Renegades Satisfyingly Transports Destiny 2 To A Galaxy Far, Far Away

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Players have a lot of concerns about Destiny 2 right now. Many are frustrated with the new Portal area, the repetitive way to earn better items, the feeling that older gear is useless, the quality of the missions, and game-breaking bugs. Some believe this is the worst the game has ever been, even compared to other difficult periods in its history.

It’s hard to say exactly how players will react to the new Renegades expansion for Destiny 2, but after a two-day preview, it’s clear there’s a lot to do and enjoy. It already feels like a significant improvement over the last expansion, The Edge of Fate.

When the Renegades expansion releases in December, players will immediately dive into its campaign, which continues the ongoing story of The Fate Saga. This saga began with The Edge of Fate and ended with a mysterious prophecy warning of total destruction unless players, as Guardians, could “bind the Nine” – ancient, powerful beings who control the Destiny universe. The central mystery of the story is figuring out what it actually means to bind the Nine.

As a Destiny player, I’m really glad the new expansion isn’t just throwing Star Wars stuff in randomly. Instead, the team – the Renegades – are working to really weave Star Wars into the world, making it feel like a proper reimagining of the franchise, not just a quick nod. We’re not seeing Jedi and lightsabers appear out of nowhere, but things that feel like Star Wars, inspired by it, and building on that universe in a way that fits into Destiny’s story.

Renegades Nails Its Thematic Balance

Bungie, the developer of Destiny, has consistently said they aimed to create a campaign for Renegades that felt both authentically Destiny and distinctly Star Wars. After playing a preview of the expansion, I believe they’ve successfully achieved that goal.

The opening mission in Renegades perfectly demonstrates this. A new enemy, the Barant Imperium – a Cabal faction similar to the Empire from Star Wars – has suddenly appeared in Destiny. The Drifter suspects this sudden emergence is connected to the Nine. He assembles a team – including the Guardian, Eris Morn, and Eido – and successfully steals a data disk from the Imperium, revealing the source of their rapid growth. To avoid another Cabal war, the Vanguard sends Aunor, a Guardian from the disciplined Praxic Order (think Jedi), to oversee the operation.

The Drifter and his team manage to escape with the data disk, but are quickly captured by an Imperium ship using a tractor beam. They’re confronted by Lume, the Imperium’s general, who is allied with Bael – a powerful, dark Guardian. This is especially significant because Bael used to be Dredgen Hope, the Drifter’s former identity. The Imperium freezes the Drifter in stasis, and the Guardians must fight their way through a Cabal ship to save him. The initial mission culminates in a duel between Dredgen Bael and Aunor, both wielding their signature Praxic Blades – a clear reference to a famous rivalry.

Although this mission heavily borrows from classic Star Wars moments – echoing the beginnings and endings of ‘A New Hope’ and incorporating elements from other films – it surprisingly works well. More importantly, it still feels like a natural fit within the Destiny universe. The rest of the campaign we played follows this successful pattern, with both sides of the Renegades storyline blending together seamlessly.

Okay, so I’m a little worried about how much stuff is getting dumped on us all at once. We’ve got three major factions – the Praxic Order, the Dredgen, and the Barant Imperium – all showing up for the first time as playable elements. The Praxic Order and Dredgen have been hinted at in Destiny’s backstory, but they’ve never been this central. And that’s before you even get to the three crime groups we meet later! Honestly, with all this going on – the prophecy, the Nine, and all these new factions – it feels like a really confusing starting point for new players, or even those of us who haven’t played in a while. Bungie is probably hoping the Star Wars stuff will bring people in, but I’m not sure how easy it’ll be to jump into this story.

During the preview, we played through different parts of the story – the beginning, some missions in the middle, and then the very end of the first Act. That final mission was a clever surprise, flipping a classic Star Wars idea on its head and making the central conflict much more intense. We also got a glimpse of later missions, including one where you get a special weapon, the Praxic Blade. Because we didn’t play the story in order, some plot points were a little hard to follow. Hopefully, the missing parts will fill in those gaps and make everything clear. What we did play was really promising, but we’ll have to wait until the full game comes out to see if Bungie has created another fantastic story.

The Praxic Blade Will Shake Up The Meta

The new Praxic Blade is a fantastic addition to Destiny 2! It’s clearly inspired by lightsabers, but it’s been implemented in a way that truly changes how the game plays. You can use it to slash enemies, throw it as a returning blade, and even deflect incoming attacks. We’ve had a chance to try out the different upgrades, and it feels incredibly versatile. Being able to deflect attacks, especially during challenging fights, is a great feature, and we’re excited to see how it impacts the game’s overall strategy.

You can change the color of your Blade! When you first get it, it will be either blue or green – the developers haven’t explained exactly why some players received different colors in the preview. You can also unlock a red Blade, and while I can’t reveal if there are more colors available, there’s a good variety. Most of these extra colors are earned through gameplay, but a few will only be available to purchase from the Eververse store. Creators at the preview event predict the Destiny 2 community will be very unhappy about that, especially regarding the limited hilt options also found in the Eververse store.

Alongside the Praxic Blade, the game introduces new long-range weapons that use heat. These weapons come in different varieties – kinetic, energy, and powerful – and work a bit differently than traditional guns. Instead of reloading, you’ll need to release built-up heat to keep firing. Some of these heat weapons even let you vent heat quickly if timed right before overheating, similar to the active reload system found in the Gears of War games.

I recently got a hands-on preview of some of the new weapons coming in the expansion, and I’m really excited about them! While the new venting mechanic might not change the game as much as the Praxic Blade did, I think adding a bunch of new guns with unique stats and mods is a fantastic move. And honestly? Some of them sound amazing – they’ve got these really cool Star Wars-inspired sound effects. The whole audio design of the expansion is a standout, especially with the music being influenced by John Williams!

