Bungie today offered a deep dive look at the new Destiny 2: Renegades release, which is scheduled to arrive for players next week, on December 2. The new major release for the game is an unusual one, as it’s rooted in a partnership with Star Wars. A quick look through the early visuals of the game don’t leave much room for doubt on that, as there are lots of things that look like lightsabers, stormtroopers, and villainous Sith.
But as today’s vidoc makes clear, Bungie is trying to thread a more nuanced line with this release that it first appears. While plenty of features may look like Star Wars, the team is going to great pains to make sure it remains a true and canon Destiny experience. Those aren’t lightsabers but rather Praxic Blades. Those aren’t stormtroopers but instead members of the surging Barant Imperium. And that’s not a Sith – it’s a dangerous new big bad named Dredgen Bael.
Whether the developer can pull off keeping those distinctions or not will be a matter to decide once we can play the game, but the early descriptions and footage offer good reason to be excited.
The storyline appears to focus strongly on Drifter as a central character, acting as a conduit into some of the criminal underworld of the solar system. With his scoundrel demeanor, Drifter pretty clearly nods a bit toward characters like Han Solo in the Star Wars fiction.
We also get to know a character that has been mentioned in the past in written lore entries for Destiny. Aunor Mahal is about as close as the game is likely to have to a Jedi, with her Praxic Blade that she is using to fight against Dredgen Bael.
Players will pledge to a faction and build up reputation as they fight across the Lawless Frontier, an explorable space with a dedicated social hub in the form of Tharsis Outpost. Factions include the anarchist Eliksni biker gang called The Pikers, the group of sentient Vex call the Tharsis Reformation, and the rogue Cabal called Totality Division. You’ll run jobs for these factions like smuggling, bounty hunts, and sabotage-focused missions.
While Aunor is shown in some pretty slick lightsaber-esque battles, NPCs aren’t the only people getting fun new Star Wars-themed toys to play with. Players will also be able to wield Praxic Blades, and will even be able to try out different fighting styles, very much like a Jedi. With the exotic primary, kinetic Praxic Blade, you can deflect attacks, melee attack enemies, and even throw. And, just to set clear expectations, Bungie has shared that the Praxic Blade won’t be unique to this content drop; it will continue to be a relevant weapon in future expansions to the game.
Renegades also introduces new Blasters inspired by Star Wars, including several distinct variants, from dynamic blasters that hit harder with brute force, to more fast-firing balanced blasters. Blasters overheat and must cool down, rather than have a traditional magazine reload. We also learned about a special solar exotic crossbow called Heirloom, inspired by Chewbacca’s weapon in the movies.
Players will also be able to pick up different “renegade abilities,” that seem in some way to tie together with the faction you work for.
Across all the new content Bungie showed off today, one of the features that stood out the most was the music. By drawing direct inspiration from the Star Wars scores, arguably some of the most extensively varied and beloved of all film music, the new Destiny themes that were part of this preview presentation were, quite simply, riveting. The Renegades experience may be worth returning to play if only to hear more of that great music in action.
There’s plenty more to learn in the complete rundown. Check out the full vidoc below to get a comprehensive look at what Bungie is cooking up. Destiny 2 continues its march into the future with Renegades on December 2.