Destiny 2: The Witch Queen Reviews
If you’re not familiar with Destiny, it all probably sounds pretty overwhelming. That’s because it is. Destiny 2 has a dumptruck full of mechanics, concepts, and items, and it will take you a long time to figure everything out. What’s important is that getting to the light level cap, or doing the raid, or maxing out faction rep isn’t necessary to have a good time. The game still plays phenomenally, and the balance the new activities strike make The Witch Queen an ideal place to give Destiny 2 another shot. It worked for me, and well, if you knew exactly how much I’d grown to despise helium coils and faction rep, you’d be shocked I came back at all. But come back I did, and I won’t be putting Destiny 2 down for a very, very long time.
The Witch Queen is a great expansion that puts Destiny 2 on the right track after the partial misstep of Beyond Light. There's a lot of content here, even though some activities are blocked behind the season pass paywall.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Despite its shortcomings as an entry point for new players, there's a lot packed into The Witch Queen worth appreciating – we haven't even mentioned the new Glaive weapon type that combines melee with long-range attacks, the hugely enjoyable new Lost Sectors, or the overhaul to the Void subclass, bringing it more in line with Beyond Light's Stasis. This pushes the number of viable types to "two", which isn't great, but Arc and Solar should be getting a similar upgrade in the (hopefully) near future. Seasonal content will continue to deliver story as 2022 wears on, but obviously the quality of it cannot be judged yet – the expansion isn't even complete at the time of typing, what with the new Raid yet to drop. Still, this is Destiny 2 at its very best and a pleasingly vital expansion to what remains a superb game.
The highest compliment I can give any game is when I have to force myself to put the controller down to put my thoughts in a review. Destiny 2: The Witch Queen is that game. Somehow Bungie took a game that I play daily, for hours a week, and made me want to play it more. It's always good getting new content with seasons and past expansions, and I have loved all Destiny 2 additions. However, The Witch Queen feels like we have entered a new age. The Witch Queen has proven that no one is better than Bungie at what they do. The Witch Queen takes every aspect of Destiny and improves on it, and then some. While Destiny is always getting better, The Witch Queen is the best piece of Destiny content ever created.
This is the only noticeable downside to this expansion and it's one that will only affect certain players. Even then, the story alone is absolutely worth dealing with what is realistically a minor inconvenience. Destiny 2: The Witch Queen is an achievement in storytelling for Bungie, which somehow has two more expansions still to come for its ongoing game. The Witch Queen is a must play for fans of the series, casual or otherwise, as it's an intriguing story that is well told, exudes confidence, and hints at an even brighter (or darker) future that's still to come.
Destiny 2 has tried to be many things over its four and a half years, and while it seemed there has always been a step back for every two steps forward the game would make, The Witch Queen is one giant leap ahead. With this expansion, Destiny 2 is quite simply at the best game state it has ever been, and offers so much to do and reason to do it that every player that ever loved this game should give it a shot to rekindle exactly what it was that sparked that passion in the first place.
While the story may be turning to darker dimensions, the future of Destiny 2 could not be more bright.
We do not tremble the pulse to say that without a doubt The Witch Queen is the best expansion that has ever come to Destiny. However, it is also fair to say that this is only the culmination of what Bungie has been sowing. Many of its possibilities have been forged during these last years, since the arrival of The Renegades and today we see how Destiny 2 is a title for any type of player. Even that thought that they want to charge us again as if it were a whole game, has completely vanished, because this expansion is almost a gift if we translate it into the hours of play that it is able to provide.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Challenges Forsaken for the title of best-ever Destiny expansion, and has much stronger foundations to build upon. Destiny 2 was already in a good spot, but Witch Queen represents a new peak for Bungie's oft-imitated, never-dethroned looter shooter.
Witch Queen offers the best Destiny campaign in a long time, even for single-player fans. The new entry will be easier, but it will remain difficult.
Review in German | Read full review
After a series of half-successful expansions, Bungie has managed to hit the nail on the head with The Witch Queen, enriching its Destiny 2 with the best campaign ever.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Destiny 2: The Witch Queen sets the bar for all Destiny expansions going forward, shifting the paradigm so massively that I could never have expected it. Improving upon problem points in past releases, offering a Legendary mode with difficulty scaling for solos, duos, and trios, and introducing a new crafting system, this expansion has a lot to offer, and that’s without even mentioning that it also includes one of the best PvE raids ever. Witch Queen is a must-play for fans of the looter-shooter genre, and I encourage even those who got burned by Destiny before to give it a try. This is no longer a sign of what is to come. It is here, and it is so, so good.
Destiny 2: The Witch Queen is easily the best expansion since The Taken King. Savathûn and her story are engaging and thrilling to play, each mission putting the always stunning art and design on display. With glaive in hand, new mighty Void powers, and weapon crafting at your arsenal, Guardians will have a terrific time annihilating hordes of Hive in the campaign and raids. Unfortunately, it’s not a newbie-friendly expansion. The complicated narrative and deep history which is partly unplayable due to removed content, as well as awful UI, make it challenging for even previous players to jump back into the journey. If you’ve been playing Destiny 2 and still are, you need to play The Witch Queen.
Where Beyond Light and Shadowkeep felt like foundational expansions, The Witch Queen is the fully realized, feature-rich pay off that players have been waiting for. While it's easy to see that PvP is still comparably neglected to PvE, a superbly focused campaign, an excellent raid, and reinvigorated Void subclasses are just a few of the inclusions that build The Witch Queen up as the best Destiny expansion thus far.
Destiny 2: The Witch Queen is yet another reason Bungie’s epic living world has this type of staying power, and new and existing players alike have every reason to jump in here.
Witch Queen is thankfully a beacon of hope. Destiny was long mocked for the narrative and mission design it provided, and this new expansion absolutely knocks it out of the park with the best campaign in the Destiny series. If you’re a lapsed veteran I sincerely hope you come back and experience the joy of the campaign. Its challenging difficulty and brilliant — actual — in-game storytelling are worth the price of admission alone.
Destiny 2: The Witch Queen represents the highest peak the franchise has seen in years, if not ever. Held back by some grindiness and nigh-inpenetrable plot gates, it’s one of the smoothest FPS experiences available today, thanks to its best story yet and a host of gameplay adjustments.
The Witch Queen is one of the best, if not the best, expansion contents that Bungie crafted for their Destiny 2.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Witch Queen seems to be one of the best additions to Destiny 2 right now. The local story campaign is definitely unmatched by previous expansions thanks to the varied gameplay and location design. But only a veteran of the game will be able to fully enjoy the plot, and for a beginner, half of the names and terms will remain an empty phrase. Is this a good entry point to Destiny 2? Barely. But the campaign gameplay can captivate them both, as it juggles playstyles and places entirely new demands on combat skills on Legendary difficulty. This is not a full-fledged single-player action yet, but something very similar to it. All the more interesting in which direction Bungie will go and what the finale of Destiny 2 will be.
A twist-filled return to the mythology of The Taken King should lure back lapsed series veterans in Destiny 2’s most focused and challenging campaign yet.