Remnant 2

Remnant 2 is a third-person shooter action role-playing video game developed by Gunfire Games and published by Gearbox Publishing San Francisco. A sequel to Remnant: From the Ashes, the game was released for PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X/S on July 25, 2023.

Remnant 2 received generally positive reviews from critics. The game sold over 1 million units during its first week after launch, and over 2 million units by September 2023. Three DLC expansions are planned, with the first one, The Awakened King, released on November 17, 2023.

Gameplay
Like its predecessor, Remnant 2 is a third-person shooter inspired by Soulslike video games. Players can wield up to two guns, alongside their melee weapon. At the beginning of the game, players can select their character archetypes. For instance, the Gunslinger class replaces the Ex-cultist class from the first game, and focuses on the use of firearms. The Challenger class can unleash a shockwave that disintegrates enemies, while the Handler class has a dog companion who will aid in combat. Players will gain the ability to dual class as they progress in the game. Players can also activate different archetype-specific perks and skills. For the Gunslinger, their unique ability is "Loaded", which instantly reloads all the firearms the character is carrying. For the Handler class, the prime perk ability is "Bonded", which allows their dog companion to revive the character after they have fallen in combat.

While the first game features procedural generation by changing a level's layout and enemy spawn points, it has been significantly expanded in Remnant 2. According to Gunfire Games, enemy types, the aesthetic of a region, boss characters, non-playable characters and the game's storyline and quests are also randomly generated. Players can play through the entire game solo, though the game also supports a three-player cooperative multiplayer mode.

Synopsis
Set after Subject 2923, the final downloadable content pack released for Remnant: From the Ashes, the game's story follows a nameless survivor who is tasked with stopping "The Root", a race of evil plant species which seeks to destroy the multiverse. The nameless survivor is required to kill several bosses in different worlds: Yaesha, Losomn and Ne'rud. After killing each boss, the survivor receives a shard. After completing the first world (killing the first world’s boss), players unlock the labyrinth. Here, there is a giant eye that players can give the fragments and unlock the final world. The final world, Root Earth, is where the final boss is located. After finishing the boss, the survivor successfully saves the universe from the Root.

Development
Remnant 2 was officially announced by developer Gunfire Games and publisher Gearbox Publishing San Francisco during The Game Awards 2022. The game was released for PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X/S in July 2023. The story of the game is set after the final downloadable content released for Remnant: From the Ashes, though Gunfire deliberately kept the game's narrative simple to ensure that all players "have no trouble picking it up".

For Remnant 2, the team intended to significantly build on the foundations laid by Remnant: From the Ashes. Two main development goals were to expand gameplay variety using the archetype system, and increase the game's replay value through its procedural generation system. Explaining the system, David Adams, CEO of Gunfire Games, added that "at the top level we randomly generate the order of the biomes" that a player may encounter. The system will then generate "one of two unique storylines" in each biomes, and "all the mini bosses, side quests, events" within it. This helped ensure that players had more incentives to replay the game. As each players will have a distinct experience playing the game, the developer hoped that players would be inclined to share their game experience with their friends.

Downloadable content
The game's first downloadable content (DLC) pack, titled The Awakened King, was released on November 14, 2023; it features two additional songs by Trivium's Matt Heafy. Two more DLC packs are set to be released in 2024. All three packs are included in the game's Ultimate Edition. David Adams, President of Gunfire Games, also revealed in an interview that the team would love to explore a survival-like game mode in the future. The division of Gearbox Publishing which published the game, Gearbox Publishing San Francisco was rebranded into Arc Games following Gearbox's sale to Take-Two Interactive. The second DLC pack, The Forgotten Kingdom, was released on April 23, 2024.

Reception
Remnant 2 received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. 86% of critics recommend the game on OpenCritic.

Rick Lane of PC Gamer praised the game's combat and implementation of procedural generation, but felt that the story was not cohesive enough to tie the rest of the game together.

Sales
Sales of Remnant 2 outpaced its predecessor, managing to nearly double the concurrent player count of Remnant: From the Ashes on Steam at launch. Remnant 2 was the second best-selling video game on Steam at launch. The sales of the game exceeded Gearbox's expectations.

Remnant 2 sold over 1 million units during its first week after launch. In the United States, the game was the best-seller in July 2023. By the end of September 2023, it had sold over 2 million units.