Bungie has always had a hard time telling a compelling narrative with Destiny since theoriginal’s release in 2014. Sure, they had wins withThe Taken KingandForsaken, and their approach to seasonal storytelling has been phenomenal, but the majority of Destiny campaigns have ranged from mediocre to downright abysmal. Bungie has never found that right combo of strong storytelling that meshed well with Destiny’s MMO-lite design. The past two expansions,ShadowkeepandBeyond Light, in particular felt lackluster with storytelling that barely moved the overarching story forward. Perhaps that’s why it’s such a surprise that Destiny 2: The Witch Queen has a fantastic campaign.
To be fair, the events of The Witch Queen have long been in the making. The threat of Savathûn has been building since 2015’s Destiny: The Taken King, but it was the excellent build-up over the last year that’s made the expansion so special. The four seasons preceding The Witch Queen successfully built her up as a sinister presence. While Oryx used brute force to intimidate and antagonize the Guardians, Savathûn used the seasons in between to infiltrate the Guardian’s ranks and learn their secrets. It was the kind of excellent build-up that other antagonists like Ghaul and Eramis never got.
Like previous expansions, The Witch Queen starts off with a bang. Mars has returned, a mysterious relic has appeared on its surface, and Savathûn’s ship has mysteriously appeared above orbit. Further investigating, you discover that Savathûn has somehow managed to steal the Light and gifted it to her newly christened Lucent Brood. Despite an epic showdown, you lose and must discover how she managed to steal the light. At that point, the heavily-scripted first mission ends. At this point, in any other expansion like Shadowkeep or Beyond Light, the campaign turns to busy work, forcing you to hunt different items or perform menial tasks. The Witch Queen is different. In fact, the best way to think of The Witch Queen is as an actual single player campaign.
Across eight tightly-crafted missions, players will travel across Savathûn’s Throne World and an all-new location on an old planet in search of the truth. It’s a well-designed campaign, doling out different mechanics, locations and scripted events that keep things moving. Most importantly, it’s a competently told story filled with revelations and twists that have wide ramifications for Destiny’s lore. While the ending might be a bit abrupt in typical Destiny fashion, it does strongly pave the way for an exciting future, something that can’t be said for the majority of Destiny campaigns.
The Witch Queen also wisely divvies up more time to its side characters. Savathûn was always going to be compelling following memorable interactions during Season of the Lost, and she is wholeheartedly the best character in the story. Most surprising, however, is the additional depth added to traditionally stoic characters like Ikora Rey, Eris Morn and Mara Sov. Newcomer Fynch is a welcome source of levity, and even your Guardian gets a chance to speak more often. For a series that has rarely done justice for its characters, The Witch Queen finally adds much-needed depth to some of them.
As single player as this campaign feels, it’s also fully playable in co-op. While you can play the standard difficulty with two other friends, you’ll probably want to try out the other newly-added mode, Legendary difficulty. Balanced best for teams, this enhanced difficulty doles out extra loot and rewards. It can still be played solo if you’re looking for a stiff challenge, but this is for sure the way to go if you want to play with buddies.
Either way you choose to play the campaign, the majority of the experience takes place in the new biome, Savathûn’s Throne World. Combining a gothic swamp with a gothic fortress, the Throne World stands out amongst the other locations. You’ll traverse into crypts, explore a laboratory of horrific experiments and even explore the inside of the mysterious pyramids. Overall, it’s a beautiful landscape oozing with gothic themes, but it also feels surprisingly empty with less activities and roving bands of enemies. It’s also cruel that we also lost The Forgotten Shore, an excellent space that Bungie vaulted. While it’s too early to say that it was worth losing it for Savathûn’s Throne World, it’s still a major shame that it’s gone.
Destiny 2: The Witch Queen is finally a Destiny campaign worth praising, but it’s still too early for our full review as the raid doesn’t launch until March 5. Post-campaign, The Witch Queen’s activities seem paltry or too grindy. Weapon crafting is nice, but the costs to use some of the better perks appear outlandishly expensive. The weapon balancing also seems off, particularly with the SMGs and Glaives. The exotic Osteo Striga SMG in particular is a devastating weapon that, so far, puts every other weapon to shame. Void 3.0 is a nice addition that currently successfully overhauls the element, but the fact Bungie couldn’t deliver Solar and Arc overhauls simultaneously is disappointing. There’s also no new Darkness subclass this time around, nor have there been any meaningful updates to Stasis. More experimentation and playtime is needed with The Witch Queen, but so far it seems we have a great campaign with not a lot of anything else.
Destiny 2: The Witch Queen is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, PS4, Xbox One and Stadia. Be sure to check back soon for our full review.
