Remnant 2 Review – What’s Dog Doing?

Remnant 2 is a sort of sequel that improves on its predecessor in almost every aspect. The third-person gunplay has been further enhanced and refined, its diverse locales have more color and variety, and the various RPG elements and character progression have been greatly expanded to provide more options for building unique builds, as well as motivating you to delve into the game’s near-endless replayability. “Dark Souls with Guns” was used as an abbreviation to describe Remnant: From the Ashes, and while the label was correct, it also didn’t tell the whole story. The first game stood out among other Souls-like games in that it deviated from the formula. Remnant 2 continues to build on those foundations with a more dynamic and robust action-adventure, though it fails only in a few areas.

The first game wasn’t without its flaws, among which the main storyline was underdeveloped. Unfortunately, Remnant 2 doesn’t do much in this regard, offering another haunting story that lacks character and compelling stakes, and feels almost like a copy-and-paste of the original game. The setting is also basically the same, starting with the ruined streets of a post-apocalyptic Earth ravaged by an extradimensional being known as The Root. Eventually you’ll arrive at a small settlement called Ward 13. The location is slightly different, but it’s the same hub area as the first game. Despite being a wounded newcomer, Custom his character is soon entrusted with an important mission that quickly leads to a mission that will decide the fate of all realms.

Ingenuity aside, you know, when this world is made up of about a dozen people who are equivalent to cardboard cutouts, it’s hard to keep up with the overall story. Characters like McCabe and Riggs return, but they’re still single-note benders as before, and the friends they arrived with and who risked their lives to save play the same static roles. There are even more interesting characters in the different realms you visit during the game. However, due to the game’s procedurally generated structure, it takes several playthroughs to get a clear grasp of each world’s lore and composition, and by that point you’ll probably have forgotten everything you’ve learned before, including the wealth of abstractions thrown at you verbally. As a result, the ending’s emotional payoff fell flat.

These narrative flaws are one of the few areas where Remnant 2’s procedural generation actively combats them, as Remnant 2’s ambitious implementation excels otherwise. As with the first game, the layout of each realm and the dungeons within it are randomly generated with each playthrough. Enemy placement, on the other hand, changes each time you return to a particular location, reload after death, or rest at a checkpoint. These procedurally-generated combat scenarios add an element of unpredictability to each enemy encounter that builds tension over time not found in other titles like Souls, but Remnant 2 takes things a step further by dynamically generating nearly every aspect of the adventure. Boss fights, side quests, NPC encounters, and even the opening tutorials vary from player to player and playthrough. For example, my first adventure in the Realm of Rosomun resulted in a grubby trek through nasty ankle-high sewers, but when I returned in the game’s adventure mode (which I’ll get to in a moment), I instead stumbled upon an abandoned sanatorium. This eerie, run-down facility features its own unique storyline, characters, unique weapons, and a series of shootouts and boss battles, and this degree of change and unpredictability is crucial, as areas are encouraged to revisit to compensate for Remnant 2’s reworked architecture.

When you arrive at Ward 13, you’ll be asked to choose between various archetypes. These classes are similar to those in Remnant: From the Ashes, and your choices determine your starting weapon and armor. However, there are also a number of perks and skills associated with each archetype this time around, which are unlocked as you level up. These are based on your chosen archetype role, whether you’re a Medic, a Hunter-like class that focuses on ranged damage and enemy marking, or a Challenger and its close-range proficiency. I chose a handler purely because it gives me a dog companion to fight with. Joining forces with mankind’s best friends to fight a massive horde makes perfect sense. Aside from kiting damage and attacking enemies, one of my dog’s perks was reviving me if I was downed, and other perks allowed them to increase stats like damage and movement speed when they got close to each other. Each archetype can also equip one of three unique skills controlled by a cooldown meter, usually enhancing one of the class’ special abilities.

While archetypes were an afterthought in the first game, the sequel changes that mechanics, making the first choice more important and placing Remnant 2 more on par with other class-based shooters. However, once you choose a class, you are not bound to that decision for the rest of the game. You can discover each of the other archetypes while playing, but doing so is easier said than done, and he was the only two I found while playing. However, you can always replace the first choice with either. However, once you reach max level 10 in a given archetype, you will be able to equip two archetypes, unlocking double perks and skills. This is where Remnant 2’s buildcraft comes into play, allowing you to combine and maximize different archetypes to create interesting fusions. Whether you’re combining a DPS class with a support type, or a hunter’s long-range perk with a challenger’s short-range aptitude, there are some fun concoctions.

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Besides this, you can also equip tons of rings, amulets and mods to further enhance your build. These mods can be applied to weapons to create alternate fire modes. For example, you can fire a spiraling missile that splits into smaller rockets on impact, or launch an egg that cracks open to spawn hordes of angry Space Crabs to surprise your enemies. You won’t be able to get all of these mods and trinkets for her in a single playthrough, but you can simply switch to Adventure Mode rather than starting the campaign all over again. It’s basically a shortened version of the campaign, giving him the chance to replay one realm without starting from scratch if he wants to look for unique drops or see all the different combinations of bosses, areas, etc. It’s an ingenious way to extend the life of the game while also allowing you to upgrade your character without scraping well-trodden ground.

The serious combat in Remnant 2 is a huge improvement over the first game. The movements are so responsive that you never feel like you’re fighting the controls to avoid danger. The various weapons on offer are also generally fun to use, each packing a satisfying punch as lead scurries between bulky robots and slimy wooden monsters. This is the kind of game that gets better the longer you play it, the more you focus on your build, your tastes, and the more creative boss weapons you start unlocking. Combat isn’t great in every area, but it’s rewarding enough, and the core gameplay his loops quickly become addictive and addictive. It is only when you travel through the last realm that this feeling disappears, and the lack of rest leads to frustration. Rather than focusing on challenging combat puzzles, these last few battles are more of an attrition battle as you’re constantly swarming with mobs of enemies. Many times I was resuscitated by dogs, but died before I could move again. This is a jump in difficulty that feels cheap and wasteful, especially since Remnant 2 fixes a similar issue that occurred in the first game, where boss fights regularly spawned too many mobs.

The areas you’re sent to explore are at least visually appealing this time around, featuring a wider color palette than the browns and grays often used in the first game. Clashing art styles can sometimes feel a bit crude, but the concept of these diverse areas means that coherence isn’t always necessary. At one moment, you’ll be crossing an ornate castle adorned with gold and adorned with gorgeous statues. Meanwhile, an hour or so later, you might be taken to a neighboring town in Yharnam, blowing up villagers with rifles as the game indulges in FromSoftware comparisons. It’s not just the visuals that have evolved. The addition of higher verticality allows enemies to spawn from almost anywhere, increasing the size of each area and making long-range weapons such as sniper rifles more viable.

Remnant 2 is exactly what a sequel needs, a way to expand and improve upon the ideas of the first game. I doubt it will surprise you, but the core gameplay His Loop is built on rewarding combat, an ever-growing repertoire of skills and abilities, and the randomness of procedural generation grabs you tight and refuses to let go. The final area is disappointing due to its artificially spiked difficulty, and the story is still lackluster and often neglected, but those looking for a solid, adaptable shooter can’t go too far wrong with Remnant 2.