Destiny has all the time been the “we’ve acquired Star Wars at house” looter shooter, and with Destiny 2: Renegades, Bungie has determined to lean into that instantly with a crossover growth. Weirdly sufficient, to date that call appears to have kinda labored out alright! Renegades doesn’t resolve a lot of Destiny 2’s longstanding points, together with the truth that it’s been awkwardly spinning its wheels for over a yr now (paying homage to the MCU post-Endgame), however embracing the cheesiness and over-the-top drama of Star Wars is on the very least a surprisingly good change of tempo in what has change into fairly a predictable universe. The story is foolish, to make certain, however introduces just a few new mechanics and weapon varieties which are a welcome change, and there’s a powerful degree of enemy density all through virtually all the actions that retains the motion fascinating. I’ve nonetheless acquired much more questing and looting to do earlier than my remaining overview, however to date this growth has been a fairly compelling breath of recent air in a recreation I’ve in any other case been far much less enthusiastic about than ordinary.
Should you’ve learn any of my earlier growth opinions (of which there are a lot), then you definitely’ll already know I’m one these weirdo Destiny followers who has caught with this recreation by thick and skinny – so it ought to imply one thing after I let you know that saying I’m additionally a Star Wars fan could be such a large understatement that I’m really too embarrassed to elaborate additional publicly. However even with my timeless love of house wizards, I used to be initially mortified to be taught Destiny 2 was planning a crossover with it. For me, it was the last word signal that Destiny was out of concepts, had gone “full Fortnite” in a approach that appeared low cost and cheesy, and was making one final desperation play throughout the sluggish loss of life it’s been struggling for a lot of years now. And, yeah, that each one just about turned out to be true. However when I discovered myself watching two lightsaber-wielding foes sq. off in an epic cutscene whereas listening to the John Williams-esque music this growth makes heavy use of, I’ll admit it gained me over… a minimum of just a little.
Renegades does exit of its technique to embrace each little Star Wars reference to a level that may really feel a bit pressured – a crutch that’s repeatedly leaned upon in lieu of any unique concepts. For instance, you end up trapped in a rubbish compactor throughout the very first mission, rescue somebody from off-brand carbon freezing, and make a soar to lightspeed whereas a brooding, masked villain angrily watches you escape his grasp. It’s extraordinarily on the nostril stuff, and I used to be simply as more likely to expertise a full-body cringe as I used to be to smile about it. However the full “screw it” power at play right here because it full-throatedly embraces all of the corniness and drama for which Star Wars is thought does have a sure type of refreshing attraction that’s a minimum of a definite route for Destiny 2. I’ve been complaining about this recreation feeling stale for a minimum of 5 years now, so I’ve acquired to provide Bungie a little bit of credit score for making an attempt one thing new right here.
There are additionally a good variety of new mechanics that I wasn’t anticipating, like a shielding system for sure enemies that forces you to deal an entire bunch of injury in a brief span of time earlier than you possibly can really harm them, AT-ST-inspired walkers which have some distinctive assaults I wasn’t anticipating, and even some new weapon varieties, like battery-powered weapons that may be fired till they overheat and want to chill down. None of that is massively game-changing stuff, however they’re first rate little tweaks to the sandbox which are welcome additions. After all, there’s additionally a ton of stuff that hasn’t modified in any respect, and even whilst you’re going through off in opposition to a brand new type of enemy in concept, you’ll nonetheless be combating the identical Cabal armored warriors and bony Thrall monstrosities you’ve been taking pictures for over a decade, which has made this really feel like an inexpensive reskin at occasions.
I’m nonetheless pretty early into my house opera journey (I haven’t even crafted my lightsaber but!), so I’ve an entire lot extra to play earlier than I can definitively say the place Renegades lands. However to date this growth appears a lot better than I anticipated… although that’s partially as a result of I anticipated little or no. I’ll have far more to say as soon as I’ve accomplished the marketing campaign and start to dive into the endgame actions. For Gentle and Life!