Destiny 2 is a game that constantly evolves. Bungie will start 2022 with a brand-new expansion, called The Witch Queen, revolving around the legendary Hive God Savathun, and as customary, the expansion should come with a new area. Recently, Bungie shared a screenshot of a Hunter wearing Witch Queen armor standing in a lush green area. Some players may have recognized that armor set from the teased sets for The Witch Queen that Bungie released a while back, and despite the fact that the Hunter set seems slightly different than its concept art, there's a lot of information there.
The screenshot is presumably taken from a cutscene that will occur at some point during the upcoming Destiny 2 expansion, and even if its background is out of focus, there still are quite a lot of details and clues about the possible setting. Some players have associated the green area to Trostland or the European Dead Zone in general, or even to the Cosmodrome, but again, expansions come with new environments to explore. There is more to it, and breaking down every little detail will provide some context for this image.
Destiny 2 Witch Queen Image From This Week At Bungie, And New Armor Sets
Let's start, of course, from the main subject of the screenshot, which is the Hunter Guardian wearing a new set of armor unique to Destiny 2's The Witch Queen expansion. What's striking about this armor is that it has moon phases depicted on it and a variety of other symbols. It may be important to note that in the concept art, the Hunter armor had little numbers depicted just under each shoulder, on the chest piece, which are the atomic number (80) and the relative atomic mass (200.59) of an element from the periodic table, namely mercury. This is absent from the chest shown in the screenshot, though, and it's unsure whether it will be included in the final version, alongside the elements from the periodic table mentioned on the Titan's and the Warlock's sets, salt and sulfur, respectively.
The Destiny 2 Hunter is looking above their shoulder, which could indicate either exploration of the area or an event happening in the sky. What's more interesting, though, is the background. Behind the Hunter and to the right of the picture fans can see what looks like a man-made building, maybe a church or ruins, with overgrown flora around it. This indicates that the setting is likely to be on Earth, in a place that became empty after the Collapse.
Bungie's Witch Queen Image Might Mean That Old Chicago Is Coming To Destiny 2
Looking at the left side of the picture it seems like sunlight is filtering through thick foliage. The area seems to be swampy, and the dark brown mass just below the sunlight looks like a rusted car or its remains. To its left, a tall and robust metal bar could be an ancient lamppost. The trees, again, are quite thick, and they don't look like those found in the EDZ nor in the Cosmodrome, and they are similar to Sycamore trees, instead.
This is important because these trees naturally grow all over the Chicago area. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the foreshadowing of an old concept for a Destiny area called Old Chicago, and Bungie has actively been including mentions to the city in the lore tab of pieces of gear for the past few seasons. These entries refer to crypts within Old Chicago and giant beasts stalking the Guardians dwelling there.
Furthermore, this year marks the 30th anniversary of Bungie, and its founders met at the University of Chicago. That's not all, as Beyond Light provides yet another critical insight thanks to Europa being a scrapped area for Destiny, whose concept art is very similar to the same area in Destiny 2. At the same time, back in 2013, concept art for Old Chicago was shown, which could mean that this time around that area will be coming to life with The Witch Queen. To top it off, there have been numerous rumors about The Witch Queen being set in Old Chicago, and also rumors about how this area would come to Destiny 2 at some point. Whether this will be the case, only time will tell, but the newly released picture makes the possibility of Old Chicago coming very plausible.
Destiny 2Â is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
