Bungie was back today with their latest ViDoc talking all about The Witch Queen. It’s always an exciting time when new ViDoc’s come out, as we’re all at ‘peak hype’ for the new DLC, in this case, it’s the Witch Queen, arriving in just about 2 weeks’ time. Today I’m going to round up all the info from the ViDoc, and break down any smaller details you may have missed.
First up, if you somehow missed the ViDoc, then I’d recommend checking it out. Once you do check it out come back here, and let me know your thoughts in the comments.
We kick off the ViDoc with many members of the Bungie team talking about The Witch Queen, how it’s a story year in the making, there’s going to be plenty of surprises for us throughout the campaign, and also throughout the next year of Destiny 2 content. The Witch Queen is really only the start, we still have seasons worth of content to come which will build on that. Bungie calls is the beginning of the end for the Light and Darkness Saga, and this has been building for years.
Bungie revealed the name of season 16, and it’s going to be called Season of the Risen. I am guessing that alludes to the rising Hive after Savathun has stolen the light and then brings her Hive army back to life, but with Bungie, they always have double meanings of things. One improvement here we’re going to see in the Witch Queen is the relationship with the season that accompanies the DLC release. In the past this has been a weak season; Undying with Shadowkeep and Hunt with Beyond Light. I have higher hopes for Season of the Risen. It looks like it’s going to be Cabal-themed. We need Caital’s help to strike against Savathun and the Lucent Brood. The Cabal has the light-containing tech they originally used against the Traveller back in the original Destiny 2 Red War Story, and also that resurfaced in Season of the Chosen. Now we’re asking for Caital’s help to contain Savthun with this light tech.
Savathun is a big topic of discussion in the first part of the ViDoc, how she’s taking center stage, and everything isn’t quite as it seems. I am still anticipating some kind of swerve here in the campaign. I don’t think we’re going to kill her in the campaign or the raid. It’s more likely we’re going to team up to face a greater enemy. Bungie are hyping up Savathun here, saying she’s going to want to wipe us off the chessboard. It feels like misdirection to me, but we’re going to have to wait and see what’s coming round the corner with that one.
Savathun’s Throne World is showcased. This is a new type of Hive area. It’s going through a transformation with the Light. The old hive areas are atmospheric, dense, and creepy. Savathun’s Castle in the middle of the Throneworld is much brighter. In terms of art direction, this is some of Bungie’s best work. They describe it as an impressionist painting, something familiar when looked at from afar, but when you get up close and personal, it’s not quite right, it’s strange. It seems like it’s going to be full of mysteries and secrets, hopefully, to the extent, Taken King was back in Destiny 1.
The campaign is being hyped up as one of the best Bungie campaigns in years. They are taking elements from Dungeons like the raid-like puzzle mechanics, big set-piece moments and translating them to the campaign for the first time. We have normal and also legendary difficulty, and it sounds as if it’s going to be on par with legend and master Nightfalls, so we should expect a big challenge going into the campaign. Hopefully, it’s going to be replayable too, and I noticed there are double loot drops for legendary mode.
The Lucent Brood look like they are going to be tough. They have all the Light subclasses with Arc, Void, and Solar with Knights and Wizards wielding light abilities. This isn’t the first time we’re fighting light-bearers, given we battle Guardians all the time, but this is the first time we fight enemies with this motivation. The Hive are relentless in wanting to wipe you out. We saw an Arc Wizard, a Solar Acolyte, and a Void Knight… they are looked pretty tough. Plus you have to crush the ghost in your hands, I think that’s done by pressing your finisher button near a Hive Ghost.
Bungie then went into detail about The Glaive. This has 3 modes – it’s a melee weapon, a shield, and also has projectiles too. The Glaive is probably the part of the Witch Queen I’ve put to the back of my mind the most, given we have the new story, new campaign, Void 3.0, weapon crafting, etc. But this closer look at the Glaive got me excited for this new archetype.
Hand in hand with the Glaive is weapon crafting. It sounds like we craft our first glaive, then this system is going to be rolled out across all weapons. Once we craft our glaive, we’re going to want to craft other weapons too.
There are loads of new weapons. 8 new exotics in total. The Osteo Striga looks like a submachine gun version of Thorn, we have a Cabal launcher, which is likely to be the seasonal exotic for next season. Plus there are 3 exotic glaives, one for each class. Bungie isn’t giving all the details away here. We’re going to get a raid exotic, so by adding them all up then we still have 2 more to discover or craft ourselves. Bungie did mention an ancient weapon, so hopefully, this is going to be something new rather than a Destiny 1 weapon. In total there are roughly 50 weapons coming in Witch Queen, so if you haven’t cleared out your vault yet, I’d recommend doing so before the 22nd.
As well as weapons we have new exotic armor. Titans are getting a stasis exotic, which is going to turn our rally barricade into Stasis crystals. The Warlock Exotic Void Legs are nicknamed the Devouring Rift Legs. This is empowering Rift and Healing Rift at the same time.
Void 3.0 was then described in much more detail. We got a sneak peek at the Aspects and Fragments. The Titan has a void barricade, slamming down this huge shield. The Warlock has a void black hole, which drains life from enemies you target. Hopefully, it’s going to be much better for aspects and fragments this time, I don’t know about you but the process for aspects and fragments was drawn out in Beyond Light, and got boring. I’d like to see this rolled out in a better way. We also have Arc and Solar reworks coming too in future seasons, no news yet of timing, but this is likely to be before Lightfall.
Lots to look forward to when it comes to the Witch Queen. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the Vidoc, what you made of it. I’d love to hear what you liked, and what you still have questions about.
That’s it for this look at Destiny 2 Witch Queen ViDoc: Light In The Darkness Breakdown. For more Destiny 2 content like this check out This Week In Video Games on YouTube and subscribe today.