Though Remnant 2 does, indeed, have a whole arsenal’s worth of cool weapons, armor sets, rings, amulets, and Relics for players to chase around, discover, and grab for themselves, one particular unlock type is more coveted than virtually anything else in the game: archetypes. These are, essentially, character classes. They completely revamp a player build from the ground-up, and Remnant 2‘s Corrupted status effect leads to the most elusive archetype of them all.
The “Corrupted” status effect is in a category all of its own, entirely separated from Bleeding, Corroded, and the like. As such, it’s not something that enemy attacks would apply mid-combat. Instead, players will need to deliberately become Corrupted and then complete a particular set of activities before unlocking one of the game’s most interesting secrets.
How to become Corrupted in Remnant 2?
Remnant 2‘s Corrupted status effect is tightly related to the Labyrinth area. Chock-full of secrets, the Labyrinth is a mysterious realm that connects all the other worlds to Earth, meaning that it shouldn’t be particularly surprising that the developer Gunfire Games chose to use it as the backdrop for its cheekiest surprise yet.
Becoming Corrupted is no mean feat in Remnant 2, however. This is an endgame-level objective that isn’t even possible until players have already finished the game’s main campaign mode at least once. Even then, many of the necessary items are either locked behind their own special objectives or, alternatively, RNG-bound and challenging to get. Here’s the complete list:
- Explorer archetype at level 10
- Invader archetype at level 5
- Full Realmwalker set of armor
- Void Heart relic
- Ford’s Scattergun primary
- Cube Gun secondary
- Labyrinth Staff melee weapon
- Leto’s Amulet
- Amber Moonstone
- Black Cat Band
- Anastasija’s Inspiration
- Zania’s Malice
With all of these items equipped at the same time, players will turn Corrupted, allowing them to move on to the more important part of the equation.
What to do when you’re Corrupted in Remnant 2?
After finally becoming Corrupted, players will be able to properly capitalize on their findings. The way to go about doing this is to head back to the Labyrinth and look for an appropriately corrupted door with glitchy visual effects hovering around it.
Reaching this particular door is a tad tricky, too, it’s worth pointing out. Notably, players should load into the Labyrinth via the Fractured Ingress waypoint and then look for a portal that’s constantly changing its destinations. When the destination preview shows nothing but a vertical void, that’ll be the right time to make the leap of faith.
This leap will be amply rewarded, however. Players quickly land on a previously invisible platform, encounter a small group of relatively powerful enemies to dispatch, and then they’re free to muck about with the corrupted door. What lies behind the corrupted door is spoiler territory, but the end reward is the Strange Box engram, which can be traded to Wallace at Ward 13 to unlock the mysterious Archon character archetype, which has already received a number of balancing passes due to how powerful it could get.
