Destiny has always been the “we’ve got Star Wars at home” looter shooter, and with Destiny 2: Renegades, Bungie has decided to lean into that directly with a crossover expansion. Weirdly enough, so far that decision seems to have kinda worked out alright! Renegades doesn’t solve many of Destiny 2’s longstanding issues, including the fact that it’s been awkwardly spinning its wheels for over a year now (reminiscent of the MCU post-Endgame), but embracing the cheesiness and over-the-top drama of Star Wars is at the very least a surprisingly nice change of pace in what has become quite a predictable universe. The story is silly, to be sure, but introduces a few new mechanics and weapon types that are a welcome change, and there’s an impressive level of enemy density throughout practically all of the activities that keeps the action interesting. I’ve still got a lot more questing and looting to do before my final review, but so far this expansion has been a pretty compelling breath of fresh air in a game I’ve otherwise been far less excited about than usual.
If you’ve read any of my previous expansion reviews (of which there are a lot), then you’ll already know I am one those weirdo Destiny fans who has stuck with this game through thick and thin – so it should mean something when I tell you that saying I am also a Star Wars fan would be such a massive understatement that I’m actually too embarrassed to elaborate further publicly. But even with my undying love of space wizards, I was initially mortified to learn Destiny 2 was planning a crossover with it. For me, it was the ultimate sign that Destiny was out of ideas, had gone “full Fortnite” in a way that seemed cheap and tacky, and was making one last desperation play during the slow death it’s been suffering for a number of years now. And, yeah, that all pretty much turned out to be true. But when I found myself watching two lightsaber-wielding foes square off in an epic cutscene while listening to the John Williams-esque music this expansion makes heavy use of, I’ll admit it won me over… at least a little.
Renegades does go out of its way to include every little Star Wars reference to a degree that can feel a bit forced – a crutch that’s continuously leaned upon in lieu of any original ideas. For example, you find yourself trapped in a garbage compactor during the very first mission, rescue someone from off-brand carbon freezing, and make a jump to lightspeed while a brooding, masked villain angrily watches you escape his grasp. It’s extremely on the nose stuff, and I was just as likely to experience a full-body cringe as I was to smile about it. But the complete “screw it” energy at play here as it full-throatedly embraces all the corniness and drama for which Star Wars is known does have a certain kind of refreshing charm that’s at least a distinct direction for Destiny 2. I’ve been complaining about this game feeling stale for at least five years now, so I’ve got to give Bungie a bit of credit for trying something new here.
There are also a fair number of new mechanics that I wasn’t expecting, like a shielding system for certain enemies that forces you to deal a whole bunch of damage in a short span of time before you can actually hurt them, AT-ST-inspired walkers that have some unique attacks I wasn’t expecting, and even some new weapon types, like battery-powered guns that can be fired until they overheat and need to cool down. None of this is massively game-changing stuff, but they’re decent little tweaks to the sandbox that are welcome additions. Of course, there’s also a ton of stuff that hasn’t changed at all, and even while you’re facing off against a new kind of enemy in theory, you’ll still be fighting the same Cabal armored warriors and bony Thrall monstrosities you’ve been shooting for over a decade, which has made this feel like a cheap reskin at times.
I’m still fairly early into my space opera journey (I haven’t even crafted my lightsaber yet!), so I have a whole lot more to play before I can definitively say where Renegades lands. But so far this expansion seems much better than I expected… though that’s partially because I expected very little. I’ll have much more to say once I’ve completed the campaign and begin to dive into the endgame activities. For Light and Life!
