Remnant 2 is mechanically a very solid game. The combat is mostly satisfying and fun, the character and class cutomisation system is deep and impactful (albeit very intimidating at first), and the weapons and skills all feel great to use. And yet I came away from this game feeling pretty indifferent overall... it feels like Remnant 2 drops the ball when it comes to many different aspects of its production and, while the gameplay is mostly good enough to save it from the shortcomings, it isn't enough to elevate the game beyond the lofty heights of 'fine'.
One of the major issues I had with this game in the moment was its difficulty curve. While most of this game is challenging but not too frustrating, there are a number of abrupt spikes in difficulty which all feel very rough to encounter. In particular, one of the areas has enemies which are bizarrely tanky, and this was the only part of the game in which ammo scarcity was a major concern, and a couple of the bosses are dramatically more difficult than the bosses immediately before or after them which can make those next few bosses feel very anticlimactic. I had particular issue with the final boss; the gimmick of the boss is honestly great (I won't spoil it here), but the screen is so busy with particles and brights lights that I had absolutely no hope of working out what the fuck was going on at any given time. This boss fight, as well as some others to a lesser extent, end up looking more like an overproduced superhero movie with how much glowing crap is all over screen, and I really think a cleaner visual design would have made these bosses a much less unintentionally stressful experience for me.
But I think the biggest missed opportunity in this one is its plot and its setting. I haven't played Remnant 1 and, without it... well, Remnant 2 does not give a good first impression. The first few minutes play like a bargain bin The Last of Us, in an incredibly generic post-apocalyptic world with some truly unlikeable main characters. But before long, the game introduces the dimension hopping which is going to be its core premise. The levels you go to in this game are definitely more interesting than the post-apocalypse hub world, but they're all just so... generic. While each world has its own lore and backstory, these are devloped almost exclusively in po-faced and overly dramatic exposition dumps. Admittedly I wasn't paying too much attention to the worldbuilding once it became apparent how stale it was going to be, but none of the worlds' stories seem to connect or influence each other in any meaningful way. The dimension hopping aspect does do wonders for encounter diversity, and the worlds certainly all look the part, but Remnant 2 comes off as rather disjointed and I feel like it wastes the infinite creative freedom that its own premise allows for.
All in all, Remnant 2 feels like a below average and very generic affair but with a central gameplay loop and character building system that are both good enough to make this game worth a look at regardless. It's definitely one of those games that gets better the less attention you pay to its plot and lore but, if you do that and play with a couple of friends, this game offers a good enough time.
One of the major issues I had with this game in the moment was its difficulty curve. While most of this game is challenging but not too frustrating, there are a number of abrupt spikes in difficulty which all feel very rough to encounter. In particular, one of the areas has enemies which are bizarrely tanky, and this was the only part of the game in which ammo scarcity was a major concern, and a couple of the bosses are dramatically more difficult than the bosses immediately before or after them which can make those next few bosses feel very anticlimactic. I had particular issue with the final boss; the gimmick of the boss is honestly great (I won't spoil it here), but the screen is so busy with particles and brights lights that I had absolutely no hope of working out what the fuck was going on at any given time. This boss fight, as well as some others to a lesser extent, end up looking more like an overproduced superhero movie with how much glowing crap is all over screen, and I really think a cleaner visual design would have made these bosses a much less unintentionally stressful experience for me.
But I think the biggest missed opportunity in this one is its plot and its setting. I haven't played Remnant 1 and, without it... well, Remnant 2 does not give a good first impression. The first few minutes play like a bargain bin The Last of Us, in an incredibly generic post-apocalyptic world with some truly unlikeable main characters. But before long, the game introduces the dimension hopping which is going to be its core premise. The levels you go to in this game are definitely more interesting than the post-apocalypse hub world, but they're all just so... generic. While each world has its own lore and backstory, these are devloped almost exclusively in po-faced and overly dramatic exposition dumps. Admittedly I wasn't paying too much attention to the worldbuilding once it became apparent how stale it was going to be, but none of the worlds' stories seem to connect or influence each other in any meaningful way. The dimension hopping aspect does do wonders for encounter diversity, and the worlds certainly all look the part, but Remnant 2 comes off as rather disjointed and I feel like it wastes the infinite creative freedom that its own premise allows for.
All in all, Remnant 2 feels like a below average and very generic affair but with a central gameplay loop and character building system that are both good enough to make this game worth a look at regardless. It's definitely one of those games that gets better the less attention you pay to its plot and lore but, if you do that and play with a couple of friends, this game offers a good enough time.