Destiny 2’s The Witch Queen has been out for around a month-and-a-half now, and the overall reception from fans has been very positive for several reasons, including the narrative direction the game is taking. One of the reasons why The Witch Queen is so successful in what it does is that it takes a lot of themes and storylines from the origins of the franchise, or even from the origins of theDestiny 2universe. The Witch Queen is forever tied toDestiny’s most successful release, The Taken King, and all thelore surrounding the Hive.
The Taken King was a revolution for Bungie’s space-magic franchise because it allowed players to learn more about the myths and origins of the Hive, but also face one of the Hive Gods himself: Oryx. The buildup to the fight against Oryx is similar to the buildup to Savathun being a central character in the events ofDestiny 2, and while a good part of that stems from the lore of the Books of Sorrow, there are plenty of clues Bungie has been sowing over the years. Content fromDestinyoften comes back inDestiny 2, and Game Rant talked to Bungie’s narrative director Adam Grantham, and project lead Blake Battle, about what players can expect in the future.
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Why Destiny Content Keeps Coming Back to Destiny 2
BecauseDestiny 2is a live-service game with a rich lore database that spans seven years' worth of releases, it’s not uncommon for Bungie to tease future expansions and Seasons through in-game books and other hidden details. It shows the scope ofDestinyreleasesand what Bungie does to prepare for them.
WhileDestinyandDestiny 2are very different titles in terms of gameplay, they share a lot of themes and a long history that Bungie can look back to in order to understand what should or shouldn’t be brought back. Fans often theorize that the games are two separate releases and Bungie wouldn’t bring any larger content fromDestinyback intoDestiny 2, but Battle is open to doing just that, especially withThe Taken King.
“I don’t think there’s something from Taken King that’s off the table that we would say, “Oh, we’ll never do that again.” Something that we learned from comparing The Taken King and The Witch Queen, which have very similar themes, is the concept of legacy. There are things from The Taken King that we really loved a lot. I’m glad that we have this legacy and history, and we can bring more value to that in The Witch Queen and beyond.”
An oldDestinyRaid is coming back intoDestiny 2later this year, and regardless of it beingKing’s Fallor Wrath of the Machine, this shows that past content can and will make a comeback. Another example is the return of Vault to Glass, or the fact that many old weapons are repurposed for modern releases. Everything achieved withDestinyis not lost to time, and there is always a chance for it to be meaningful again inDestiny 2, according to Grantham.
“There’s all this work that’s been done on The Taken King and D1 vanilla. We’re at a fortunate time now in Destiny where we can reap what has been sown over the course of seven years.”
Nothing fromDestinythat is off-limits inDestiny 2, according to Bungie. Instead, there are many threads that are continuously picked up in new releases to give them more structure and life, makingDestiny 2a game that keeps on evolving and changing shape - not because of lack of self-awareness, but because it has so many facets to utilize. Having past content reintroduced withThe Witch Queenand beyond is exciting, and it scratches a nostalgic itch some veterans may have while allowing newcomers to experience what they missed.
Destiny 2is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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