How is Destiny 2: Renegades so far? Thanks for asking, let's talk about it

Destiny 2: Renegades, the first expansion ever to pull inspiration from and license another property (Star Wars, in this case), is finally here. And while I still feel I need time to review the expansion properly – it’s hard to judge when the dungeon will likely be such a large piece of the story puzzle – I’ve completed the campaign, spent many hours in the new Lawless Frontier game mode, upgraded my lightsaber, and more.

And now I have thoughts.

Just at the top here, before going any further, I want to get to my biggest gripe with Renegades. As I feared from my preview event, the campaign is quite short. But, despite some issues I have with how Bungie attempts to elongate it for playtime, the story and mission content that is there is excellent. The big problem is that Bungie has done so well with the Star Wars theming, story, locations, and weapons, that the campaign ending prematurely has left an emptier feeling than normal. Once the dungeon comes out on Dec. 13, I’ll presumably have seen all of the Destiny Star Wars there is and ever will be. And considering my original skepticism about this crossover to begin with, I’m shockingly sad about that.

From the start, Bungie makes it very clear that Renegades is both Destiny and Star Wars. But they also get the balance right from the get go, and by balance I mean it always leans a little more Destiny than Star Wars. The look, the sound, the themes – the vibe, basically – is Star Wars. But the feel – the bones – never stray far enough from Destiny to cause discomfort. At least not for me, a long-time Destiny player and big Star Wars fan who hasn’t felt great about the franchise as a whole over the last decade (other than Andor and most of The Last Jedi, of course).