Destiny 2 is strongly inspired by Star Wars in the new expansion “Renegades” and even collaborated with Lucasfilm for it – and in this collaboration lie the strengths of the expansion.
Renegades, the new expansion of Destiny 2, starts off strong with a video sequence that screams Star Wars. The design of the spaceships, the sound effects of the laser cannons… You can directly see and hear where it is heading.
A new villain enters the room and instantly grabs all attention and overwhelms with his aura. The presentation is impressive and I immediately wondered: “Okay, who is this and why is he so cool?”
Then we play a typical Destiny mission and fight our way through enemy territory. At the end of the mission there is another fantastically staged scene: a lightsaber duel between one of our companions and the new adversary, which we admire from different angles. The fight could be directly from one of the new Star Wars films and is really fun to watch. I’m hooked and eager to continue playing.
Boring Quests, Silent Dialogues and Little Drama
Again and again we are sent to collect items or information through the new social hub, accompanied by short dialogues. Boredom sets in because the dialogues are not very meaningful or emotional. The exciting, teased campaign of the expansion progresses sluggishly. Worse still: Almost all dialogues are completely silent, as if I were playing Pokémon or an indie game that did not have a budget for voice actors.
Unfortunately, it is not only unimportant NPCs that are affected, who only appear 1-2 times throughout the story. Important players, who are foundational to the story, are also suddenly silent in some dialogues, even though they have a voice actor in the video sequences.
During the campaign, our Guardian learns about various, less righteous factions to collaborate with them. The faction leaders, whom we speak to repeatedly, are also silent. However, they give us our new abilities, the so-called tactical abilities.
However, the actual story suffers during the introduction of the new abilities. The plot develops slowly. The dramatic situation conveyed to us in the video sequences is hardly felt. Instead: In the midst of this life-threatening situation, we play introductory missions to the factions and tutorial missions for the new abilities.
The tension arc falls and falls.
I was promised a brilliant Star Wars story in the intro, but the missions do not reflect that for a long time. I’m waiting for drama and conflicts. After all, about a third of the campaign passes before the tutorial missions end. The first mission that convinced me came when the campaign was already almost two-thirds through.
Not everything is bad that tastes like Destiny
Don’t get me wrong, not everything is bad that comes from Renegades of Destiny. On the contrary: It is more Destiny and those who want more Destiny will probably be satisfied. The excellent gunplay of the shooter has of course not worsened and some of the new weapons are really fun. My favorite is a gun in the style of Han Solo’s blaster. Shooting with it felt really good.
If you have simply longed for new Destiny content, you will get it. Renegades is not the most extensive expansion, but you get a story campaign, new weapons, a mode where you can raid other Guardians, and a new dungeon will follow on December 13. Destiny fans get typical Destiny gameplay.
Highlights of the expansion also include the new tactical abilities that our Guardian can use in the frontier, including an airstrike in the best Helldivers manner and a dome shield that blocks enemy fire. The good thing about it: You can use them when you feel like it, but you can usually also ignore them – this is a significant improvement compared to the last expansion “At the Edge of Fate”, where extremely annoying mechanics were forced upon you even in boss fights.
Star Wars Leads, But Destiny Cannot Keep Up
The strengths of Renegades clearly lie where we feel the presence of Star Wars – and this is said by someone who was never a big fan of Star Wars. The problem is that the Star Wars part is so good that as a player you expect this level for the entire expansion and are disappointed.
- The video sequences are fantastically staged
- The music and sound design perfectly match the theme and contribute significantly to the atmosphere
- The Star Wars weapons are implemented strongly: The “Han Solo Blaster” is a lot of fun and the exotic lightsaber is one of the best new weapons Destiny has received in recent years
However, the rest of the expansion cannot maintain the high quality of the Star Wars content. Too often I lost the desire to continue playing because my tasks seemed trivial. I then had to repeat a mission because a door did not open due to a bug. It took me several attempts before I could finally motivate myself to play through the campaign – and that was mainly due to the mission design and the silent dialogues. For me, this quickly resulted in a disillusioned impression:
Whenever Star Wars takes a backseat and Destiny has to shine, Renegades falters and as a result, the expansion lacked the spark for a long time that would have made me truly enjoy it.
