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Remnant: From The Ashes was a sleeper hit. Gunfire Games blended key mechanics from the Souls-like genre with the looter-shooter gameplay loop of Destiny, and the result was a tough and engrossing third-person shooter with a ton of replay value. Based on an hour-long hands-on session, Remnant 2 is shaping up to be an ambitious sequel that smooths out many of the rough edges from the original.
Like the original, you will be able to choose from a number of archetypes, or classes, that can be tweaked and upgraded to fit various playstyles. However, Remnant 2 introduces dual archetypes that allow you to pick a second archetype once you’ve progressed far enough. In my session, I decided to pick the Handler archetype. Handlers are a support class that are paired up with trusty canine companions that can attack enemies, buff teammates, and pick up downed allies. According to Gunfire Games, the Handler also makes for a solid solo play archetype because your dog can revive you if you get knocked down. You can also pet him.
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Now Playing: Remnant 2 Hands-On Impressions
Commanding the pup around the battlefield also felt intuitive. With a single button, you can issue multiple commands depending on what you’re looking at and how long you hold the action button down for. With a single quick press, your dog either attacks an enemy or heals an ally depending on what you’re aiming at, a double tap recalls the dog, and holding down the button will buff your teammates. As you progress, you’ll unlock new abilities and skills for you and your dog which should shake things up.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see how secondary archetypes will work in Remnant 2, but Gunfire Games told me that it should allow you to easily swap between different archetypes to further customize your playstyle.
What really impressed me, though, was Remnant 2’s world design and art direction. Levels are much bigger this time around with wide-open, fantastical skyboxes. The area I was in consisted of multiple floating islands covered with blood red foliage and connected by thick roots. Like From the Ashes, levels are procedurally generated. Layouts and enemy placement is randomized, meaning no two missions should feel the same. I only got to play one mission, so it’s hard for me to say how different each one is, but what I did play felt polished and seamless. It still didn’t have that very intentional level design we typically see in Souls-likes, but it seemed like a huge improvement over the original’s.
The demo ended in a bombastic boss fight against a reaper-like creature that warped around the arena and fired projectiles from above. It was a fun fight that had me rolling around the arena, swapping weapons, and coordinating with my co-op buddies. The real MVP of this fight was my pup. Even though he couldn’t attack the boss directly, he was able to take care of adds, heal downed teammates, and buff us whenever he could. He felt like an invaluable part of the team.
Remnant 2 also brings some much-requested quality-of-life changes. Now, multiple people can talk to vendors at the same time, melee combat has been tightened up, the ping system has been improved, menus have been cleaned up, and the map is much better than what we saw in the original.
I enjoyed Remnant: From the Ashes, but its rough edges made it a difficult game to stick with. Remnant 2 feels like a natural evolution for the series that should address many of the issues players had in the original, and refine the aspects that players loved.
Remnant 2 comes to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X on July 25, 2023.
