Destiny 2: The Queen of Whispers, the first considerations after the campaign
Destiny 2
On February 22, fans of the Destiny universe were able to face "the beginning of the end", so to speak. The conclusion of the final act of the eternal struggle between Light and Darkness is, in fact, reached the final straight and the overcoming of the last curve, to use a sporting metaphor, was precisely the arrival of The Queen of Whispers. We know that the words "The End" to this saga will be placed with the major expansion of 2024, but already now we can say that the foot on the accelerator pedal of Bungie was quite heavy.Mind you, we are not talking about haste but about 90 loads. it is used when a high-importance Briscola is known to be in the partner's hand. Here, Bungie with the Queen of Whispers, was our fellow Briscola and dropped the first Load, aware of the fact that on this side of the table the fans would have a Briscola to collect the bet.
Those that you will find below are some considerations in light of the conclusion of the main campaign, after having sifted through most of the new activities. The review with the vote of the expansion will arrive in a few days, after we have also undertaken the journey in the raid (available from Saturday 5 March) and throughout the end-game phase in its entirety.
But now let's find out our first impressions after completing the Destiny 2: Queen of Whisper campaign.
Bungie to the nth degree
Destiny 2: The Whispering Queen: the specter of Savathun We are all still a bit children when we approach a new game or a new expansion of a game-service that won us over for several hours of gameplay. Destiny 2 is a master at creating this kind of feeling of eternal youth in the player, the arrival of fascinating environments and situations has always prompted players to come and go every time new content was released. With the usual chin up, we approached the new expansion full of expectations and attention to what really seemed like a crucial junction in the sci-fi epic created by Bungie. However, we could never have expected what we have been playing in these days. Narratively speaking, The Whispering Queen is second to no expansion released in Bungie history so far (including the much-lauded King of the Corrupted from the first chapter).Mature, deep, multifaceted, able to hold the player glued to the screen, able to continually create that boyish amazement that must be present in this genre of works. Savathun is a full-bodied antagonist, rich in content and able to remain upright even to the playful compromises that a game like Destiny has to make. Savathun does not collapse under the weight of expectations, but rather, like wine, it improves over time. The Queen Hag shows herself at times, heterosexual, even in the moments that see her as the protagonist. The expansion makes fun of the users, manipulates them as the spider does in its web. Misdirections, dead ends, the player chases an enemy who leads the game and when the idea of being a puppet becomes reality: the twist. The mirror of shattered illusions, and behind this mirror, a gust of cold wind that freezes the blood: doubt. Let's not go further, we will not spoilers, but know that between missions, silent narrative, dialogues and cutscenes, what is proposed stands as one of the highest peaks of the entire saga.
Destiny 2: The Queen of Whispers: the new armor Even on a playful level, the campaign of The Queen of Whispers is on another level. The arrival of the Legend mode (hard mode) for the campaign, not only offers a higher level of challenge but allows the game to show itself for what it really has to offer to the players: need for teamwork, creation of layered builds and skill. In addition to the rewards, much more rewarding, it is precisely the way of approaching the game required by the mode that enhances a series of qualities that too often were relegated only to some endgame content (Raid and Cala la Notte Granmaestro, legendary Lost Sectors). We were faced with an incredibly exciting content, which demonstrated how the direction taken by Beyond the Light is truly representative of a reborn Bungie and able to reproduce content similar to the glories of the past.
For what concerns the amount of content available so far, it is really a huge number. Seasonal activities, expansion activities, assaults, new raid, Legend mode for the campaign, exotic quests, various quests as well as hunting for the new armor and weapons released. What we have faced up to now has been a classic path, but full of interesting activities. The coherence of the same activities with the game world and with the narrative makes everything very enjoyable. At a playful level, the activities exploit an excellent mix of original ideas and situations by now habitual for long-time enthusiasts. Considering that the raid and the related weapons are still shrouded in mystery, the discussion on the expansion's weapons still deserves a separate discussion.
Destiny 2: The Queen of Whispers: Savathun's Tronomondo Although personal taste plays a fundamental role in evaluating the beauty or otherwise of weapons and armor, there is an objective fact to underline. Almost all armaments exploit new assets and avoid the factor already seen. Both in the exotics (some really beautiful) and in the legendary armament. We leave the in-depth analysis in the review, but for example the work done by Bungie on the Falcione (the new weapon archetype) is truly admirable: beautiful to look at and pleasant to use and also quite balanced.
The last impressions that we will deal with today before the review concern the artistic sector. The Queen of Whispers proposes a new location (waiting for the raid): the Tronomondo of Savathun. The proposed environments are a marvel: bright and wide external spaces alternate with poisonous swamps around the fortress and cramped and horrifying internal spaces. The binomial Light Darkness is taken up several times in the artistic direction of the settings and citations to the medieval and gothic way of imagining the fantasy fortresses are applied to the most science fiction and classic notes of the Bungie epic.
Destiny 2: The Queen of Whispers: The Shining Brood Traveling inside the Tronomondo has been and still is a joy both for the eyes and for the game. The same goes for the units of the Hive to which Savathun has given the Light. The Shining Brood is truly spectacular, the reference to the Guardians is finely blended with the classic style of the chitinous armor of the Hive. Then when their versions of the super abilities are activated, amazement mixes with fear, because yes: a Knight with a Void Super will be your worst nightmare for a long time.
The Queen of Whisperers has offered us some wonderfully fascinating first steps, as we have not done for some time on Destiny 2. Narratively sublime, playfully solid and artistically inspired, this expansion has shown us how the path taken by Bungie is granite consolidated on the best path. Net of many reflections that we will make in the review and net of the proof of the latest contents that will arrive in days, we can say that the deception of the Queen Hag has never been so pleasant to suffer.
