27 November 2025

I Visited Bungie to See Destiny 2’s New Renegades Content, and the Most Surprising Thing Was the Devs’ Candor

By newsgame

It takes a lot of guts to admit you missed the mark, video games or otherwise. But when the sentiment around a game has declined rapidly and fans are looking towards its developer to shine a light on the future, there are few options than taking ownership of mistakes and moving forward. When I visited Bungie earlier this month to see the new Renegades expansion, Destiny 2 Design Lead Tyson Green did just that, and it was a refreshing, tone-setting greeting for what would be two days’ worth of experiencing what the future holds for the live service game.

In the time since playing the new Renegades content for Destiny 2, Bungie has come forward to reveal how it plans to improve the game in December. While the content roadmap will have to wait until 2026, there was a clear message that Bungie wants to take fan feedback, use it, and make Destiny 2 better.

Hearing Green accept responsibility for the missteps Destiny 2 has made with Edge of Fate and Ash, and Iron was uncomfortable, but felt necessary. There was a cloud of uncertainty hanging over Destiny 2 heading into this event, with some speculating that Renegades could be the last content release for the game. There will be no such funeral; Destiny will continue.

Bungie Knows It Needs to Do Better By Destiny 2 Fans

destiny 2 renegades shrewd survivor armor set

Green and various Bungie devs explained that the plan is simple: to start with Renegades and not stop. We’ve already seen that Bungie is willing to make significant changes to improve the experience in Destiny 2 in the time since my hands-on, and the changes have been met with positive feedback from players. In fact, many of the major, system-level reinventions that Bungie introduced with Edge of Fate have since been almost completely stripped out of the game, or at the very least re-imagined. The power leveling grind, in particular, has been overhauled several times, making it easier to get up to 550. Additionally, the original plan to raise the power level cap with Renegades has been scrapped.

Why Focus on an Apology With New Content on the Horizon?

You can read my thoughts on Renegades, the new Lawless Frontier activity, and pieces of my interview with Ben Womack and Robbie Stevens on the site, but I wanted to explain what it was like stepping into Bungie at a time when the studio is at a genuine low. The last time I visited Bungie was for the Destiny 2 pre-launch, when it felt like the developer could do no wrong. Live services were booming, dozens of games were copying Destiny’s blueprint, and the future seemed very bright.

Bungie Didn’t Need to Address the Elephant in the Room

At Bungie, I was curious if the focus would simply be on the new Renegades content, and the developers would sidestep any questions about the future or community sentiment. To their credit, any conversation I had with a Bungie developer had at least some acknowledgment that the studio needs to do better by its fans. Whether that’s listening to feedback and making changes, even if it completely undoes core systems like we saw with the recent Call to Arms event, or better anticipating what players want out of new content, Bungie is determined to right the ship.

Response to the latest Destiny 2 breakdowns of balance changes, exotic tuning, and new content seems to have the community excited for Renegades. My time with the Renegades patch was too short to be able to say whether those changes are significant or game-changing, but Renegades has that reinvigorating feel of a good Destiny expansion.

There was some concern that this would feel like a cash grab, a Star Wars collaboration that ignored the core identity of Destiny 2. However, Renegades has everything that I love about new content – epic music, intriguing characters, new weapon archetypes – and it never feels forced. There are strong parallels between the Destiny universe and Star Wars, and Bungie plays into that. The developers find logical ways to draw connections between concepts in Star Wars, but this isn’t an experience built on forced cameos.

Destiny 2 Renegades Crossovers Next Level

At the time of writing, it’s unclear how Bungie will address its community ahead of the Renegades launch. More than that, it’s unclear what impact the Star Wars-inspired add-on will have on the game. Will it be the shot in the arm that the game so desperately needs, or will players log on for Day 1 and peter out in the following weeks?

Whatever ends up happening with Destiny 2 in the future, Bungie made clear that it is not giving up on the game. It is taking ownership of the mistakes made, vowing to do better, and hoping to win back its community.