The cooperative shooter Remnant: From the Ashes was the big surprise success in the summer of 2019. After the first DLC was well received, the developers want to repeat their success in 2020 with the 2nd DLC “Subject 2923”. To do this, they have developed a complete mini-campaign along with a new planet and other enemies.
Remnant: From the Ashes was the surprise hit in the summer of 2019 on Steam. The game quickly gathered nearly 50,000 players as a peak. In the following months, the player count declined again, but with the new DLC “Swamps of Corsus” in April, the player numbers rose significantly again.
Especially the new rogue-like survival mode was well received there and excited MeinMMO author Benedict Grothaus even beforehand – and that, even though he doesn’t even like rogue-like games!
On Steam, Remnant rightly sits at 84% positive reviews.
However, the developers do not want to be satisfied with that. Instead, they are planning a repetition of their success with the 2nd DLC for 2020. But what is included in the new DLC and what do the developers have to say about the game’s previous successes?
Remnant: From the Ashes – Everything in the game and the update DLCs
What does Remnant offer? Remnant is a cooperative shooter where you face off against grotesque plant monsters in randomly generated levels. This “Seed” (English “Root”) has taken over the Earth. The last humans live hidden and only risk dangerous forays out of their shelters.
Throughout the game, you blast and hack your way through various monsters together with up to two other players and really tough bosses. They are truly difficult to defeat and thus, Remnant is often compared to hardcore games like Dark Souls.
Anyone wanting to achieve something in Remnant: From the Ashes must bring skill and frustration tolerance.
This is how Remnant evolved: After its release in August 2019, a large patch soon followed in September with the highly anticipated “Adventure Mode”. In this mode, you could revisit the already known locations and wreak havoc in randomly generated levels.
In October, there was again a larger update that further increased the already hefty difficulty level. Because with the “Hardcore Mode,” permadeath was also introduced to the game. If you die in this mode, you lose everything!
This is what was included in the first major DLC in 2020: The developers will add even more in April 2020, when the large DLC “Swamps of Corsus” is released. It contains these features:
- New gear and abilities
- A new planet full of swamps and the “elves” living there, bizarrely merged with insects, posing a new threat.
- A new game mode called Survival
Especially the last mode is well received by players, and this even surprises the developers. In an interview with MeinMMO, design director John Pearl revealed that they did not expect such great popularity for the new mode:
To be honest, [our biggest surprise] was that people received the survival mode so enthusiastically. They really got into it. I mean, we knew that it would be a fun new mode. But when you release a game and then 8 months later you release a completely new mode, you don’t know how the players will react.
It could be that people say: “I already finished the game, I won’t play this anymore.” But people really took the bait, that was great!
However, things did not go so well: However, there were also problems with the latest DLC. Because the new story with the swamp elves was not clearly written and was rather hidden for many players. You have to start the adventure mode to access it and cannot play it as a regular campaign.
The developers want to improve this in the upcoming DLC “Subject 2923”.
Subject 2923 – How Remnant aims to repeat its big success in 2020
When will the 2nd DLC come? Subject 2923 will be the second major DLC for Remnant. It is set to release, despite all adversities, on August 20, 2020. According to our interviewee John Pearl, this date should still hold, as the developer company Gunfire Games is a small studio and was therefore able to switch to home office effectively and quickly. A strong internet infrastructure in the region also played a major role.
What’s the name about? When the name “Subject 2923” comes up in the interview, I, Jürgen Horn from MeinMMO, ask in surprise what it means. John Pearl just laughs and gives a cryptic answer:
Yes, it’s actually a reference to something that is already in the game. Our lore fans from the community will surely start piecing together the clues. We wanted to create a mystery, and when players play it, they will hopefully understand it, and it will make sense. This was even present in the prequel, Chronos.
As I said, lore fans will pick up on this immediately, and I look forward to the speculation about what it exactly means.
Killer Rats and Killer Pumpkins – What’s in the new DLC for Remnant
What is the new DLC about? In Subject 2923, the main goal is to finish the story of Remnant. The storyline of the DLC starts about a year after the end of the main campaign. The “Seed” is significantly weakened but not completely gone. There remains a last anchor that binds the monster plants to the Earth. Therefore, players search for answers in remote, rural areas.
In a preview video, I can see a spooky farm where horrific new seed creatures are wandering around. They strongly resemble the pumpkin monsters popular at Halloween. But according to developer John Pearl, that was pure coincidence; they simply wanted to create a spooky horror look.
