Remnant II Review (PC)

The first Remnant game might have gone under the radar for many, but Gunfire Games’ title was surprisingly good. The key highlights of the game were the stellar gunplay, the plethora of secrets and the amazing boss fights. The sequel improves on these aspects and reworks some of the systems based on players’ feedback.

And yes, you have to play Remnant: From the Ashes if you really want to understand what’s happening in Remnant II, but if story elements are not your main interest in a third-person shooter, you can definitely skip it.

Those who played the first game will find many references in the sequel and even a few characters that return, even if it’s just for a brief time. The story continues many years after the protagonist puts an end to the Root, a malevolent entity capable of travelling between worlds with a sole purpose to assimilate all life in the universe.

Obviously, everything makes much more sense story-wise after finishing the first game, but even if you did that, Remnant II takes secrets and puzzles aspects to a whole new level. That means that every playthrough will be different because players might not have discovered certain hidden areas or did not manage to solve all the puzzles.

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On top of that, the game randomly pre-generates the world for every player when they start a game, so you’ll fight different bosses and explore different worlds than your friend more often than not. Those who played the first game should be familiar with this system.

In Remnant II, you can play any of the five classes, or archetypes as they’re called by developers: Hunter, Challenger, Medic, Handler, and Gunslinger. Each has their own starting weapon loadout and a prime perk that basically defines the class’s role. As you level up, you unlock new class perks that you can use, but you can’t have more than one prime perk equipped.

After discovering 10 trait points, you’ll be able to dual class, something that wasn’t possible in the first game. Once you dual class, you can equip a secondary perk, although the experience will split between the two archetypes. What the game doesn’t tell you is that there are hidden classes in the game, much more powerful than the base classes. I’m not going to reveal anything about these, but the developers confirmed recently that they’ve hidden a class in the game’s code because they knew it will be datamined.

Remnant II is teeming with secrets and puzzles. This is one of the games that not only encourages exploration, but also greatly rewards. As far as the puzzles go, there’s an interesting balance between puzzles that can be solved right away because the solution is usually close by, and puzzles that require one or more playthroughs to solve. The bad news is you don’t know which is which, so don’t despair if you can’t solve a puzzle right away (also, don’t give up too soon).

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Another major improvement over the previous game is the … map. Yes, we finally have a functional map that not just shows points of interest, but also any important loot piece that you might have missed. It’s a great quality of life improvement along with the new UI and HUD, which now allows you to favorite guns, melee or trinkets on the inventory screen.

Also, the armor system has been simplified in the sense that all bonuses for wearing an armor set have been removed. More importantly, armor is no longer upgradable in Remnant II, which allows you to fully focus on customizing your weapons and making your builds.

What’s been added to the game that wasn’t available in the original is the Mutator system. The new system allows players to slot special effects into their weapons. Basically, it’s a replacement for the armor set bonuses, but with the benefit of being able to wear whatever piece of armor you think looks best on your character.

Every archetype in the game plays differently, but after everything is said and done, it always comes down to gunplay. Yes, there’s an entirely new class that focuses on close-range combat, but not even the Challenger is meant to play without using a ranged weapon. I’m happy to say that gunplay in Remnant II is stellar. You can feel a gun’s recoil or the stretching of a bow’s string, as well as the weight of a hammer coming down to crush a monster’s head.

Of course, that wouldn’t mean anything without awesome boss fights. On that aspect, I can confirm that Remnant II does an amazing job. Every boss in the game has been designed to offer a fun, yet challenging experience. My experience has been probably similar to everyone’s else who’s played the game. The first few tries always end up in disappointment and the feeling that you’ll never be able to beat that boss.

But Remnant II is one of the few games where you actually feel like you’re making progress the more you fight a boss. That’s because each has unique mechanics, so the moment you figure them out, it’s game over (for the boss).

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion