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Destiny 2: The Witch Queen

Destiny 2: Key takeaways from the Gamescom showcase

To put it simply, a lot of things!

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After needing to delay the next annual expansion for its looter-shooter Destiny 2, Bungie has finally been able to lift the veil on what its players will be experiencing both today and in the years to come. There are a lot of things to discuss so let's get right to it!

The Witch Queen

The showcase started directly in the meat of things by revealing the Witch Queen DLC. This expansion will take the players to Savathûn's Throne World to face the Hive. The twist being that this ancient enemy of ours can now wield the Light. Players will therefore fight Lucent Hive troops and will need to crush their Hive-y Ghosts.

This time around, Bungie has put special care in crafting a memorable campaign, comparing it to the likes of the latest Doom games. To achieve this goal, a special hardcore difficulty mode will be available, scaling with the number of players inside a fireteam.

Along with the campaign and its unexpected enemies, The Witch Queen will introduce two brand-new features to Destiny 2. The first is a new weapon archetype: the Glaive. A spear-like weapon that can both fire and be used in melee combat in first-person for the first time. The second feature is crafting. Starting in The Witch Queen, players will be able to craft weapons. We do not know much about the system yet, except for the fact that crafted weapons will get stronger the more you use them and that a lot of guns, both re-issued and brand new will be available to create.

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The Witch Queen will launch on February 22.

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Season of the Lost

After having talked in length about The Witch Queen, Bungie moved on to more immediate things with the new Season launching today. We now know that it will feature Mara Sov's long awaited return, a new six-man activity, new weekly missions, new weapons and armour and a new exotic Stasis trace rifle.

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Beginning today is also the introduction of cross-play.

Bungie's 30th Anniversary

Season of the Lost may start today, but it will need to keep us occupied until The Witch Queen's launch, which is five months away, making it one of the longest seasons in the history of the game. To ensure its players do not get bored, Bungie decided to throw a big birthday party for its 30th Anniversary. This celebration will add yet another six-man activity (and consequently new gear to collect) for free, and offer a special pack containing:


  • A new dungeon taking place in the fabled "loot cave"

  • Four new emotes

  • An exotic ship and an exotic sparrow

  • Two universal armor ornaments

  • A unique helmet ornament

The dungeon will feature fan favourite Destiny 1 weapons along with some crossover weapons like Myth's Claymore sword and a new armour set. Finally, special exotic weapons will also come back, and its none other than the legendary Gjallarhorn that will make its grand return in Destiny 2 when the 30th Anniversary event starts in December.

Trials of Osiris

Trials of Osiris is supposed to be Destiny 2's "endgame aspirational" PvP mode and to make sure it is, Bungie is delivering a rework of the mode. That is why matchmaking and Solo queue will be available for all players to enjoy and the reward system has been overhauled. Starting in Season of the Lost, winning rounds and finishing matches will be enough to earn rewards in Trials of Osiris. The flawless rewards will stay the same.

Along with those changes, Bungie has also officialised a partnership with Battle Eye in the eternal fight against cheaters. A soft launch of the anti-cheat is planned for this season.

Destiny 2: The Witch Queen

And beyond...

One would be correct to think that all this news would make for a solid showcase but Bungie pushed it even further by mentioning other changes planned for the next year of Destiny 2.

The Deluxe edition of Witch Queen will unlock access to two new dungeons planned during somewhere during Year 5 (which is 2022). A Destiny 1 raid will also be remastered and re-issued freely for all players sometime in the year though we do not know which one it will be.

A weekly rotation for Raids and Dungeons will be implemented at some point in the future

Each Light subclasses will be receiving the Stasis treatment during each season of Year 5. Those reworks will start with the Void subclasses during The Witch Queen season and the two others will be overhauled in the next seasons.

Finally, if The Witch Queen had been presented last year alongside Lightfall, a third and final episode has been introduced. Supposed to close the "Light versus Darkness" narrative arc, this third expansion will be called The Final Shape and is supposed to end the 10 year narrative that Destiny has been offering since 2014.

Destiny 2: The Witch Queen

With all that's been announced today, Destiny 2 seems stronger than ever, what has got you the most hyped up?

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REVIEW. Written by Ben Lyons

Bungie has welcomed a long-teased adversary to the game in a new expansion that does a lot of things right.



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