Bungie is set to reveal information about the next Destiny 2 expansion, Witch Queen, next week. And with the season effectively over, my attention has turned to other games, like Warframe. One of the newest features in that title is an overhauled “nemesis” system in which players create and then fight against the Sisters of Parvos, superpowered foes with distinct personalities who harangue and steal loot until they’re finally tracked down and beaten. And that got me thinking: how cool would it be for Destiny to implement something like that?
The Hive are the perfect fit for this, too. Imagine it — you run an activity that culminates in you fighting an up-and-coming Hive champion. But when you claim victory, they escape to the Ascendant Plane. From then on, this Hive has a grudge against you, and makes it their personal mission to make your life a living hell. They’re showing up in patrols, Lost Sectors, strikes, to harass you and take your drops and waste your time. Maybe they even send little taunting notes to your postmaster or get voice lines to mock you when you’re killed in the Crucible.
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All the while, you’re trying to figure out how to get into your foe’s Throne World to put an end to them once and for all. You’re collecting Hive glyphs and working with Eris Morn to decipher the combination that will let you cross into their dimension and fight them on their home turf. And when you finally do beat them, you get a truly unique prize — not just a random roll of an existing gun or an Exotic, but a weapon with a procedurally-generated name and abilities. Maybe even a title.
Mostly, I hope Destiny finds ways to expand its endgame that aren’t simply chasing an arbitrary power number. A system like Warframe‘s would give players something new and would spice up existing content. It would give Guardians ongoing foes that we could actually grapple with, ones with names and narrative reasons for being as hard to kill as we are. Not to mention, it would generate incredible stories. “Yeah, I was just running strikes when Gar’zul the Voidrender showed up, killed a whole room of Cabal, kicked my ass, and stole my loot. Hate that guy.”
Is this likely, or even possible in Destiny’s engine? I don’t know. But after the underwhelming campaign of Beyond Light, I hope Bungie can show us something big, weird, and new with Witch Queen.
