Remnant II Review
As good as the first one?
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Platform: PS 5 Xbox X|S PC
Reviewed on: PC
Developer: Gunfire Games
Publisher: Gearbox Publishing
Release: July 25, 2023
Time Played: 23 Hours
Genre: 3rd person survival action shooter
ESRB: M
Remnant 2 is a sequel, obviously, to Remnant From the Ashes. I really liked the first game, and if you haven’t played it I would recommend it. Though I wouldn’t think you have to worry about playing Remnant 2 if you haven’t played the first one. There will be references to characters or some of the story from the first game but nothing that would completely ruin the experience if you decide to try play them in the wrong order. So I’ve spent about twenty three hours in Remnant 2 and am ready to tell you what you can expect should you want to give it a try.
Where it begins:
Two people are exploring the ruins of an old city when they are attacked by Root monsters, just when things go south they are rescued and brought to a nearby settlement. There the leader takes an interest in the protagonist and shows off the world stone. A powerful item used to travel to other worlds. Once powered the stone sucks in a few people. Worried the protagonist decides to touch the stone, to hopefully follow and save his new found friends.
Can the kids watch?:
While playing the game you may see some blood when attacking enemies, and there is a lot of violence toward monsters and some humanoid bad guys. I would say the bloodshed isn’t very evident, if you look close you can see blood splatter here and there. I would let my kids watch, the only thing I’d maybe worry about would be some of the scarier monsters that show up.
Gameplay:
Character Creation
At the start of the game you will be asked to create your character. There isn’t a whole lot to choose from. Gender, preset faces, hair color, and voice. There isn’t an option to change anything after you have it set, so make sure you like what you come up with. Depending on the armor you choose to play with the head and face might be covered most of the game, but the voice will always be there. I didn’t check the voices on my playthrough and didn’t really care for how my character sounded, didn’t really have savior vibes.
Archtypes
Early in the game you will be asked to select an Archtype, basically a class with unique skills and fighting styles. There are a few different starters and more to be unlocked after finding special items in game. You won’t be locked in with your choice, after other classes are unlocked you would be able to change them whenever you like, so if something doesn’t really feel good try out another one until you find the perfect fit. As the Archtypes are used they gain levels and access to new skills.
Traits
Every Archtype will come with one trait that levels up with the class. Other traits can be found throughout the game by discovering special events. The traits are how you will increase your character stats like defense or health. Along with a lot of other specialties like movement speed while aiming. There is a finite amount of trait points available to use but you can respec whenever you’d like by crafting a special item returning all of the trait points. A lot of opportunity to make the perfect character.
Jewlery
You can wear one amulet and four rings. There are quite a few different amulets with some giving really good passive stats, if you can find them. Same with the rings, there are a lot of rings, like a lot a lot. I don’t know how it could be better organized, but near the end it started to get pretty hard to find a specific ring I knew I had and wanted to equip. The jewelry is scattered everywhere, in chests, from vendors, and just lying on the ground at times.
The Gear
There were a few different sets of armor to collect and use, light armor with less defense up to heavy with a lot of defense. It felt like armor was more used for looks than anything, the real power comes from the weapons. At all times you’ll have three weapons equipped, a long arm, the primary weapons dealing a lot of damage close up or precision shots from a distance. A hand gun for backup or weaker enemies, depending on the situation, and a melee weapon to for when you want to get up close and personal. Swapping between weapons in combat is very fast and easy.
Mods & Mutators
All guns will have spots to equip mods and mutators, melee weapons only have a mutator spots. Mods give the weapon a powerful ability, usually shooting a special shot causing a lot of damage or status effect, and there will be a short cool down before it can be used again. Equipped mutators give a passive like adding a shield when attacking or possibly giving ammo back when shooting. Some weapons have to be made with crafting materials and they will have a permanent mod attached to them.
Upgrading & Crafting
Weapons and mutators can be upgraded in town by special NPCs. Weapons are upgraded using different levels of iron and scraps, the currency in Remnant. It will take some specialty materials to upgrade mutators if you want to max those out it could take some time. Mods can’t be upgraded but they do have to be crafted first, using a special boss materials, once crafted they can be put on any weapon that has an available space.
Relics
Relics are the healing items with so many charges. Starting out you get a flat rate healing relic, but you can find more that you may feel fits your play style better. Some will heal so much over a short period of time while giving some other benefit to balance out. There will also be different relic fragments to equip onto the relic giving various passives. They are usually dropped by enemies and found in chests, upgrading themselves as you level up and find better versions.
Campaign
I really like how Remnant laid is out in such a way that almost every game is unique. First off your starting world may be different than mine, and if it’s the same world, it could be a different main quest through the whole thing. Randomized loot, dungeons, and even bosses while going through the game. If you want specific gear it could be the first thing you find or take a while to get. There will be couple things always set in stone for story reasons, but the rest is special just for you.
Adventure Mode
After you complete a world in story mode you can use the world stone to start an adventure mode in that world. Re-rolling what shows up giving you more to look out for and experience. When re-rolling a world it resets the adventure progress and you get to decide what difficulty you would like to try out so you can really challenge yourself.
Choices matter
Every world playthrough might involve different choices to be made in random events or the main story. The choices you make can change the outcome and possible loot that can be obtained. With the choices system on top of the randomized worlds and dungeons there is a lot to do and see in this game. You could even restart the entire campaign with the same character for the main story choices if you wanted.
Secrets
There will be quite a few different puzzles to find and decipher if you want to collect everything. From combination safes to giant shadow puzzles there will be a lot to test your detective skills. Thankfully the solution is usually nearby so you won’t have to run around a whole lot. The biggest issues I ran into when trying to solve some puzzles were reference points. Like I knew what combination I had to do, just not what direction or order it had to be in.
I had so much fun playing Remnant 2, so far I’m up to twenty three hours and still feel like I have a lot left to do. The coolest part to me is the random rolls within the worlds. And if you have friends there is an option to take them along with the different adventures available. I didn’t get a chance to play with anyone, but I imagine it’s quite fun… Anyway let’s get these ratings done and place it on a shelf.
Visually the characters looked like they could have had a little more work done to smooth them out, it wasn’t bad, but the enemies and bosses looked amazing I’m giving it a four
The story in Remnant 2 moved really fast, there was one main story encompassing everything with smaller stories within. I never got attached to anyone and there wasn’t a whole lot of depth, it get’s a 3
The gameplay worked very well. It wasn’t hard to figure out what had to be done and when, the only major issue I had was jumping. You can’t jump whenever, only when running toward a cliff and dodging. I didn’t like the lack of control, so it gets a four
There is a lot of replayability for Remnant 2, the design is made that way and it’s so good you want to go back in for more. It’s an obvious five
Everytime I started up a stream to play it felt like time just flew by. This game is so much fun I’m going to be playing it for a while, it deserves another five.
Add it all up, divide it back down and Remnant 2 get’s an overall score of four point 2. Earning it a home right up there on the top shelf. I would totally recommend giving this game a shot, and if you can gather your friends and have them get in on some of this action with you. There is a lot to do and play with and who knows, maybe we’ll randomly meet up online ready to take on some of the fearsome enemies together.