Later, it goes into an underground military facility where even more horrifying seed monsters roam. This is the second scenario of the DLC, the base that likely houses one last gruesome secret of the seed.
This is what the rats look like: But the last video shown to me presents a completely different scenery. Instead of the familiar areas of Earth and the seed creatures, I see an icy snowy landscape filled with rickety shanties. Humanoid rats scurry around, wielding crossbows and spears.
It almost seems as if I’m suddenly seeing a post-apocalyptic version of the Warhammer Fantasy game Vermintide. In this game, the rat-like Skaven are the major opponents. The rats here in the video look almost exactly the same.
This harsh break – first creepy plant monsters and old military facilities, then suddenly an excursion to winter rat land – seems strange to me, and I immediately ask John Pearl what this is about:
They are a race of large, humanoid rats. They are the Urikki. And that’s where you go in the new DLC, the planet Reisum. That’s where these giant rats live. They are somewhat Viking-like in how they fight and the kind of buildings they live in. They will surely be a good addition to the Remnant world.
The rats and their world are somehow connected to the seed and its presence on Earth. But why do the developers choose rat beings as the new antagonists? John Pearl has a nice anecdote about that as well:
Humanoid giant rats have something. You mentioned the Skaven from Warhammer earlier. They were at least subconsciously our inspiration. And there was actually an old piece of artwork from the early development phase. It featured a humanoid giant walking down the street, surrounded by man-sized rats. It was kind of iconic for the game, we just had to pick that up again.
The further content of Subject 2923
What else is new? The new DLC therefore offers three new scenarios, one of which, the large rat planet Reisum, represents a completely new biome. According to the developers, this DLC is not just an update but a complete mini-campaign.
It also contains a massive amount of additional content in the DLC. This includes:
- New enemies
- New bosses
- New traits
- New items and equipment
- New weapons and armors
So anyone enjoying Remnant should get even more reasons to keep playing the game with the new DLC. The developers are clearly focusing on more of what made the game great in 2019: wacky, creepy settings, intense fights, and brutal boss fights.
How to get into the new story? According to the developers, you don’t have to finish the old campaign first if you want to play the new story from the DLC. As a buyer of the DLC, you can jump straight into Subject 2923. This is convenient and useful for newcomers, even if, according to John Pearl, it doesn’t make sense from a story standpoint.
Are there new modes in the DLC? There will be no new modes, such as a PvP mode, in the foreseeable future. Survival remains the only new mode for now. Especially regarding PvP, the developers are clear that it would require too much balancing effort and that Remnant is simply designed as a co-op game.
However, you can replay the new areas, like the rat planet Reisum, the military base, and the creepy outskirts, as often as you like in adventure mode. Even in the popular survival mode, the new content will be present. So anyone who prefers to fight rats rather than plants and swamp elves will soon have that opportunity.
Is it worth getting into Remnant again in 2020?
Remnant: From the Ashes scored particularly well with its fun co-op mode, enjoyable gunplay, and RPG elements with classes and traits. The tough boss fights and the hunt for better gear motivated thousands of players at the time and became even more intense in survival and hardcore mode.
The new DLC Subject 2923 picks up exactly at this point. It does not bring fundamental innovations like another game mode. But it complements the already strong mix with a complete “mini-campaign” containing new worlds, enemies, and tons of new items to collect.
So anyone looking for a challenging co-op shooter that shines with a unique atmosphere and bizarre enemies can confidently jump in here. The same goes for players who have already completed Remnant and have not been active since then. It’s also worth coming back for you, especially since the story finally finds its end and you may finally be able to drive away the seed.
Strengths and weaknesses of Remnant: From the Ashes
Hit potential (Promising expansion)
The cooperative shooter Remnant: From the Ashes impressed me even in an early beta at GamesCom 2018. The tough boss fights and the shooting against the bizarre monsters are clear unique selling points of the shooter and are rightly praised by very positive Steam reviews.
Therefore, it fits very well that Remnant does not try to reinvent itself but remains true to the core elements of its success. Therefore, we are now getting more of what everyone already likes. I find the new world with the rats especially promising. Because it will not only be featured in the campaign that can eventually be completed but also serve as a permanent occupation in adventure or hardcore mode.
Jürgen Horn
Editor Mein-MMO
