Recent reviews by DarkZekk

Summary: This is still a great game that you can have a lot of fun with and if you enjoyed the first game (Remnant: From the Ashes) than you will most likely enjoy this one as well. But if you are new to the Remnant games go get the first one instead where trait points weren't capped and you could play for hundreds of hours and still feel like you were progressing.

Detailed Explanation: Remnant: From the Ashes is one of (and possibly even) my all time favorite games. I love souls like games and have played lots of them and I grew up on gun games (such as Halo, Borderlands, Destiny, etc) and so Remnant was a perfect mix for me and I quickly feel in love with it and played it over and over again. Needless to say that when Remnant 2 was announced I was super hyped and waited on baited breath for each new scrap of information.

Gunfire Games obviously put a lot of work and love into this game but unfortunately coming from the original and now playing this game there are several design choices that have made it so that I would recommend the original over this one. The biggest issue is widely controversial topic of having a max on trait points in Remnant 2. I understand that the Dev's wanted to promote build diversity and force players to have to make actual decisions when it came to trait points but this is the wrong way to do it in my opinion for 3 main reasons.

The first being that (even in Remnant 1 with unlimited trait points) you still had to made decisions on which traits to prioritize for your build/playstyle. When I first started the game I had to decide between traits such as if I wanted more vigor (HP) or more exploiter (weak spot damage) then as I got further I had to decide between others like if I wanted more quickhands (reload speed) or sleight of hand (firearm swap speed). Then a while after I beat the game I decided to change my build and so I used my Orb of Undoing to reset my skills and then focused my points on spirit (Mod regen so I could do a summons build) type traits and I still had nowhere near enough points for all the traits so I had to ignore some traits I did before in order to swap to others. The second reason is that traits were only a small part of your builds, the main parts came from your weapons, mods, armor and rings. When doing a build I would usually start with a weapon or mod that i wanted to focus my build around and then i would pick armor, rings and traits to compliment/enhance it. If I wanted to do a sniper build I'd start with my sniper weapon then pick armor (like the hunters) to add to it and then same with rings, mods and traits. I dont think I ever in my 156hrs of Remnant 2 decided to pick a trait and then make a build around it. The last and biggest reason for me is the lasting progression. Remnant is a series that prides itself on its Rng and procedural generation so that in 2 different play throughs you'll never get the same exact items or events and stuff and so you can keep on playing and collecting stuff. The problem with capping traits in Remnant 2 is that once I've got the particular items I care about and have played through and beaten the game then there's not really much incentive to continue playing through it over and over. Sure i can experience different events and collect some more items but it just feels kind of hollow because your build is not getting any better and you're not really progressing anything anymore. With unlimited traits in the first one at least when you had your build and were just hanging out and helping your friends then you could continue to unlock trait point to put into the more quality of life type traits like climber (Vaulting Speed). Traits that would never be prioritized for pretty much any build (and so will probably be ignored and never ever be picked in Remnant 2) and you would only get after you and finished the important traits for you build but are still nice and improve your Qof. Even then like I mentioned earlier I have played 156hrs of the first game and still dont have enough points for every trait but it was really nice to feel like even if was going through area's I'd already done a hundred times, I was still progressing in some small way. Now that Ive got my build and items and beaten Remnant 2 I only see myself playing for a few more days before I get too bored (even though I've only put like 50hrs in) because there's no progression or anything really for me.

The other issues I have are relatively small and are annoying but can be worked with. Like how there is no ability to map controls to different buttons on a controller (especially since they made you have to press multiple buttons for your skills even though left and right on the Dpad literally do nothing) or how hard the game is even on lower difficulties for a new player (especially if you are playing solo) but once you've played some and got a build started its not bad but it can still be a huge hurtle for players new to the genre.

Overall like I mentioned in the summary at the start, if you have played and enjoy Remnant: From the Ashes then more Remnant content is always great and I'm sure you'll enjoy this one even if for only 50hrs instead of like 150. If you are new to Remnant though get the first one.

I love survival games but this one was way too grittily realistic and buggy for me. (I also didn't play The Forest so I came into this blind and with no nostalgia) There is only like 4hrs of actual content at this point if you don't try and make a permanent base and if you do be prepared to bang your head against a wall over and over for hours as you try to get the building mechanics to work the way they claim to while also being constantly attacked and always out of logs. I appreciate that they now added a mechanic to be able to lock doors but it was already too late for me as I had already built my base and endured way too many attacks that there was no way for me to barricade against without them just opening my doors and walking right in. Also having to lay your inventory on the ground and manually move and grab ingredients from all over is very realistic but terribly frustrating (especially if you enjoy playing on a controller like me). I know that you can instead just hold your bag in front of you if need to switch items "real quick" but the fact that you cant move while holding your backpack is ridiculous and leaves you with no good options (besides running away every time) if you unexpectedly find yourself in a fight and the fact that enemies are programmed to immediately swarm and attack you the instant you access your inventory just compounds this issue! I think this has potential down the road if they can clean up the building mechanics and make it so you can kite enemies while swapping items while holding out your backpack but even then you'd have to be the person who doesn't mind trading what should be standard quality of life functions (in my opinion) for a feeling of gritty realism instead. I dont normally mind realism factors in a survival game but in my opinion this game just takes it way too far to the point where the game just becomes miserable to play! I also dont usually write reviews so sorry for the rambling mess but with all the positive reviews this game is getting from what I assume are a majority of players who played the first game and are just excited for a second and so dont notice or care about its faults but I wanted to warn newcomers to the series like myself what you should expect if you decide to give this one a shot.

Its like meth, it kills you every time you use but you cant stop coming back