The co-op shooter Remnant: From the Ashes evokes all kinds of emotions: anger, frustration, joy… And you can even experience those together with friends in co-op mode. With a new DLC, a challenging difficulty, and repeatable content, it’s the perfect game to suffer – or rejoice – with friends.
What is Remnant: From the Ashes? Since its release, Remnant: From the Ashes has been a surprising success that no one really expected. As a mix of Fallout and Dark Souls/Bloodborne with a touch of The Division, it is a challenging, atmospheric PvE shooter for up to three players.
Armed with shotguns, rifles, and submachine guns, and enhanced with magical abilities like in Bioshock, you then take on strange wooden creatures, swamp monsters, or newly giant rats together in a post-apocalyptic world.
The crazy weapons and opponents fit perfectly into the dark world that you can explore with up to three players in co-op mode. There’s always plenty to do, even when you’ve already finished the game – so much, that MeinMMO author Benedict Grothaus almost missed work for it.
Slay bosses, loot, die – all in co-op
What makes Remnant so good? Remnant offers heaps of repeatable content that changes with each run. Thus, it’s worthwhile for someone who already knows the story to start anew with friends.
In the process, you can always discover new puzzles and solve them together, defeat bosses or fail at them, and collect loot you haven’t had before. This is because worlds are randomly generated each time the campaign is created.
Already the first major story boss can either be an Ent or the giant dragon Brandfleck. Both have different loot and even “alternative kills,” so further visits are always worthwhile. This also applies to secrets and other loot that can be found in the levels.
This is how Remnant feels with friends
In co-op, you go through various emotions together while playing: frustration, joy, anger, fear, hope. Or the feeling of deep satisfaction after finally killing a boss that has been taking you down for hours.
At least in my runs with friends, it got quite loud in voice chat from time to time, for various reasons:
Screams of fear when someone (usually me) runs ahead and is already waiting at the exit of the level for the others. When asked where everyone is, I often hear a reply from behind: “Dude! I have three elites on me and no ammo left, come back!”
Screams of anger when a boss has already wiped us out for the fifth or tenth time. Particularly frustrating when they were almost dead, as the whole fight has to be repeated up to that point. Popular candidates for triggering anger screams are also: reloading at the wrong moment, dodging in the wrong direction, and getting headshot by a teammate behind you. Because friendly fire is always active.
Screams of hope and joy when you’re the last one alive in your team against the boss, almost out of ammo, and have to dodge abilities and enemies. When the last health points of the opponent finally drop, especially against one of the tougher bosses, a relieving “Yes!” often echoes through the headsets.
How do I play best with friends? Remnant offers many options to create builds with weapons and skills for aggressive, defensive, or supportive play styles.
Ideally, you should coordinate your roles, similar to an MMO. At least that’s what the guy who made the bosses you’re struggling against told me as co-op tips. This adds even more depth to the whole co-op aspect when you communicate and agree with each other – it’s almost like a special unit in a post-apocalyptic world.
With the latest DLC Subject 2923, Remnant is really worth it now
What are the new contents? With Subject 2923, a new type of enemies has entered the game: giant rat people with a culture, houses, and weapons reminiscent of Vikings. Additionally, the DLC includes:
- 2 new zones
- 6-8 new quests
- 6 new bosses
- 4 new base and boss weapons each, as well as 4 new mods
- 2 new armor sets
- 21 new trinkets
- and 3 new consumables
Many of the quests are connected to puzzles that need to be solved, and there are some secrets to discover scattered throughout the world. One particularly tricky puzzle made me look really silly, but it was wonderful.
Why is it worth it now? With Subject 2923, the story of Remnant: From the Ashes is concluded, and there are currently no plans for a sequel. So now you have the full experience. Those who got Remnant for free during Epic’s giveaway should now be nearing the point where the new (and final) content becomes interesting.
The timing is perfect to start once again with friends and farm the last loot in Adventure mode and discover the last secrets.
Or you can take a few rounds in the Survival mode from the DLC “Swamps of Corsus”. This is an endless roguelike mode that you can repeat as often as you want, independently of the story, and now also includes the new enemies and some bosses from Subject 2923.
If you start anew together, be prepared for the entry to be relatively easy right after the tutorial, but then quickly becoming more challenging to really hard. The famous Soulsborne games are quite a noticeable influence. If you need help, you can find in our special tips for getting started in Remnant: From the Ashes.
