This review is coming a bit later than I anticipated, and the timing wasn’t an accident. Renegades hit during the holiday season, and I was juggling the usual work-life balancing issues that show up when everything gets loud at once. I also needed a real break after how insane my 2025 content creation pace became. I didn’t want to force a review out while my head was still in recovery mode. After pouring several dozen hours post launch (I believe over 150hrs) I felt truly felt satisfied with Renegades despite missing some core elements of Destiny that made it what it is today.
I keep thinking back to where I landed with Edge of Fate. I enjoyed it, and I respected the big-picture swing Bungie was taking, but I also felt a shift starting to happen. Destiny was feeling less like a living world and more like a set of activities. The sense of place wasn’t landing the way it used to. I could feel the game tightening its grip on where I’m “allowed” to exist, and that’s not a small thing for me with Destiny. Renegades is a better week-to-week experience. The gameplay loop is fun, and it stays fun. The weapons are especially desirable, and that matters because loot is still the heartbeat of Destiny. The problem is what’s missing around that heartbeat. I can love the chase and still miss the soul.
Kylo-Revan’stiny
The Star Wars inspiration is obvious, and the Lucasfilm Games collaboration gives the whole thing a clear identity, but what really sold it for me is how well the story plays. It’s paced like an actual adventure. It has momentum. It has character chemistry. It doesn’t fall apart in the middle. The campaign opens with the kind of problem that only Destiny can turn into a full-blown crisis. The Drifter pulls you into the mess with that familiar “I know something you don’t” attitude, but Renegades doesn’t use him as comic relief or a shady narrator this time. He’s the one setting the stakes, pushing the crew forward, and making it clear that this isn’t a clean operation — and clean it wasn’t.
Aunor Mahal is a new character from the Warlock Praxic Order, and her arrival is where the story really tightens up. You can feel the tension between her and the Drifter immediately (which is hilarious since these characters are voiced by the same person) and the campaign actually lets that friction matter. The crew dynamic shifts because Aunor forces everything into the open. She’s not here for improvisation, and Renegades plays that clash well because it adds urgency. The entire conflict is because of Dredgen Bael, an antagonist who is driven by one of the Nine — the story treats him like a genuine threat with a presence that hangs over the campaign. The fact that he’s a fallen Guardian but still beats the breaks off of Aunor is awesome to see.
Renegades don’t do that Destiny thing where the first act is strong, the middle gets stuck in repetition, and the finale has to sprint to the finish. Each stretch of the campaign feels like it’s escalating. It’s one of Destiny 2’s strongest story to date, and thankfully it isn’t because of the collab with Lucas Films.
Lawlessness
Lawless Frontier is basically Marathon-lite…lite, but the extraction element is very specific, and it’s what gives the mode its tension. You drop in, complete a series of objectives that can shift depending on the job type and the run, then you make the push to an exfil zone and wait for your ship to arrive. That waiting period is the pressure cooker. Enemies collapse on you, the space gets chaotic fast, and you still need to hold it together long enough to board and lock in the run. It doesn’t have the harsh long-term punishment of a true extraction shooter, but it still makes the ending feel earned because you don’t just “finish,” you survive the exit.
The invasion layer is what adds unpredictability, because another player can drop into your run and mess with your loot potential at the worst possible time. I was honestly expecting more “I’m invading a full fireteam and getting instantly deleted” moments, but my experience as an invader skewed differently. I was usually 1v1’ing someone who got separated, or I’d catch a duel situation that felt more like a hunt than a firefight against three coordinated Guardians. The 1v3 scenario exists and it can happen, but most of my invasions didn’t play out like that. My bigger gripe with Lawless Frontier is that it can feel too boxed in once you’re inside it. The activity is built around dense encounters and tight pacing, and I understand the design intent, but being confined to a particular zone takes away some of that improvisational energy that makes extraction-style gameplay exciting.
Tharsis Outpost is where the whole loop ties together; Vendors let you exchange Credits, Syndicates give you something to align with, and the War Chest deposit system becomes the hook that keeps you running the mode even when you tell yourself you’re logging off after “one last run.” It pushed me further into the new content because reputation gating works when the rewards are worth it, and Renegades does a good job making those progression tracks feel relevant.
Renegade Abilities are the other reason this expansion’s gameplay stands out. They feel like a killstreak-style layer you build into, and they genuinely change the tempo of fights. Calling in an air strike to delete a clustered group of enemies is satisfying, but summoning a walker and piloting it to wreak havoc is the moment where the mode stops feeling like “Destiny with a gimmick” and starts feeling like something distinct. Those abilities give Lawless Frontier its own identity, and when everything is clicking, they make the loop feel fresh instead of routine.
Han Solo’s Arsenal
Renegades gear and weapons shine this time around. The “heat” weapon family forced me to play differently because I wasn’t living on reload muscle memory anymore. I had to pay attention to charge dissipation and manage my tempo instead of just slamming reload between every engagement. That small shift changes the feel of combat more than I expected, and it’s why I kept circling back to this pool. Uncivil Discourse became a staple for me because it’s an Arc hand cannon that sits in that sweet spot of consistent mid-range tempo. Modified B-7 Pistol gave me that same hand cannon comfort but with a colder Stasis identity, and it never felt like a redundant reskin because it encouraged different build pairings. All or Nothing is the one I leaned on when I wanted to keep pressure up, a Strand pulse rifle that pushes mid-range play into a faster, more aggressive cadence without forcing me into lane-holding habits. The weapons just feel fresh and satisfying to use more so than previous expansions.
The Praxic Blade is the reason my week-to-week routine stayed locked in though. It’s a kinetic sword built around a throw-and-recall identity that actually holds up once the novelty fades. I’d toss it into a pack, watch it carve through targets, then pull it back into the flow without losing tempo. The guard reflection aspect is what sold me long-term. Once I got comfortable converting incoming fire into reflected shots aimed where I’m looking, it stopped feeling like a trick and started feeling like a dependable tool. It adds a defensive layer that still feels aggressive, and that balance is why I kept it glued to my loadout.
Of course the Equilibrium dungeon arrived post launch, and I had a blast combing through it’s original assets. The encounter design rewards coordination without turning into tedious busywork. The loot supports the replay value too, because the pool feels curated for real builds. Zealous Ideal gave me a Solar auto rifle that felt reliable in sustained fights. Bitter End delivered an Arc machine gun I actually wanted to center a loadout around. High Tyrant became a Void pulse rifle I respected for disciplined, controlled play. Voltaic Shade gave me an Arc scout that felt stable and confident when I needed range without drama. Conspiracy Honed scratched that aggressive Solar sniper itch. Sullen Claw rounded it out with a Void vortex sword that made close-range builds feel complete.
REVIEW SCORE: 7.5/10
Destiny 2: Renegades is a very nice expansion to top off 2025, with great storytelling, compelling activities and loot to chase that’s dripped in Star Wars aesthetics, but the overarching issue with Destiny 2’s approach still lingers — the lack of social elements and feeling confined into activities is growing by the expansion, and I hope we can return to the social, organic richness that we had before The Final Shape’s launch.
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