With The Witch Queen being such a successful expansion that caters to all sorts of players, from newcomers enticed by the promotional material to veterans who have been playing since the dawn of the franchise, Bungie had a lot of planning to do. This is because Destiny 2 is not a game where players can replay the entire story as they please, with seasonal content and even past campaigns now in the Destiny Content Vault to make room for more. Game Rant spoke to Bungie in a roundtable interview session about what it means to tell a story that has to be meaningful to new and old players alike.
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Bungie’s Approach to Storytelling in Destiny 2 Over the Years
The story of Destiny 2 is a very complex one, because the universe Bungie created has multiple facets and an endless number of relevant characters across alien species. This makes for layered storytelling, where there have to be in-the-moment activities, plans for future events, and a general idea of what matters to the story and what doesn’t for its main themes and protagonists. An example is the identity of the Guardians: protectors of mankind with the powers of the Light, which derive from their Ghosts and, by extension, The Traveler.
That’s what the Red War campaign from vanilla Destiny 2 tried to explore. Players were meant to discover what it means to be a Guardian, what it means to have the Light, and what can happen if the Light is taken away. The game has many concepts like this, where players can learn more about a specific key event in the timeline of the universe, a given power, an entire race, or even a single character.
However, building that sort of world is not easy because it requires a mix of careful planning and spur-of-the-moment inspiration, which can be difficult to achieve in a live-service game like Destiny 2 where content doesn’t stay forever. In fact, while vanilla Destiny 2 was far from the series’ best, the introduction to the story provided by the Red War campaign for new players was strong, as it provided a lot more context to the story than the New Light experience ever will - unless it undergoes major changes.
Striking a perfect balance between providing new and exciting plot and making sure everything is perfectly understandable in the present, while also planting clues for the future, can be difficult. Bungie’s narrative director Adam Grantham spoke about what this means for Destiny 2 as a story-driven game, and how the company deals with future releases in terms of planning.
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Why New Destiny 2 Players Are in The Same Spot as Game of Thrones Fans
The Witch Queen’s campaign is one of the expansion’s major selling points, as it combines a compelling story with a gameplay flow that’s both challenging and rewarding. The expansion is a perfect culmination of the Savathun buildup Bungie has done over the years, which means veterans are able to appreciate it, but there has to be something to hook new players in as well. Bungie’s Senior Narrative Lead Guillaume Colomb spoke about the process of making information accessible to new players without sacrificing pacing and delivery for veterans, especially with an expansion the size of The Witch Queen.
Because there are so many events, characters, and lore books to discover and understand in the world of Destiny 2, having a clear, linear timeline is a great thing. To this end, Bungie even introduced it as an in-game feature with The Witch Queen, as players being able to go as far back as the Red War campaign to discover main elements of the story. However, the timeline is not strictly essential to understanding the basics of a new expansion or seasonal release, because characters in the game tend to mention what is key
In this approach, Bungie is not too dissimilar from George R. R. Martin with Game of Thrones, a series of books divided into chapters that are the point of view of one character. Grantham said this is exactly what Destiny 2 does, and why it’s important to have a similar structure for the narrative.
The Witch Queen tells a story that’s easily digestible for new players, and that’s because it immediately explores the themes of Hive Lightbearers being a mirror of the Guardians. What matters is that the story makes the Guardians’ actions look morally ambiguous, with no apparent right or wrong side, especially considering the Lucent Hive is more similar to mankind than one would think. This approach is likely to return for future releases because it allows Bungie to add or cut what is needed in order to make the story clearer for all Destiny 2 players, regardless of their level of experience.
Destiny 2 is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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