Remnant: From the Ashes Review
Dust to dust.
Remnant casts you as one of the last humans around. You set out on a journey to find a special tower but are capsized by huge swells of water and only manage to make it to shore by luck. The trouble is, you’re not where you wanted to be. You’re lost. You wander for a small while, fighting off strange demonic plant-like monsters called the Root, only to come across another human being. Attempting to save them nearly gets you killed, but thankfully some other survivors in a camp nearby come to the rescue. And so you wake up in Ward 13.
You’d think one of the last vestiges of humanity would be a little suspicious of someone turning up out of nowhere. Instead, after just one small favour, you’re given a full set of armour, weapons, and access to a magical warp crystal. It’s ever so sudden, but maybe they’re just desperate?
You set out into the world, and your adventure begins in earnest. Remnant: From the Ashes is a third-person action game, one where you have both melee combos and guns to fight with. You can dodge, use items, and use special abilities. The combat feels fine; shooting works, the melee works, the dodge works, it just lacks some of the weight you might hope for when chopping down demonic trees and whatnot. Well, some of it does – the heavier weapons feel good, at least, letting out a satisfying sound and making nice big numbers flash up as you deal damage. But melee feels a bit weightless, and so do the smaller firearms.
It’s counteracted somewhat by how some of the enemies react to being hit. The best of them, are these small spherical creatures with big mouths and axes – shooting them causes them to roll over backwards in a surprising slapstick animation given the otherwise creepy vibe the game goes for. Most enemies look like they are half-Cthulhu, or are flying skulls, or some weird part-cybernetic bug thing with a machine gun.
The enemy and boss design are both very good. The variety among foes and their behaviours is excellent, though the AI is somewhat questionable sometimes. I escaped a mini-boss of sorts by running up some stairs, and it just stood at the bottom as I spent a minute unloading my pistol into what I think was its face.
The bosses are the standouts for sure, with each one bringing a different tactical approach and a horde of mobs to deal with. These hordes seem to be the thing that changes depending on how many of you are in that session, though it’s hard to tell.
The level design doesn’t fare as well; the environments all look washed out in the pursuit of that post-apocalyptic aesthetic we all know so well. There are some interesting offshoots in some levels, but it’s mostly a linear affair.
Co-op alleviates some of these issues; after all, a game shared is always more enjoyable. It’s also clearly how the game was designed to be played. Soloing a boss takes far longer than is fun, but taking down one with a partner or two makes them much more enjoyable.
It also makes exploration more fun within each level. You can choose to split up if you’d like to cover more ground, or you can stick together to watch each other’s backs – a necessity when there is no radar and enemies can randomly appear behind you. That’s by design, though; monsters can literally pop out of the ground or fall from the ceiling, so you always have to be on your guard.
The issue with online play is that only the host keeps their quest progress while everyone else only keeps items or levels. It means you’re likely to be doing the same thing multiple times, though the procedural generation of the levels helps alleviate that somewhat, it’s still irksome.
On top of that mixed bag is the pacing, which seems very formulaic: one or two normal levels followed by a boss. Rinse and repeat.
Each of these bosses is signalled by a – and this is going to sound derivative – fog gate. A little bit Dark Souls then, but wait, there’s more. Each level also has a red crystal that lets you rest, recover your healing items, and even teleport. Also a little bit Dark Souls. Which is fine, I guess, but surely there are other ways of doing this stuff?
As you fight and defeat bosses, you get parts from them that you can turn into mods or weapons (come on). The mods are more interesting for the most part, as these serve as your special abilities. Land enough hits and you’ll be able to summon a plant that draws aggro or a skull that fights on your behalf. It’s a cool system, and the cooldown on each ability makes them worth using as often as you can. In a single boss fight, you’re likely to get four or five uses out of them, and it feels nice not to be limited by a long wind-up time.
Graphically, the game is okay to look at and the voice acting is a little odd in places, but good for the most part. The music is good, the sound design is suitably creepy, and it all ties in together quite well.
Remnant: From the Ashes is fun, but it doesn’t really do anything new. A lot of what you do feels familiar, like a constant sense of deja vu is following you along. There are some cool ideas here, and the story is entertaining enough, but if it wasn’t for the boss fights, the game would feel flat. Even then, they follow a similar formula each time. Of course, not every game has to reinvent the wheel, but it would have been nice to see Remnant try a bit harder to at least change the rims or something.
[Reviewed on PC]