Source: Bungie / Destiny 2: The Witch Queen
Destiny 2 is still going strong 5 years after its launch, and with its next expansion, the game is showing no signs of slowing down.
Tuesday (Aug.24), Bungie unveiled Destiny 2’s biggest expansion yet, The Witch Queen that will finally see players put their guardians up against the Savathûn, the titular main villain.
Source: Bungie / Destiny 2: The Witch Queen
Savathûn is not new to the game at all. In fact, she has been teased for years, being that she is the sister of Oryx, the original big bad from the first game’s Taken King expansion. Destiny players have also felt her influence over several years due to her involvement in the many major events that have taken place in Destiny. This expansion marks the first time players will literally go face-to-face with her.
Source: Bungie / Destiny 2: The Witch Queen
As expected, Savathûn won’t be a pushover. She has somehow managed to use the guardian’s power of light to bestow her Hive Guardians with similar abilities making her and her minions a formidable challenge.
Source: Bungie / Destiny 2: The Witch Queen
As expected, players will also do battle in a new locale, Savathûn’s Throne World, a haunting but very lush environment that players will partake in campaigns, raids, and of course, search for armor and weapons.
Source: Bungie / Destiny 2: The Witch Queen
Speaking of weapons, The Witch Queen will also see the arrival of a new first-person melee weapon called the Glaive that will allow players to either deal damage up close or at a distance.
Source: Bungie / Destiny 2: The Witch Queen
With the announcement of the Glaive, Bungie revealed that players couldn’t find the weapon. It has to be built, a perfect way to announce that the game will now feature customizable weapons. Players will now have the ability to customize their favorite weapons and modify them with unique abilities and stats to suit their playing needs. The system will be introduced with The Witch Queen expansion’s new weapons, Bungie promises to carry over the feature to other weapons.
Source: Bungie / Destiny 2: The Witch Queen
The Witch Queen wasn’t the only thing Bungie had up its sleeve during its presentation. The Season of the Lost was also announced and will focus on the long-missing character Mara Sov aka the queen of the Awoken faction, and will serve as a six-month prologue filling in the void until The Witch Queen’s expansion release.
Season of the Lost will also feature a “reworked” Trials of Osiris mode that will encourage players to stay more engaged in the player-vs-player experience by offering them rewards for actually playing instead of just earning them by winning matches which could be rather difficult for casual Destiny PvP players. Also, when Season of the Lost arrives on September 10, it will introduce Bungies new anti-cheat software.
But wait… there’s more.
Bungie also happily announced that starting today, crossplay will be live as part of the Season of the Lost. That means PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and Stadia players will be able to play together for the first time in Destiny history.
Now, even though The Witch Queen is Destiny’s biggest expansion yet, it’s most definitely not going to be the last one. Bungie shared that players could look forward to Lightfall to follow sometime after the release of The Witch Queen and Destiny 2: The Final Shape, which the game studio described as the “dramatic conclusion” to The Light and Darkness Saga that players have been enjoying since the game’s release.
Last but certainly not least, Bungie announced the return of a fan-favorite weapon, the legendary Gjallarhorn exotic rocket launcher, as part of the 30th-anniversary pack coming soon that will also feature tons of cosmetic items that are inspired by Myth and Marathon plus a new exotic weapon. The pack will also feature a “treasure-themed” dungeon set that players can experience on the Cosmodrome “Loot Cave” that will allow players to acquire armor inspired by the Thorn weapon and classic weapons like Eyasluna and Thousand-Yard Stare.
Destiny 2 isn’t going anywhere for the foreseeable future.
The Witch Queen arrives on Xbox One, Xbox Series X / S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, and PC on February 22nd, 2022.
Step into the announcement trailer below.
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Photo: Bungie / Destiny 2: The Witch Queen
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