Pretender To The Throne
HIGH New options for new builds.
LOW My frames… again.
WTF Didn’t realize that was a cliff…
Editor’s Note: This review is for the Remnant II DLC only. For the full writeup of the base game including expanded information and system explanations, please see the main review here.
Playing The Awakened King is like eating a plain dessert after a sumptuous meal – slightly unsatisfying, and easy to forget in light of what came before. Now, I’m not saying Remnant II’s first DLC is somehow so egregiously bad it ruins the main experience – a gem – retroactively. What I’m saying is these piecemeal additions don’t add much to the experience.
The Awakened King does offer several new possible permutations of the base game’s Losomn world, split between the fantastical palace areas of the Fae and the Victorian-inspired urban dredge of the Dran – or, as I affectionately call them, the Bloodborne parts. The new sections that aren’t just new riffs on previous areas are set along a coast, where the ramshackle harbor and derelict lighthouse stand in stark contrast to the majesty of a castle commanding the skyline.
There are only a couple truly new bosses as well (I’m not counting stat-buffed enemies called “aberrations”) that I found mostly underwhelming. Fighting big boss The One True King – the angry, awakened monarch whose magical repose caused conflict in the base game – was the highlight, if only because of his gargantuan size and whiplash-inducing teleportation. However, even including him, no boss encounter here ever reached the mechanical cleverness of those in the base campaign.
Aimed more at die-hard players than casual travelers like myself, the most the DLC has to offer is a slew of new weapons and items to further trick out already-established builds. For example, the Executor mutator increases both melee charge and attack speed for those who want to make hand-to-hand combat more viable, while there are a slew of new items that build on status effects, like the Shadow of Misery ring that increases status damage by a full 15 per cent. There’s also a new archetype, the Ritualist, which similarly plays with those status effects and features a delightfully witchy unique armor.
The previous game, Remnant: From the Ashes, had an infamously content-light initial DLC, and Awakened King is certainly better than that. However, the future additions to Ashes brought new biomes and enemies, and while I had hoped The Awakened King would be of a similar caliber, it falls short – in terms of story and setpieces, a player could probably see most of what’s on offer here in around four or five hours.
Technically, the first thing I noticed when booting up the new area was a precipitous drop in frames – the rainy weather means the shore runs significantly worse than any of the base game areas, at least on my PC. But, with a few setting tweaks I was able to fully appreciate the new gloomy atmosphere.
I was excited to dive back into Remnant II and wanted to see what new wonders Gunfire Games could cook up. There might be something juicier in the next expansion, but this one more feels like a few odds and ends than anything substantial. The One True King may be awakened, but players should feel free to sleep on this DLC.
Score: 6 out of 10
Disclosures: This game is developed by Gunfire Games and published by Gearbox Publishing. It is currently available on XBX, PS5 and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 3 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. 5 hours of play were spent in multiplayer modes.
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M and contains Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Strong Language, and Violence. The official description reads as follows: This is a third-person action game in which players assume the role of a human survivor in a post-apocalyptic, fantasy world. Players travel between four different realms to battle demonic forces, alien creatures, and corrupted mutants in frenetic combat. Players use pistols, rifles, shotguns, and melee weapons to kill enemy forces. Battles are highlighted by realistic gunfire, cries of pain, and frequent blood-splatter effects. Some attacks on enemy creatures can result in decapitation, with large blood-splatter. One quest item players must retrieve is a severed, bloody hand, which can be examined at close range. The game depicts a topless elven female character, with an exposed breast and nipple. The words “f*k,” “sht,” and “a*shole” are heard in the game.
Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. Audio cues for enemy presence and attacks do not have a visual component onscreen. This game is not fully accessible.
Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls.
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