Remnant II came out of the gate strong in August of this year by selling one million copies in their first week—a feat accomplished by only a few games. As a huge fan of the first Remnant, I was beyond excited to sink my teeth into Remnant II. I was not disappointed. Harder bosses, greater attention to detail, and a near-endless amount of weapon and gear combinations make each new campaign/adventure mode reroll feel fun, unique, and engaging. With the immediate, and somewhat continued, hype behind Remnant II, it was clear Gunfire Games would have to take it up a notch with their first DLC. 

(Image courtesy of Gearbox Publishing)

Remnant II is Back With An All New DLC

Remnant II: The Awakened King adds a few new pieces to N’Erud and Yaesha, but the real bread and butter lies within the stone-laden hellscape that is Losomn. Each world has a charm of its own, and I’ve rerolled N’Erud and Yaesha maybe around six or seven times respectively. Losomn, on the other hand, has been my comfort world. Something about the derelict passages full of Grenadier and Oil Drans illuminated by lanterns and bonfires just fills me with pumpkin spice vibes, and I’m here for it. Hearing that Losomn would get the DLC treatment was an even bigger Fall treat than I had hoped. 

The big question is did their one-shot idea work? Remnant II’s procedural generation shuffles any playthrough between one of three worlds. From the world you get when starting/rerolling you are given a random starting location. Having The Awakened King start as a one-shot adventure was possibly the best route they could have taken. There are still a few different endings you can get, which is nice, however, I appreciate being told a linear canonical story to the lore already built from the base game. That being said, you will not find every new DLC item on your first playthrough, so rerolling The Awakened King is a must.

After putting roughly 20 hours into The Awakened King, I got a good deal of DLC-related items. One of my biggest personal gripes initially, and I hoped it might be addressed, was ring and amulet management. There are over 100 rings and no way to sort them. I don’t even have all the rings, by my count, I have 75, and it’s beyond intimidating to take the time and read every single one. Point aside, in The Awakened King, there are few rings and amulets for you to find, and nearly every one I found felt new and unique enough to try out at least once. At least one hour of my 20 hours on The Awakened King consisted of running around and getting large groups of enemies on me before equipping the Death-Soaked Idol, activating the Ritualist’s skill Miasma, and unloading a full clip of the XMG57 Bonesaw with Hot Shot. It was a bloody entertaining time. 

(Image courtesy of Gearbox Publishing)

Does Remnant II’s New DLC Continue the Trend of Difficult Gameplay?

Remnant is known for some intense, and usually quite difficult puzzles. As someone who isn’t the most forward thinker when it comes to puzzles, and playing solo, I was quite nervous to encounter my first [of many] puzzles. The puzzles within The Awakened King feel somewhat slapdash and a bit thoughtless. Difficulty-wise, they range from immediate answer to wracking your brain only to realize the dumbest option might have been the best option all along (I’m looking at you, Ethereal Manor). Again, as someone who isn’t great with puzzles, this worked for me, but some of the puzzles might let down someone who’s looking for a real challenge. 

We’ve covered a few topics here, and it’s time to talk about what really draws everyone to the Remnant franchise: the bosses. First, there’s the Sunken Witch, a tall, dark, foreboding enemy thrashing a four-pronged ship’s anchor in a tight corridor. For this boss battle, it seems more daunting than it is. The Sunken Witch’s move set is fairly easy to time and at most will take experienced players one death to complete. Both Befoulded Altars find themselves to be a decent challenge due to the layout of the enemy’s lair and the barrage of Dran Fiends and their giant fart balls. I ran these two altars with Handler as one of my archetypes, and the majority of the time the Dran Fiends focused their attention on the dog, so they were easy enough.

Bruin, Blade of the King, was the most enjoyable boss and the one that tested me the most. Prepare to dodge a lot, because for someone named Blade of the King, it sure uses a lot of projectiles! And, finally, The One True King. The final boss of The Awakened King. Honestly? The One True King was the easiest final boss of the entirety of Remnant II. However, the fight was incredibly fun, and I almost threw it at the end of my first run just to do the fight again, it’s just…not that hard. 

It’s the journey that matters! Souls-like games have always been tricky for me, as I’ve always struggled with them. Remnant II is a game I beat running solo, even though it was very difficult. When coming across a boss like The One True King it’s not the difficulty that matters. What really matters to me is: Does the fight feel fun? And does the fight feel like it fit within the story? Even if some of the bosses in this DLC were easier than previous Remnant fights, I was so engaged by the story that I didn’t mind it. 

Remnant II: The Awakened King was not only an incredibly fun 20 hours, it got me back into Remnant II. Occasionally, over the past month, I’d hop on for an hour or so and jump into someone else’s world. Now, I’m fully back in rerolling each world and mowing down enemies. The direction Gunfire has taken the story is absolutely fantastic, and I cannot wait to see what they plan to do for the second Remnant II DLC. 

Remnant II: The Awakened King is available now for purchase. Check it out!