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Remnant: From the Ashes
Developed by Gunfire Games, Remnant: From the Ashes presents players with a bleak, post-apocalyptic world that has become a playground for all sorts of monsters. The game offers four worlds to explore and is presented in third-person style, which will definitely remind many of Dark Souls in some ways.
For my time with Remnant, I had the opportunity to explore the single-player mode in the grey-skied, decayed. and monster-infested ruins of the city of the ironically named Fairview. Fairview is one of four worlds available to players, through a central nexus (the World Stone), to explore. Because the maps, spawn points, objectives, and more are dynamically generated, don’t expect the same battles and challenges twice. That feature alone adds plenty of replayability to Remnant.
As for the world itself I played in, Fairview may have been a ruin, but the visual details were eye-catching, from the textured walls to the debris-strewn ground. Twisting corridors, blind alleys and wide open fields make for interesting locations to enter into combat with any number of enemies, from impish enemies to massive demonic bosses like a lovingly-crafted terror out of a Hellboy movie. This is definitely one pretty game, even if it features an ugly cast of enemies and brutal worlds to fight through.
While I only encountered a handful of the enemies in the game, as I remained in the Fairview world for my single-player experience, Remnant: From the Ashes features about 100 distinct enemy types and over 20 boss battles.
Beyond run-and-gun gameplay, crafting is a mechanic to keep in mind when playing through. Crafting will allow players to upgrade their armor, weapons, buffs, and more. I did not have the opportunity to explore that feature in depth, but gamers can look for that feature in the finished game. Adding to the role-playing polish in the game, points can be assigned to character stats and players can also level up.
Overall, the controls, at least with the Xbox One controller, felt measured, smooth and accurate by default, which suited me well. I can deal well with game encounters that call for precision, whether with firing a sniper or taking on a mob with a machine gun with limited ammo. Speaking of the weapons, they control like they are just shy of haptics because of their sense of heft and impact.
For the multiplayer mode, which allows up to three players, I jumped into a battle that took the co-op players to the desert world of Rhom (shown in Remnant’s YouTube video below).
In this mode of play, players must support each other offensively and defensively, achieving each checkpoint together without bleeding out along the way. the challenge felt ramped up to accommodate the extra players in the map, which is part of the dynamic gameplay. The multiplayer mode does not support cross-platform play, at least at this time.
Remnant: From the Ashes is a type of game that takes me a while to to warm up to, whether it’s the game mechanics or controls, but this game was relatively easy to pick and play. along the way, It helps that Remnant is a detailed, distinctive world that will pull you in almost from the start. But, if you’ve played a challenging game lately like any game from the Dark Souls series or Sekiro, then you’ll be up-and-running and comfortable taking on this game in no time.
Remnant: From the Ashes will see an August 20th release on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Steam platforms, priced at $39.99.
