Destiny 2: The Witch Queen Review in Progress

ign.com:

This review in progress of Destiny 2’s The Witch Queen expansion is based on ~35 hours of playing, which includes completing the main story and most of the side content. However, the new raid and any endgame content that may follow doesn’t debut until March 5, after which we will release a final, updated review and score.

The reason I’ve stuck with Destiny for more than seven years, through both its highest highs and lowest lows, has everything to do with its incredibly strong foundation. Even when things like a poorly told story or a lack of content have held it back, firing magical space weapons and throwing flaming hammers at aliens just feels good! And while the past few expansions were adequate but flawed iterations that kept my appetite fed, The Witch Queen feels like a breakthrough that finally realizes the long-running looter shooter’s greatest potential. This latest update provides not only Destiny’s first truly phenomenal story alongside a campaign that’s both challenging and memorable, but also a weapon crafting system that’s a godsend for hardcore devotees like myself, new light-wielding enemies that completely evolve the flow of combat, and new takes on some old abilities to refreshingly shake up the meta. There’s no doubt about it – Destiny 2: The Witch Queen is the best Destiny’s ever been.

Destiny has always struggled to balance its rich lore between action-packed campaigns and cutscenes, which at times border on the nonsensical, and the item descriptions and “grimoire” lore entries where many of its world’s most important details are squirreled away. Even if you’ve been following the story for a long while, it would be understandable if you have almost no idea what’s actually going on most of the time. But