With all the major releases this year and even in the coming weeks, Gunfire Games’ Remnant 2 is in a similar situation to the original, serving as a dark horse of sorts. It releases on July 25th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC and provides new worlds to explore, new threats to slay and even more horrifying bosses to face. How much has changed from the first game, and what should players expect? Let’s look at 10 big differences between Remnant: From the Ashes and Remnant 2.
Ward 13 Changes
In Remnant: From the Ashes, the Root has been running amuck for a while and is responsible for the world’s ruined state. Resources like bullets and Iron are rare, and it’s incredibly unsafe. Ward 13, one of the last bastions of humanity and your main base, is quite limited. After the Subject 2923 DLC, the Root is defeated but not gone from Earth.
Remnant 2 picks up several decades later, and Ward 13 has expanded, with more of it situated outside. There’s been a relative amount of peace, but the Root still has some influence outside its walls. However, as recent trailers have shown, it’s not long before players have to go hopping to other worlds via the World Stone yet again.
Yaesha Revisited
Fans will recognize another location from the first game – Yaesha, a world full of greenery ruled by the Pan. The Pan are a race of warriors who are incredibly hostile to others, which includes the Root, which begins its assault here. Unfortunately, the Pan aren’t very successful in stopping the Root. In Remnant 2, players return to Yaesha, and it’s pretty much overrun by the Root, resulting in new enemies to fight and numerous environment changes. What other secrets await remains to be seen, but it’s more dangerous than ever to explore.
New Locations
Of course, Remnant 2 also has some locations that are brand new to the franchise. The first is N’Erud, a massive space-faring construct created by the Drzyr to act as a second home. Unfortunately, after passing through a supermassive black hole to discover the universe’s secrets, the Drzyr are changed into terrifying ghost-like entities. Those aren’t the only threats that await as drones and security robots, and strange alien creatures roam the construct’s halls.
The other new location is Losomn, formed from the forced merger of the Fae and Dran realms. The Dran have gone mad, with the few awakened seen as threats, while the Fae occupy the upper echelons of society and feed on the Dran’s life force. From whatever we’ve seen of Losomn, it’s a mix of medieval and high fantasy, each area reflecting the state of each race.
More Varied Level Generation
Remnant: From the Ashes was unique in that its worlds had elements of random generation. Certain events would appear in subsequent playthroughs, and enemy spawns were also changed. If you’re lucky, you may even encounter NPCs like Mud Tooth, who gave you the super-valuable Pocket Watch.
In Remnant 2, the world generation has gone even bigger. Instead of some differing events, you’ll explore unique biomes with different quests and enemies to fight. You may solve a puzzle for a musician or assist a Pan Empress on Yaesha. In both cases, there are unique mini-bosses and bosses to fight, providing even more replay value.
Classes vs Archetypes
The first game’s classes were limited – you had the Hunter for long-range precision damage; the Scrapper for up-close combat and melee; and the Ex-Cultist, a balance between the two. In Remnant 2, the classes are replaced by Archetypes, and there are five – the tanky Challenger, the support-focused Medic, the Handler with their canine companion, the Gunslinger with their quick shooting, and the Hunter, again a ranged menace.
Each has unique Traits, Perks, Prime Perks and more. For instance, when using a Skill with the Gunslinger, you reload both weapons and briefly gain infinite reserve ammo, thanks to the Prime Perk “Loaded.”
Archetype Skills
Archetype Skills are unique abilities among each and operate on cooldowns. The Handler can have their canine draw enemy threats and take less damage, granting some damage resistance to nearby allies if you activate their skill. On the other hand, you can have it act as a support, continuously healing allies and granting increased movement speed.
Meanwhile, the Gunslinger’s Quick Draw allows for quickly firing six shots among enemies present, and holding the button down allows for manual aiming. As for Weapon Mods, they’re still here, building up as you deal damage to enemies and granting special effects like incendiary or shock rounds.
Dual Archetypes
Perhaps the coolest new feature with Archetypes is being able to multiclass. After reaching a certain point, you can equip a Secondary Archetype and use one of its Skills and a trait. The Prime Perk won’t be available, but you can still unleash some potent combinations, like firing off multiple rounds with Quick Draw but using the Medic’s Wellspring to create an AoE healing area. Secondary Archetypes earn progress separately, and you can switch between Archetypes with no penalty to mix and match different combinations.
More Complex Boss Fights
Boss fights in Remnant: From the Ashes, with some exceptions, were pretty straightforward. Remnant 2, however, is looking to up the ante with more intricate boss fights.
The Mother Mind boss fight is one example – players start by battling a massive creature which swipes with its claws. It eventually destroys the platform you’re standing on, so you need to move to the next and dodge its projectiles. There are smaller enemies to deal with. How the other bosses will measure up remains to be seen, but based on the recent overview trailer, there look to be some massively overwhelming threats.
New Enemies
As seen in various trailers and gameplay till now, there are several new threats to battle in Remnant 2. Like the first game, the Root are only some of the enemies – you also deal with mutated creatures, elite warriors, horrifying aliens, massive robotic drones, and much more. The full rundown has yet to be revealed, but based on everything seen thus far, there looks to be more variety in the sequel while maintaining the challenge that players know and love (or love to hate).
New Weapons
What would a Souls-like third-person shooter be without new weapons? The traditional shotguns, assault rifles, swords and lever action rifles return, and you can upgrade and modify them differently. However, Remnant 2 also features weapons like flails and bows. Some special weapons, like the Beam Rifle from Rhom, seemingly return (based on trailers), so it should be interesting to see if any others made the jump over. Regardless, expect a more varied arsenal compared to the first game.
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