destiny 2 going free-to-play, and the implementation of a live service model with regular updates and seasonal content coming throughout the year has changed Destiny from a looter shooter with occasional DLC drops to a living, breathing game offering the closest to an MMO experience for shooter fans. Everything that Destiny has had the potential for, they’ve lived up to in The Witch Queen. Intense and invigorating main campaign with an antagonist that has been hyped up for years. Story moments that not only reward past players, but also tease the future. New weapons, armor, and locations that are not only beautiful and aesthetically pleasing, but fun to romp around with and in. It’s hard to find a lot of faults with The Witch Queen. The campaign itself is worth the entry price alone. If you fell away from Destiny, whether because of other games coming out or a general loss of interest, The Witch Queen has more than enough to bring you back and allow you to fall in love with Destiny again. And there’s no lie about that.
9.5/10
For more information, please visit: https://www.bungie.net/7/en/Destiny/Buy/WitchQueen
Related: DESTINY 2: Bungie 30th Anniversary Pack Review
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My name is Matt Tran and I have been playing video games since I could remember holding a controller. I've always been a hardcore gamer growing up, from the hectic MW2 and Halo 3 lobbies, my many journeys through several Halo clans and my current exploits with my Destiny 2 clan. I love shooters and RPGs and overanalyzing every component of every game I've played, from weapon stats to ideal perks. When I have time to play other games, I currently play Genshin Impact and Star Wars Squadrons.
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