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 the Destiny 2 universe. The Witch Queen is forever tied to Destiny's most successful release, The Taken King, and all the lore 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 of Destiny 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 from Destiny often comes back in Destiny 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.
Why Destiny Content Keeps Coming Back to Destiny 2
Because Destiny 2 is 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 of Destiny releases and what Bungie does to prepare for them.
While Destiny and Destiny 2 are 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 from Destiny back into Destiny 2, but Battle is open to doing just that, especially with The 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 old Destiny Raid is coming back into Destiny 2 later this year, and regardless of it being King's Fall or 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 with Destiny is not lost to time, and there is always a chance for it to be meaningful again in Destiny 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 from Destiny that is off-limits in Destiny 2, according to Bungie. Instead, there are many threads that are continuously picked up in new releases to give them more structure and life, making Destiny 2 a 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 with The Witch Queen and beyond is exciting, and it scratches a nostalgic itch some veterans may have while allowing newcomers to experience what they missed.
Destiny 2 is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.