The list of complaints that players have with the current state of Destiny 2 is lengthy. Whether it be issues with the game’s new activities hub–the Portal–an unfulfilling grind for better loot, the implied irrelevance of old gear, the quality of missions that are available, or progress-stalling bugs, the argument for this being the lowest point in Destiny’s history is strong–despite some other periods that put up competition for that title.
While it’s impossible to know how the playerbase at large will holistically receive the content I experienced at a two-day preview of Destiny 2’s upcoming Renegades expansion, what I do know is that there is a lot there for the community to engage with, which already feels like a step up from the previous expansion The Edge of Fate.
When Renegades launches in December, the first thing players will encounter is its campaign, which is serving double duty. Its first responsibility is as a continuation of The Fate Saga, the multi-expansion story that kicked off with The Edge of Fate. At the end of that release, we learned of a vague prophecy that foretold the end of everything, lest our player Guardians “bind the Nine;” a group of primordial, fourth-dimensional beings who pull the strings of Destiny’s universe. But what does binding the Nine actually entail? That’s the million-glimmer question at the heart of the saga.
The second responsibility of Renegades is to more deeply ingrain Star Wars into the DNA of Destiny, elevating Lucasfilm’s franchise from a mere inspiration and turning this expansion into a quasi-adaptation. Thankfully, the Jedi Order, Kylo Ren, and lightsabers aren’t materializing all of a sudden into the Destiny universe, but deliberate proxies for them and myriad other Star Wars elements are.
Renegades Nails Its Thematic Balance
In every announcement around Renegades made by developer Bungie thus far, developers have alluded to striking a perfect balance between a campaign that is undeniably Destiny and also unmistakably Star Wars. From what I played during that two-day session, I am confident the team has delivered on this element of the expansion.
This is best illustrated in Renegades’ fantastic opening mission. There’s a new enemy on the scene: the Barant Imperium, a new faction of Cabal that serves as Destiny’s analog for Star Wars’ Empire. This threat has seemingly sprung up from nowhere, and the Drifter believes its sudden arrival has the Nine written all over it. Putting together a ragtag crew consisting of the Guardian, Eris Morn, and Eido, the Drifter manages to steal a data disk from the Imperium that holds the secrets to its meteoric rise. Not wishing to get humanity caught up in yet another war with the Cabal, the Vanguard has ordered the group to have a babysitter in the form of Aunor, a Guardian of the regimented Praxic Order (read: Jedi Order).
While the Drifter et al. manage to escape with the data disk, it isn’t long before they’re dragged into the belly of an Imperium ship by a tractor beam and confronted by Lume, the legion’s general. In league with Lume is Bael, a Dredgen, or “dark” Guardian–the same faction the Drifter formerly hailed from, back when he was known as Dredgen Hope. The Imperium captures the Drifter, freezes him with Stasis, and it’s the Guardian’s job to shoot their way through the Cabal ship to rescue him. The opening mission ends with Dredgen Bael facing off against Aunor, the pair wielding their Praxic Blades. I shouldn’t have to explain what those are an analog for.
While on paper, this mission is heavy handed on the Star Wars references, remixing the opening and ending of A New Hope with tinges of The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and various other references thrown in for good measure, it all works, and it all feels like a true-to-Destiny mission when playing through it. The rest of what we played of the campaign follows this formula, and at all times both halves of Renegades feel in near-perfect harmony.
However, I do have some concerns. There is a lot being thrown at the player, with the three factions of the Praxic Order, the Dredgen, and Barant Imperium all pretty much making their debut; the former two have been around in Destiny lore for a while, but have never taken center stage before. And that’s to say nothing of the three crime syndicates that players meet further into the campaign. Mixed in with the prophecy and the Nine, this expansion does not seem to be a great narrative onboard for new or long-lapsed Guardians, which I imagine Bungie is hoping for with the Star Wars tie-in dangling in front of potential players.
During the preview, we jumped around a bit in the story, playing through the beginning and then, after a few missions, hopping to the end of the first Act. That final Act one mission deliciously subverts a traditional Star Wars trope and results in a satisfying twist that raises the stakes of the conflict considerably. We then jumped ahead again for another mission or two, before ending with the Exotic mission that sees the player receive their own Praxic Blade. In short, there are chunks of the story we didn’t experience that made certain plot points difficult to follow. I expect those missing chunks to succinctly tie everything together, as what we did experience in these individual bubbles was really strong, but we won’t know until we play through the campaign at launch if Bungie has delivered yet another banger narrative installment.
