Buy Remnant II

It can be difficult for a Soulslike to craft its own identity because there are so many titles trying so many different things that they all sort of meld together. Remnant: From the Ashes managed to stand out from the crowd with a simple, straightforward concept: What if Dark Souls had guns? To its credit, it worked. Despite some rough patches, it was still a solid and enjoyable Soulslike that endeared itself to an audience. Remnant II manages to show that wasn't a fluke. It's an enjoyable and charming sequel that shows a lot of love for the developers and provides everything fans could want.

Remnant II is set after the first game, but you don't need to have played the original to follow along. All you really need to know is that a mysterious interdimensional corruption called The Root ravaged Earth and was eventually defeated. Humanity has started to rebuild and recover. Unfortunately, your character and their companion Clementine discover that things are not all hunky-dory. While looking for the legendary Ward 13, they discover that The Root is still there, and its interdimensional corruption seems to be starting up again. Naturally, you're going to need to shoot a whole lot of baddies to protect the world once again.

Remnant II really goes all-in on the concept of multidimensional exploration from the first game, and it's better for it. I'd argue it has the most diverse locales in the genre. You might hop from sci-fi to fantasy to a setting that is so close to Bloodborne in tone and design that I half-expected an official crossover. There are just enough cool differences between each world that I was intrigued to see what came next. It still has the somewhat common Soulslike problem of burying its coolest concepts under vague comments and semi-random bits of lore, but Remnant has solidified its concept as more than just Dark Souls With Guns.

The Dark Souls With Guns elements are still present. Much of the core is familiar. You've got bonfires, Estus Flasks, punishing difficulty, and general hallmarks of the genre, but of course, they each have their own spin. If you've played a Soulslike in the past decade, you know the basics. Remnant II doesn't seem ashamed of being Dark Souls With Guns, and that works entirely in its favor, allowing it to focus on what makes it distinct instead of different.

Gunplay is an important part of the franchise, and it's largely enjoyable. Everything feels good. Melee is solid, but I preferred the chance to blow away various fantasy knights or evil tree monsters with a variety of good ol' dependable weapons. The actual feel of the combat is somewhat closer to Returnal than Halo, with a heavy emphasis on movement, dodging and avoiding attacks. Indeed, some of the boss fights are closer to a bullet hell shooter than a standard run-and-gun, but it's better for it.

One cool change from the original game is that Remnant II now has distinct character archetypes — specialized classes that you pick and build upon. You start with access to four (five, with certain DLC bonuses). Each one has their own set of skills that you build around. You start with a Challenger, which is basically a close-range tank type, a Hunter who is a long-distance fighter, a Handler who has a cool dog companion, and a Medic who is ... well, a medic. Each one is perfectly capable of solo play or working in a group, and there are enough different options that you can pick whatever works best for you. Each archetype has distinct skills they can equip. The Medic can focus on healing, rapid shields, or even a full party revive. The Handler can customize their dogs to either be tanks, support or attackers, allowing them to fill different niches. You can freely swap as needed, so you can build differently for solo play and co-op play.

As the game progresses, you'll unlock more options, and there's a solid flow of new elements to help the game feel fresh. This ranges from the ability to equip sub-archetypes to let you mix and match different skill sets to hidden unlockable archetypes, like the Gunslinger and Engineer. Each one significantly changes how you play the game, and the fact that there are so many of them keeps the game fresh. Finding a new archetype opens up enough fun options that it's a true delight to find one and prevents the game from feeling as redundant as the first Remnant.

That said, the game isn't perfect and runs into some flaws. I wish there was a touch more monster variety in each area. Overall, there are a good number of different foes, but since you spend a lot of time in specific biomes, they can start to feel repetitive. It's not detrimental to the experience, but the game can start to drag at times. The boss variety all over the place. Some bosses are incredibly cool, such as one that literally has you fighting the environment, and others amount to "generic person with a gun" and are forgettable. The good bosses are great, and the bad ones are boring.

The other big problem is that while the game is perfectly playable solo, it just feels designed for co-op in a way most Soulslike games don't. A lot of the game's builds, boss fights and general mechanics beg for at least one other person to be along for the ride. Medic is fun, but it's more fun if I have other people to heal. Sniping foes from a distance feels better when there's someone drawing aggro, and in general, the game feels like it's heavy enough on MMO-style design concepts that I recommend playing with friends.

Remnant II looks fantastic. It's clear a lot more effort was put into every aspect of the visuals, from the monster designs to the varied environments, and the result is just a shockingly lovely game for something set in a horrible apocalyptic hellscape. It also ran very smoothly, and the general design is good enough that I never had trouble keeping track of enemies in busy areas. The voice acting is solid enough if not particularly exceptional, and the music follows a similar note. The voice acting is fine, but it isn't quite as remarkable as the graphics.

Remnant II is a darn fun game. It's clear that the developers took to heart all of the major complaints about the first game and worked on improving them. The result is a title that seems determined to put having fun above all else, and it works. Assuming you have friends along for the ride, this can easily be one of the most enjoyable Soulslike experiences out there, and it's still fun as a solo game.

Score: 8.0/10