Remnant II: Deluxe Edition

Where Remnant: From The Ashes was a strong first draft, Remnant 2 is a revolutionary sequel and a sterling manifesto for the looter-shooter soulslike.

Remnant 2 builds on its predecessor to create a rewarding and unpredictable experience that's difficult to put down.

Remnant 2 is an ambitious sequel stuffed with delightful - and deadly - surprises.

Remnant 2 is a dependable looter shooter made special by its boundless capacity to surprise.

I’m over the post-apocalypse, and it’s going to take one hell of a game to get me interested in such a bleak setting for the foreseeable future. Remnant 2 is not that game.

Remnant II is most successful as a tour through a series of disparate dimensions, each contending with their own battles against the villainous Root plaguing their world. The gunplay is solid, the co-op with up to two other players works great, and the lore is fascinating (if you want to dig deep). Remnant II’s plot, characters, and progression are where it falls short, but I like its third-person shooter take on mechanics and ideas borrowed from the Souls games.

A staggering improvement upon a solid foundation, Remnant 2 is an engrossing Soulslike that brings all the horror and joy of alien world exploration to wonderfully dark fruition.

If you were a fan of Remnant: From the Ashes, chances are you already planned to pick up Remnant 2. If you haven’t played the original but are a fan of souls-like games, or even rogue-likes like Risk of Rain 2 or Returnal, this will be right up your alley.

Remnant II is better than its predecessor in basically every way imaginable, but an even bigger focus on procedural generation brings with it some baggage. Navigation is more difficult than it needs to be, while the UI leaves a lot to be desired. In the heat of the action, though, Remnant II is a great, satisfying shooter that allows for lots of different team compositions through deep character customisation. Get a few friends involved for some online co-op fun and you could have yourself an all-new obsession.

There have been a good chunk of high profile action RPGs recently and Remnant II triumphs them when it comes to providing a fulfilling RPG experience.