Remnant: From the Ashes by Gunfire Games was a sleeper hit of a video game that I was introduced to a few years ago, a game that immediately hooked me for its creative gameplay loop. It is a third-person shooter that blends RPG elements like character/build customization and progression, difficult combat encounters taking inspiration from Souls-like games, and procedural level generation that makes each run-through of the game a different experience, while allowing players to experience the game solo or with up to two other players. Needless to say, I was pretty hyped when the sequel Remnant 2 was announced, and it ended up being one of my most anticipated games of the year. Does the game live up to the hype? Yes, it absolutely does.
Considering Remnant 2’s release success, it begs the question of whether it is required to play Remnant: From the Ashes. While I believe the first game is very good as well and is worth playing, if one really wanted to just get straight into the sequel, it is not a big deal to do so. Remnant 2 does follow the first game’s story, but it is not required to do so in my opinion as I do not personally find the over-arching plot of the games to be particularly important. The premise of the over-arching narrative is relatively simple; the universe is under attack by an evil force known as the Root, and the player character is charged with exploring other worlds to collect enough power to defeat it.
Gameplay:
Remnant 2 is very similar to its predecessor gameplay-wise, with a lot of the core gameplay elements remaining basically the same. At its core, the best way to describe it would be a third-person looter-shooter, but the game incorporates so many other mechanics that to reduce it to just a looter-shooter would be disingenuous. The core combat system is very polished, and the gunplay/movement mechanics feel great. While the core combat is centered around shooting enemies with either a primary long gun or secondary handgun, players have the option to largely forego using guns in favor of melee combat, which is actually fleshed out instead of just being tacked on like in most other shooters. The different weapons that the player can collect are also very well-designed with a surprisingly high amount of variety, with each weapon having its own unique feel and play-style. There are more traditional firearms, and then there are wackier weapons that players can create from powerful enemies they defeat, and they are all fun to use. I also had a good time using these different weapons against a lot of the enemies in the game, and for the most part I thought the enemy diversity was good, with a lot of the bosses feeling pretty unique with their move-sets and mechanics.
While the core combat is excellent, Remnant 2 isn’t a complete looter-shooter without its RPG elements to make the looting part of the game interesting. There are archetypes, which basically act like a class system, and players can equip up to two archetypes at a time. The archetypes kind of form the base of a build, and the variety is great. There are classes like Hunter and Gunslinger, which are focused more on just shooting things, more support/tank-like classes like Medic and Summoner, and other interesting classes like Engineer and Invader which offer their own unique play-styles. What is interesting though is that not all of those archetypes are immediately available to the player; there is one starting archetype that is selected to begin the game, but all other archetypes have to be unlocked by playing the game (though once another archetype is unlocked, you can create new characters that start off as that archetype rather than the default starting selections). Players can also equip an amulet and up to four different ring accessories, and each of those accessories allows for further fine-tuning of a build. Weapons themselves can also be customized, using mods and mutators. Mods are special abilities, and can range anywhere from applying fire to bullets to summoning small familiars to attack enemies. Mutators are more generic stat boosts, but can boost different stats rather than just damage, so there are different mutators for different builds. The sheer amount of customization options contributes a big part to the replayability of the game; there is always a new set-up to try out. My only real critique of the character customization is the armor system; armor pieces in the game offer no unique bonuses or anything so they are basically just stat pieces. Outside of cosmetic reasons, there is not much reason for me to just equip the heaviest armor I can wear without compromising my dodge, so a lot of the armor sets in the game felt kind of irrelevant especially on higher difficulty play-throughs.
The last part that really makes the gameplay so incredible is the level design. The large majority of the game takes place in three separate worlds. Every player starts off in one of those three worlds (after completing the tutorial), but not everybody starts in the same world. Also, in each world, each player is assigned one of two major scenarios, and those are also randomly decided by the game. Each world also has plenty of sub-dungeons to explore and conquer, but the exact dungeons themselves that spawn are also randomized. The dungeons themselves are also very well-crafted with a lot of secrets to reward the more curious players, and a lot of them have cleverly designed puzzles to solve. These randomized elements contribute to a unique campaign experience for every player, which is probably one of the more unique features of Remnant 2, and one of my favorite ones. I had a lot of fun going through the campaign the first time around, and then going back to help my friends clear their story modes, and seeing completely new things that I did not see in my original play-through. This also means that the game is meant to be replayed, since it is not possible to experience everything the game has to offer on an initial play-through. What is also cool is that after clearing a specific world, the game presents the option to start new “adventures” in that world to replay a scenario in that world to try and experience other things that might have been missed the first time around. For anybody who is a more hardcore player looking to min-max their builds, I highly recommend downloading a 3rd-party world analyzer program that can greatly reduce the tedium of constantly re-rolling adventures in order to acquire a specific piece of gear (since there are a lot of gear pieces that are unique to specific dungeons that are not always guaranteed to spawn).
Writing:
The writing in Remnant 2 sort of takes a backseat to the gameplay, at least where the main story is concerned. I honestly do not care about the main story at all, and in my opinion it is nothing to write home about (it really just boils down to going to each world to acquire an artifact and then beating the big bad and saving the world). However, that is not to say the overall writing in the game is mediocre; in fact there is a lot to appreciate. Remnant 2’s writing really shines when it is focused on the different worlds that are being explored, as each world is chock-full of lore and extensive world-building. I enjoyed the storylines and the environmental story-telling of each world, and trying to uncover more about them felt just as satisfying as acquiring a new piece of powerful gear. Whether it be investigating how N’Erud went from a highly advanced space-faring civilization to a desolate, zombie-fied wasteland or the relationship between the Fae and the Dran in Losomn, there was a lot of effort and care gone into turning those worlds into more than just simple levels to blast through.
Ending/Misc. Thoughts:
Remnant 2 gets the meat and potatoes done very well, but there are a couple of other things I wanted to make note of that I think the game does well. For one, the game looks fantastic, with the Unreal Engine putting in work to make the environments and enemies look as great as they do. For fans of scary games, the game also has quite a few spooky moments in the game, from unsettling atmospheres to straight-up jump-scare moments. I am usually not a fan of horror games but I think the few moments Remnant 2 splashes in do a good job of keeping me on my toes without being a terrifying experience overall.
Remnant 2 is a phenomenal game that is also backed by a passionate studio, and while 2023 has been an absolutely crazy year for video games in general, I think the game holds up with the best of them, and is definitely worth checking out.
Rating: Remnant 2 is definitely good enough to warrant a $60 price tag, but the game actually retails for less than that, so I think it’s an amazing purchase.