New Abilities Make The Lawless Frontier Worth Exploring

The main addition in Renegades, beyond the story campaign, is the Lawless Frontier, a new activity designed to keep players engaged until the next major expansion. To weaken the Barant Imperium, Guardians travel to Tharsis Outpost on Mars and work with three criminal groups: the Eliksni Pikers, the Cabal Totality Division, and the Vex Tharsis Reformation. Players use a holomap to choose from three mission types, each focused on a different syndicate. Bounty Hunts involve eliminating key targets, Smuggle tasks players with stealing valuable items, and Sabotage requires players to damage syndicate equipment. However, each mission type includes a variety of different objectives.

I was particularly impressed by the diverse settings in The Lawless Frontier. After the previous expansion, The Edge of Fate, which centered heavily on just one location (Kepler), it’s refreshing to explore multiple planets. The new missions take place on Mars, Europa, and Venus, each designed to visually resemble iconic Star Wars planets like Tatooine, Hoth, and Dagobah. This is another great example of how well the game incorporates the Luscafilm universe, breathing new life into familiar landscapes.

These new missions really highlight Destiny’s strengths – fast-paced shooting action. Unlike some previous activities, they keep you constantly engaged and avoid pointless wandering. However, like the often-criticized ‘Nether’ missions, you have limited revives and won’t automatically regain health. These ‘Lawless Frontier’ missions involve extracting from the area, meaning you need to complete objectives and successfully escape with special loot. Luckily, health pickups are more common than in ‘Nether,’ and new abilities give you different ways to approach each mission and help you survive.

Renegade Abilities offer nine different powers, each of which can be upgraded seven times by building your reputation with the various syndicates. These abilities cover both defense – like a portable healing field – and offense, including the Behemoth, a new Barant Imperium vehicle inspired by the AT-ST, which proved exceptionally strong during early testing.

Honestly, the ability upgrades are a big deal. Like, I got to try out the healing dome fully upgraded, and it not only heals everyone, but also quickly charges your Super – that’s awesome! And the Behemoth? You can equip it with mortars that completely freeze enemies. We had everything maxed out during the preview, so I’m not sure how much of a grind it’ll be to unlock all that stuff when the game actually comes out. But it definitely feels worth it to keep playing and level up with those syndicate groups, because those upgrades are seriously powerful.

I’m really excited about a cool feature in the Lawless Frontier! Basically, every day you can choose to support one of three different syndicates and do things that help them gain control of territory. It’s like a daily turf war, and they’re encouraging us to switch who we support each day with some nice rewards. This all connects to the contract system too – you get extra bonuses for completing contracts while you’re aligned with a particular syndicate. Honestly, during the preview, I wasn’t sure if this system would work well with so few players, but I think it’s going to be amazing once the expansion fully launches!

Another new feature lets players invade each other’s activities, similar to the Gambit mode. However, this is only possible in the most difficult master and grandmaster levels, and it’s something players can choose to do. The developers have promised rewards for both invaders and those being invaded – for example, earning a red crystal needed for the Praxic Blade.

The recent preview showed that invasions significantly impact gameplay. For instance, my team and I were having a good run until another team invaded our match. They quickly broke through our defenses, and even after defeating them, we struggled for the rest of the round, barely managing to complete the mission and escape.

When you return to Tharsis Outpost, you can trade the dark matter you’ve collected for reputation with each of the different syndicates. Earning reputation unlocks new Renegade Abilities and upgrades, and also lets you get modifications for the Praxic Blade. Additionally, each syndicate controls one of the new weapons, which will become available as loot once you’ve increased your reputation enough to unlock it.

So, they added this new currency called credits you earn in the Lawless Frontier. You can spend them at the Outpost’s bazaar on all the new weapons and armor from the expansion, or trade them for other stuff. Honestly, Bungie really tried to make the bazaar feel like a proper Star Wars market, and I appreciate the effort. But it still feels clunky because it’s stuck with Destiny’s old UI. It’s probably the weakest part of how they brought the Star Wars stuff into the game, in my opinion.

The Start Of An Effort To Fix Destiny’s Problems Is There

Alongside the new content, Renegades is improving many parts of the existing Destiny 2 experience. Bungie has detailed a large number of changes – a ten-page document we received – to weapons and gear, with the goal of making more of the older items useful and competitive.

Destiny 2 is adding “orders” – short, personalized tasks that appear alongside daily challenges. Unlike those challenges, you won’t have to manually claim rewards for completing orders; you’ll get them automatically, and new orders will instantly replace the ones you finish. Bungie has promised to address major community concerns in 2026, but the upcoming Renegades update will also include improvements to the game beyond just the new content.

It’s tough to fully judge a Destiny 2 expansion beforehand, because how much players enjoy it depends on whether they keep playing – something we can’t predict. However, I think ‘Renegades’ has a lot of potential to offer the kind of engaging experience we’ve seen in some of the game’s best expansions. If the story continues to build on what’s come before and delivers a compelling narrative with a good ending, players who enjoy Destiny 2’s story will likely be pleased with this release.

As a long-time Destiny player, it feels like our fate as Guardians in the game mirrors the fate of the game itself – it really rests on what we do. And honestly, after getting a good look at the upcoming Renegades expansion, I think Bungie is giving us everything we need to keep playing and enjoying things. I genuinely believe it’s big enough to hold us over for at least half a year, which should give the developers some breathing room to work on making the game even better overall. We’ll all find out for sure once it’s released on December 2nd, 2025, for PC, PlayStation 4 & 5, and Xbox One & Series consoles.

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2025-11-26 21:12