There have been quite a lot of moments that made me cease and say, “Wow, that was superior,” in Remnant 2, however the one which shoved it to the highest of my listing of favorites for the 12 months got here throughout one among its many wonderful boss fights.
I might labored by means of one of many three unusual places that make up Remnant 2’s marketing campaign. This one was a wrecked derelict spaceship the dimensions of a moon that had as soon as been inhabited by a sophisticated race on a quest to seek out, kind of, god. That plan did not actually pan out, and their ship’s inside had modified over eons from a contained facsimile of their planet right into a desolate, post-apocalyptic waste. By way of the course of exploring, I might cleared one among Remnant 2’s dungeons and located what was basically a bizarre alien USB drive. Now I used to be carrying it round, ready to determine what to do with it.
We ultimately reached the ultimate boss of the realm, an enormous blue alien named Sha’Hala with a ton of eyes and large fingers. We would handled this man earlier than in a good friend’s playthrough, combating by means of by the pores and skin of our enamel to defeat him. However after I reached the console to activate the struggle with Sha’Hala, I observed one other interactable spot on the underside we hadn’t seen earlier than: a second management level, out of the way in which and simple to overlook. I hit the work together button and was provided the chance to make use of a quest merchandise from my stock.
Intrigued, I caught the USB factor in, which kicked off the boss struggle. And far to my shock, we had been thrown right into a very completely different battle than the one we might beforehand fought towards this exact same large alien monster. Sha’Hala had all-new assaults this time round, and the tenor of the battle was wholly completely different. As an alternative of a large number of laser beams forcing us to dodge continually, we had been coping with extra small targets that needed to be cleared out earlier than we may assault the boss. All the boss struggle had a brand new really feel, and on the finish, we obtained a brand new, ludicrous gun made out of severed alien fingers as a reward.
After the struggle, we found that our actions hadn’t simply accomplished the world, however had utterly walled it off. In contrast to different places, we could not return to this model of N’Erud to discover it additional or attempt to full its story quests. It was gone, inaccessible, destroyed or condemned by the results of introducing the alien system into the boss’s console.
This type of factor, stumbling on a secret that may completely change your expertise, occurs on a regular basis in Remnant 2, because of its sensible mixture of bespoke and procedural design. Remnant 2 teleports you to distant worlds to discover, and each time you arrive at one, the sport cobbles collectively that world from quite a few parts–but all of these components have their very own distinct, fleshed-out, intentionally designed items. The world map could have quite a few dungeons on it, however these dungeons are randomly chosen. The dungeons themselves are all distinct, typically with one-off mechanics and secrets and techniques of their very own, however which secrets and techniques are discovered inside can also be chosen procedurally.
What you find yourself with are worlds and places and dungeons that each one have the robust elements of bespoke content material, like attention-grabbing boss fights and hidden rewards, however with the sensation of surprising discovery that comes from procedural era. It creates experiences which might be continually stunning and pleasant.
To get that alternate boss struggle we did not know existed, my model of N’Erud–the alien ship world–had to have the appropriate mixture of parts. I needed to have the right dungeon, which was an underground transit system overtaken by a rogue AI that tries to kill you with a practice derailment. I needed to end that dungeon and discover the USB drive on the finish of it, and I needed to carry it together with me to the tip of that world’s story marketing campaign.
Oh, and I additionally wanted to get the right story marketing campaign to start with–because every of the three worlds you discover in Remnant 2 has two utterly completely different principal tales to play by means of, which additionally have an effect on the items you may get when that world is created. And that signifies that there are entire different variations of N’Erud with their very own places and mysteries, and perhaps even alternate boss fights, to unlock.
At one other level, my group and I had been exploring one other world–the fantasy-ish Losomn, which is definitely a Bloodborne-esque industrial revolution planet slowly merging with a excessive elf Rivendell-type dimension–and noticed a blind baby operating by means of the streets of the burning metropolis. We would already been by means of this world earlier than and we might by no means seen something like this; largely, the denizens of the city had been like these of Yarnham, attacking you on sight with rifles and pitchforks.
We ultimately managed to comply with the child by means of the city and found a home the place quite a few youngsters had been residing, together with an odd lady knitting an enormous quilt. After a second, we realized the quilt was an infinite depiction of our exploits. This was an enormous puzzle that might have to be solved; to finish the quilt, we might have to find extra dungeons, and even revisit alternate variations of Losomn to be able to full the hunt. The brand new location additionally carried with it an entire new aspect of the story in Losomn, including new context to a world we thought we had a deal with on.
The sensation that got here with this revelation was phenomenal–we’d been by means of Losomn two or 3 times by this level in each other’s video games, however right here was one thing not solely wholly new, however which unlocked an enormous, expansive new puzzle to unravel. Remnant 2 delivered this sense for us repeatedly.
There are quite a lot of causes to love Remnant 2, from its mix-and-match character-class system to its wonderful boss fights, however what I favored most of all was uncovering its secrets and techniques. Each time I ventured into territory I believed I knew, I discovered one thing completely different. I’ve by no means performed a sport that makes use of procedural era so effectively–not to create a bunch of generic content material to maintain you busy, however to cover new, sensible moments in your path. Remnant 2 is quite a lot of issues, however what it is best at is a supply system for discovery, coaxing you again repeatedly to see what different fascinating, sensible, and enjoyable secrets and techniques it is hiding. That is why, of all of the video games that got here out in 2023, it is the one I am nonetheless taking part in.
