Destiny 2: The Witch Queen trailer previews the first mission of the new expansion

Bungie dropped a new trailer for Destiny 2 The Witch Queen at The Game Awards tonight, and it's given us a sample of the first mission in the expansion's campaign.

The trailer opens with a live-action conversation between a Guardian, Ikora, and Eris Morn, and quickly transitions to an in-game segment shot on Mars. Our hero uses the newly released Destiny 2 Forerunner, AKA the Halo magnum, to make short work of some Cabal, but things take a dark turn as Savathun lures the fireteam aboard her ship and into a Hive ambush. 

Even the new glaive-type weapons can't handle the horde, and things get infinitely more dire with the arrival of the first-ever Hive Guardian – a towering knight wielding true-blue Titan abilities, including one-way barricades similar to the ones granted by the Exotic gloves Citan's Ramparts. We also get a brief shot of Savathun herself in action, which is unsurprising but still jarring given how amiable she's been throughout the ongoing Season of the Lost. 

This is the first full-fat trailer we've gotten in a while, and we're actually getting close to The Witch Queen now. However, after a delay which will set a new release schedule for Destiny 2, the expansion's release date is still a few months away. Fortunately, the wait for the new expansion has gotten considerably less painful thanks to the newly released Bungie 30th Anniversary pack, which introduced a medley of free and paid Destiny 2 content which will help tide players over until February 22. Savathun can wait; we've got Destiny 2 Halo guns to grind for now. 

Earlier this year, we spoke to Bungie about the build-up to The Witch Queen and its ambitious plans to make Savathun the game's best villain yet. The studio's been planting the seeds for this expansion for years, and this season's developments – many of them involving Savathun herself – have only cranked the tension higher. 

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Austin Wood

Austin freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and he's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a senior writer is just a cover up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.