Things you should know about Remnant: From the Ashes

Remnants: From the Ashes featured a VIP weekend before its release on August 20, which allowed players to test the game in its integrity. I was able to finish an entire playthrough in which I gathered a lot of information that you might find useful. Here are a few tips and tricks that could help in your battles against the Root:

What is Remnant: From the Ashes?

Remnant: From the Ashes is a modernized take on the Souls’ style crossbred with Hellgate London, Darksiders III and loot shooters. The story has you fighting the demonic forces of the Root in an attempt to find a way to save the Earth. The gameplay features singleplayer and coop elements revolving around an extensive progression and a dynamically generated campaign designed to have you play it multiple times.

Archetypes

There are three archetypes, or classes if you will, available in Remnant: Scrapper, Ex-cultist and Hunter. During the tutorial mission you will be able to choose one for your character. But while each archetype provides a different set of gear, weapons and traits, they do not entail long term gameplay changes. The gear and traits from the two other archetypes can be purchased or unlocked early in the game.

Upgrades, weapon mods and traits

The progression in Remnant is threefold, comprising of various ways to improve your gear and toughen your character:

• The most basic part of the progression is upgrading your gear. The upgrade system follows a linear pattern of spending an increasingly higher amount of scraps and materials of different quality. The upgrades provide a flat increase in damage and armor to help you keep up with the enemy’s increase in power.

• Weapon mods are attachments that change the visual design of the weapon while adding a passive or active ability to it. These mods have an immediate impact on the gameplay providing tangible effects that can be changed at any given time to suit your combat needs. Weapon mods can be purchased from vendors and sometimes require items obtained by killing bosses.

• Traits are your passive attributes that gradually enhance your character with each point spent. They provide various bonuses to specialize your character. Traits can be obtained by finding secrets or as an accolade for specific actions and milestones. The trait points are acquired by leveling up or by finding the Tomes of Knowledge hidden within the game’s world. You can spend up to 20 points into each trait you have available.

Ward 13 is more than just a base

Ward 13 serves as your safe haven throughout the game. Most NPCs reside here, offering quests, information and services. However, this peaceful area is more than just a simple hub. The multilayered complex holds its secrets including a weapon, traits, bits of lore and more.

Dynamically generated campaign

Remnant campaign tells the same story through different worlds. The campaign is dynamically generated to create a slightly different experience for each player and with each new attempt. The default campaign is set on normal difficulty, but you can reset it at any point with a difficulty of your choosing, erasing any mission progress made after the tutorial. Each campaign features different bosses, quests and items to loot, adding replay value to the game.

Checkpoints

The checkpoints in Remnant work in a similar way with the bonfires of the Dark Souls series. Orange crystals can be found at the start of each new area, saving your progress, replenishing your life and ammunition while respawning the enemies throughout the world. On death, you will return to the last checkpoint you visited, but unlike Dark Souls, you won’t lose any experience. The checkpoints also serve as a transportation device to return to Ward 13 or travel to other important checkpoints you have discovered.

Stamina management

Stamina management is an integral part of Remnant’s gameplay. Running and dodging costs stamina and the amount differs based on your armor’s weight, but surprisingly, melee attacks cost none. This means that your capability to avoid taking damage depends on your ability to manage this resource. As the enemies like to throw all kind of attacks at you, it’s imperative to influence the rate at which stamina depletes and recharges through traits or armor sets.

Weakspots

As expected from a game with extensive shooting mechanics, Remnants’ damage model features weakspots. For most humanoid enemies who don’t wear a helmet, the weakspot is the head. However, as you progress through the game, you’ll find that enemies do a better job at concealing their weaknesses. Pay attention to openings in the enemy’s armor or for static attacks that leave them vulnerable. These are your best bets to find effective ways of killing the toughest enemies.

Conserve ammo

While firearms are definitely the most effective weapons, they have to be used in moderation because ammunition isn’t abundant. The starting ammo count is actually pretty low for the amount of enemies you’ll face from one checkpoint to the next. Your means to resupply are the ammo packs dropped by monsters on death or using a consumable. For this matter you shouldn’t shy away from using melee attacks if possible. This way you’ll make sure you have spare ammo when it counts.

Damage falloff

All guns have a stat called ideal range which measures the maximum range at which the gun will score the highest damage hits. The further you move from the ideal range, the less damage a firearm will deal to the point where it will become ineffective. With different guns serving different purposes, make sure you pick what works best with your playstyle and stay in the indicated range to deal maximum damage.

Friendly fire

Remnant’s friendly fire is a mechanic that works both ways. Enemies can hit each other as players can, but there’s a catch. While enemies can obliterate one another with their powerful attacks, the damage the players deal to each other is the equivalent of a virtual tickle. This is meant to add an extra layer of strategic depth to the gameplay. While players can use positioning to trick mobs dealing friendly fire, in coop sessions, they have to position themselves in such a way that they don’t waste ammo on hitting teammates.

Break stuff

Scraps are an absolute necessity if you want to purchase new traits and items or upgrade your existing gear. A good amount of scraps and even crafting materials can be obtained by breaking objects. Wooden and ceramic objects like crates, chairs, tables or pots are actual gold mines. So if you are in need of scraps or crafting materials, don’t hesitate to break what’s not yours, the world is ending anyway.

Explore the world

The world was built to be explored. While the dynamically generated areas are quite linear, facilitating a lot of corridor shooting, branching pathways and verticality aren’t exactly uncommon. Each path leads to a different boss or event, providing new rewards. Searching every nook and cranny can be rewarding as well, if you have the patience for it. Tomes of Knowledge, accessories, traits and more area spread around the world as rewards for the most curious and dedicated players.

Difficulty and loot scaling

Remnant’s level of challenge is not only dictated by the campaign’s difficulty setting. According to the developers, the game is using a weighted average to determine your potential power every time you enter a new zone. This means that the highest level item is taken into account, no matter if it’s equipped or sitting in your inventory. So, with a highest item level of +5, each new area is going to have a level of 5 + 1. Upgrading your gear won't have a retroactive impact on your campaign, meaning you can overpower previous areas while still keeping the new zones challenging.
The loot is also affected by scaling. The quality of the materials dropping from enemies or found in the world is determined by an average of your gear level. You can find more details on this official reddit post.

Ending note

The information in this guide is based on the preview weekend before the game’s release. If anything changes with release I will make sure to update the guide accordingly.

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[FlynnTheFearless]

stamina.....management? You mean you actually ran out? Suggest you get world walker up your endurance drink a mudtooth along with the other reducers. Stamina should be your primary focus to start not something you have to 'manage'.

[Nodrim]

@GoodGirl424.ttv Are you trying to join from Steam's interface? You can join your friend's playthrough from the game's main menu.

[™GoodGirl™]

i am trying to join a friend but all it does it let me watch...what do I need to do to actually play with them

[Nodrim]

@MadBuffoon Done!

[GameBangOrangutan]

Awesome. A dumbed-down dummy guide wrote by a dummy for a whole new level of dummies. Great work. May the blind lead the blind.

[Grif]

common sense?

[zarzloy]

OMG this guide is for so obvious things.

[Nodrim]

@Klasyjay I can't say exactly, 15-20 hours, including joining other campaigns for some coop.

[Klasyjay]

how long did it take you to complete the game?

[Nodrim]

I will