Bungie announces the next four Destiny 2 expansions, and yes, the second one is literally just Star Wars
In today's Destiny 2 reveal event, Bungie kicked off the next major 'saga' of the game. It's called the Fate Saga, it'll unfold over multiple years, and it will start on July 15 with the first expansion, The Edge of Fate.
But that was just one of four expansions that Bungie announced today, and it's the second one—due out later this year, on December 2—that will raise the most eyebrows. It's called Renegades, and it's… well, it's Star Wars.
"Renegades is going to be a definitively Destiny expansion," narrative designer Alison Luhrs says during the reveal. "This is part of the Fate Saga and it's going to push it forward in important ways and introduce characters that we're going to spend time with for years to come."
No doubt this disclaimer exists because, well, just look at that teaser trailer. It looks like a non-canon Star Wars crossover event.
"To really drive it home here, Renegades is a one-of-a-kind Destiny experience," says assistant game director Robbie Stevens. "Just like we on the Destiny team have taken inspiration from other genres like dark fantasy or cosmic horror, Renegades takes the space western vibe and aesthetic that is Star Wars and puts it through that Destiny lens."
Which, I dunno. I think you've gone beyond vibe and aesthetic when one of your Ultimate Edition cosmetic bonuses is literally just Darth Vader.
Away from the Star Wars of it all, here's what's lined up for the next two years of Destiny 2:
- July 15, 2025: The Edge of Fate
- December 2, 2025: Renegades
- Summer 2026: Shattered Cycle
- Winter 2026: The Alchemist
For the first of those, The Edge of Fate, players will be summoned to a new location, Kepler, to get embroiled in some new drama from The Nine. Bungie calls this an attempt to bring mystery back into the Destiny universe, which is why the central antagonists here seem to be The Nine—dark matter beings that represent the celestial bodies of our solar system.
This will also kick off a new release cycle for the game. As shown by the timeline, Destiny 2 will be receiving two expansions per year—each said to be around the same size as Destiny 1's Rise of Iron, (ie, smaller than a typical Destiny 2 annual expansion). And between expansion releases will be new "major updates" that replace the previous seasonal model. These will be free to all players, and the first, called Ash and Iron, will launch in September and add Destiny 1's Plaguelands location to the sequel.
It's going to be a major shakeup for the game, but honestly, after the last year of episodic updates, Destiny 2 desperately needed something different. The Final Shape was an all-timer, but it didn't take long for the regular seasonal fatigue to set in. By the second episode community sentiment was as low as I've seen it in some time, and even though the third episode was much better received, it's abundantly clear that the seasonal rollercoaster had long outstayed its welcome.
Will this new model be better? I'm certainly intrigued by what Bungie is doing to streamline the new player experience, and to improve the loot chase through a new tier system. But ultimately it's going to come down to the quality of these new expansions—whether the metroidvania exploration of The Edge of Fate will feel like more than just a gimmick, and whether Bungie can pull off a whole Star Wars expansion and still make it feel like it makes sense in the game.
Destiny 2 is a game forever bouncing between "It's so over" and "We're so back", and I'm struggling to predict where The Edge of Fate will fall.