Remnant II (Reviewed)
Developer: Gunfire Games
Publisher: Gearbox Publishing
Released: July 25th, 2023
Price: $49.99 USDRemnant II is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi adventure game that uses the souls-like genre incredibly well, as well as many other vintage characteristics from well-known video games that haven't been seen in a long time like item inspection for clues. Humanity is all but extinct, and you're here to help stop it and restore peace to the dimensionally torn earth on your own or with two friends, if you so desire.
We haven't seen such an incredibly release from a high-quality project in a long time, and it's great to see it happen sooner, amongst all the rushed projects lately.
Story
A contagion has ravaged the planet known as the Root, wiping out humanity save for a few last rays of hope like Ward 13, who try everything they can to live a normal and fear-free life. You join the group, and the chains of fate set in motion, transporting you to worlds unknown to many with the help of an immortal man named Ford and his granddaughter Clementine a powerfully old psychic that has never aged.
In your quest to reclaim what is rightfully yours. Life. You will face off against powerful and brutal bosses and adversaries hopefully putting an end to this epidemic.
Issues
Infinite EXP and Currency
So I reran several previously completed places and went about my business, leaving and returning while looking for stuff. I noticed while returning that I was constantly collecting EXP and Scrap for the mission in this zone that I had already completed. It definitely appears to be a bug which happens in specific areas.
NPC Resetting
This could be because I was playing a lot of multiplayer, but when I returned to my own world, a lot of the NPC dialogue had reset to their initial greetings, which was a little irritating. It would happen every now and then, but it is quite easy to ignore it all.
Features
Crafting
The potential to empower yourself as you move through the game is what motivates you to keep pushing further into the worlds. Similar to Dark Souls, you can find special weapons after major battles or hidden behind secret locations in plain sight.
Investigate and discover all of these things around you before moving on. If you're looking for weapons or relics, you will have to defeat bosses and craft them through this menu or through the otherworldly vendor and many others within Ward 13.
Gear
There are numerous powerful rings and amulets, as well as equipment. Mostly by completing extremely perilous and difficult-to-navigate puzzles and mazes that eventually lead you to the payoff. It's not critical, but depending on the type of boss you face, you could need some extra defense to avoid getting one shot.
Consumables
You can get increased health, stamina, damage, and resistances. You can only use so many, and for some concoctions, only one at a time. Personally, I haven't seen myself employing many. Stamina is a good one to have because you can easily run out if you don't plan ahead of time for a boss that has a lot of special long range attacks.
Exploration & Procedural generation
So here's the situation. If you play alone, your environment will always be distinct from that of another player. Bosses will shift places, and you may not even encounter a specific boss until late in the game, although another player may find it early.
The only option to try to unlock specific bosses is to reroll your world, which may offer you the bosses in the starting region. Gunfire Games' mentioned that the procedural generation process in Remnant 2 ensures that no two players will have the same story and gameplay experience while traversing dungeons and locations.
I did notice a few instances where specific parts of the world appeared to be more unique in its arrangement, which was a little frustrating because I was looking for specific bosses that should have spawned in the world I was in, but it was a non-spawn world. It took a long time to figure this out, and I did get exhausted. Simply put, if you look up where to find them, they might not be in your current world so reroll it and give it another shot, or join a multiplayer game to enter that area immediately.
Inspection / Puzzles
The thrills of solving secret riddles and discovering hidden objects within other objects, allowing for more non-obvious answers. In comparison to other games, it is a step ahead in terms of exploration and puzzle management.
So go ahead and explore the items you find. You never know what you might uncover.
Multiplayer
Once you've completed the tutorial, you can make your game public at any moment, but there are so many players who don't want to play due to the lack of communication that you're unlikely to meet anyone very soon. They frequently appear to cluster around boss and dungeon sites, then flee after the fights because you may farm characteristics, loot, and scrap by assisting them. Play with your friends by simply inviting them, so you don't have to worry about not being able to find them.
Gameplay
Bossing, dungeons, explorations, secrets, and multiplayer are all included, as well as loads of weapon customization and the option to duel wield multiple classes to mix and match your preferred gameplay style.
Campaign Mode
Straightforward. It is the main plot, from point A to point B. There will be no two stories alike. It is always providing some sort of incentive. You can always go off and do other things and come back to the main tale later, so just take your time and enjoy.
Adventure Mode
It's for farming.
You can use this mode once it has unlocked to obtain stuff that you were unable to obtain since the game forced you to select between one of two outcomes. So if you spoke to an NPC that gifted you a powerful weapon, but also had the choice of a strong ring, you can now return and pick that ring up instead of giving it up.
Conclusion
Game of the year!
That is my personal opinion. It's wonderfully accomplished, even if I did finally run into some flaws, which were mainly in Multiplayer alongside some exploitable issues for endless currency and levels, but besides this I have enjoyed everything.
Whether you prefer games that are brutally difficult or souls-like. This game is truly a mash-up of many brilliant ideas from many games throughout the years. It feels like everything at once, without being weird about it and feeling niche or overdone.
The best thing about this game is that it is decently priced. Compared to every other AAA out there that continuously marks their games up to $80-100 on release for such little content and barely a playable game, this game does what others failed.
This concludes my views of this game; while my opinions may be met with criticism, that is what distinguishes gamers; you don't have to like the same things as others, nor do you have to agree with them.
If you want to catch me on one of my streams or locate me on social media, you may do so at the following locations, I'm always playing something new.
- Pawkt