Remnant 2 builds on its strengths, and adds a very good dog

Strange worlds still await

The first Remnant: From the Ashes felt like a surprise. Its strange mix of Souls-like framing, Eldritch horrors, and third-person action-shooter made for something a bit different that kept players going back for more. Gunfire Games is trying to do more of the same with Remnant 2, and from what I’ve played, it’s working.

If you’ve played the first Remnant, then Remnant 2 will feel very familiar. It’s still a third-person shooter set in strange worlds, inhabited by aggressive horrors. You can run it solo or with a friend, and randomization keeps things fresh. In my demo at Summer Game Fest 2023, I got a little cocky; some of the early areas felt easy, compared to what I’d played of the first Remnant. As a solo runner, I blasted through them. Boy, did I get treated to a hearty helping of hubris.

Remnant 2 maintains the gradual tick-up of difficulty, rewarding smart use of abilities and resources, and punishing over-confident players (I’m the problem, it’s me). It’s still the punishing survival-horror experience I remember. But there are some nice things built up and over that framework that will make Remnant 2 worth digging into.

Archetypal hero

Archetypes are here again in Remnant 2, and they felt a bit more emphasized than I remember from the first. In my demo, I had a few options to choose from, but obviously chose the pet class called the Handler. As a Handler, I got a little dog pal that follows me around, barking to warn when enemies are near and assisting me in fights. It can even pick downed people back up, if that player still has a healing item on them. A truly good pup.

Other fighters included the Hunter, Challenger, and Gunslinger, who bring some more standard gunplay to the mix. There are more archetypes planned, Gunfire tells me, that you’ll be able to unlock in the story. All of them seem neat, but they did not have a puppy pal, so my choice was clear.

As for the actual archetypes themselves, builds can diversify as you acquire new abilities. According to others who got to check out the game, characters will also apparently be able to multi-class archetypes, which sounds rad.

Move and shoot

As I got into the actual areas I was set to fight through in the demo, I was really impressed by how Remnant 2 looks. It’s a gorgeous game, and Gunfire sets the tone early. Gnarled branches and alien flora made me feel like I was in some surreal, dangerous world. Creatures of the void hounded me. It was clearly a place that did not want me there.

That’s not to say there aren’t fun things to find in the horrors of other worlds, though. A highlight was finding a tree where an ancient fae-like entity asked me a series of hypotheticals. After answering all of them, and there were quite a few, the entity determined I had answered correctly enough for a boon. The writing was clever, and it was a fun side diversion with a valuable reward.

Over time, I built up in power and loadout. I eventually went back to the ward, where I could chat with NPCs and shopkeepers to upgrade my equipment and prepare for the next leg of my journey. A Gunfire rep told me they tried to smooth out the process of returning to town and getting back to your run, and it was noticeable.

Falling, flailing

This is where I have to admit: I didn’t get to the end of my demo. My headfirst brazen-ness meant I kept running into battles I shouldn’t, and I ran out of time to keep beating my head against the proverbial wall. Even my very good pup couldn’t keep me on my feet, as I constantly bit off more enemies in an encounter than I could chew. I like chaos, alright?

That said, what I saw was very impressive. I’ve got fond memories of playing the first Remnant in co-op with friends, exploring the horrors together. And while I only played solo for my demo, I can easily see this becoming another go-to co-op pick-up.

It’s not just that there isn’t much else like Remnant out there. It’s that Remnant 2 feels like it’s making very smart, calculated choices about what it fine-tunes and what it keeps familiar. Like the old saying, Remnant 2 doesn’t fix what isn’t broken about its original pitch, and instead just builds and refines. And that could make for quite a good experience, for fans of the randomized horror-action experience.

Remnant 2 arrives on July 25 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.