Remnant: From the Ashes was a solid experience that went way under the radar for many people. Remnant II seems to be getting a little more attention from gamers, but is that attention enough for the quality of the game? Check it out in this review!
Chronos: Before the Ashes and Remnant: From the Ashes are 2 titles that established the lore for the world of Remnant. Remnant II takes place about 20-25 years after the first part. The World Crystal has become a taboo for humanity for some time now, but your character is destined to finally straighten the world out of all the tragedy and wars that have passed. The Root, a phenomenon you learn about in Chronos, has ravaged the world. In fact, the entire Multiverse suffers from it. How are you going to solve that?
A better story
Remnant (and Chronos) are one of those titles that, like the NieR games, spread their lore across multiple games in multiple eras and even in completely different settings. now Remnant’s story isn’t as deep and a bit more straight forward than NieR’s. But, it’s always great to see that there are still developers who go for this kind of strategy in their way of storytelling. And where I was a little less impressed with the dialogues and storytelling with the first Remnant, this time I was quite drawn into the whole story. Characters are better thought out and written, more emphasis is placed on the story and that is also reflected in the presentation of the game. I personally loved seeing this. The story kept me hooked to the very end. The only pity, I found the first few hours. You are the one who has to save all the universes from The Root, but that send-off wasn’t that spectacular and felt more like a secret mission than a lot of characters being aware of the hope you carry on your shoulders. However, the story corrects this somewhat and it is a huge improvement compared to the previous part. In addition, the game gives you many choices in dialogues and at certain moments these also have a real impact on the story or how characters react to you!
Remnant II feels much more ‘AAA’ worthy than the previous one!
Remnant’s world
Actually, I should say universes, because there are several worlds in which you will find yourself. All these worlds with their own atmosphere, culture, enemies and environments. You notice that the fantasy level is very high compared to the first one, much more with multiple cultures and gods. In addition, I thought it was great to see that various areas are derived from games such as The Last of us, Dark Souls and even Bloodborne. To what extent this is conscious, no idea, but that is a huge compliment to all worlds and the art direction.
All worlds are full of secrets, puzzles and illusory walls with all kinds of rewards. Loot is not thrown at you, but given exactly when you seem to need it. Enemy variety is also very well done, I’m not just talking about the visuals, but I’ll come back to that later. There is more planet hopping and also the story enough reason to do this. Some puzzles also involve inspecting your items, which reminded me a lot of games like Resident Evil and was great to see in a game that takes on more of the Souls structure. About that Souls structure, it’s still the case that you work with Crystals, which serve as Bonfires or checkpoints.
Combat & builds
Remnant II is an improvement in controls over the first part. Everything feels smoother and actually almost seamless in terms of controls and gun handling. There is also more parkour option this time, there are even a few puzzles attached to it. Melee weapons and hitting with them have been upgraded, although the hitboxes sometimes don’t want to connect properly and you miss a hit, while it was indeed hit.
There are plenty of different firearms and melee weapons to be found in the game, all with their own style of play or handling, which you can supplement with mods and other extras, which can not only give a visual upgrade, but also an upgrade in use. For example, using status effects is still a good way to build your character. Status effects are often used against you, so prepare yourself for this in terms of armor.
Enemies and bosses all have their mechanics and status effects. Honestly, this is a feature that really surprised me. There are plenty of unique mechanics in bosses, sometimes also mixed with puzzles in your environment. Sometimes, the boss fights is an event in which you run or fight more against or from your environment than against a living thing. As if that weren’t enough, there are also bosses that can lose parts of their bodies, which you can then use to craft your arsenal or mods. And, besides your main class, there are also plenty of sub classes to find in the world. The developers have even gone so far as to include a subclass that can only be found in the game’s source code.
Graphics & sound
Graphically, Remnant II. looks good, I actually have very little to comment on here. All worlds have unique visual styles and a wide range of detail. In addition, there are enough graphically recognizable elements to knit it into a coherent and consistent whole. It seems that Gunfire has got a hold of their graphic style. The performance in it is also seamless, both on PC and on the PS5. Dialogues varied greatly in quality, this was something that I did notice. But, overall, the voice acting is more than fine.
Verdict
What I appreciate most about Remnant II is that there is heart for the cause from the developers. No microtransactions, no other nonsense about the game, just play. All the cool stuff can be found in the game, there are so many of them that a large part of the hidden armor sets and weapons have not even been discovered yet. The developers go as far as hiding weapons in the source code. It is certainly not a perfect game, but it is a very good experience, for which more than 50 euros can actually be asked. However, this sets the gold standard for many AAA developers and publishers, watch and learn!
What a sequel! – 9/10
9/10
2023-08-05 20:39:32
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