When Remnant II is already a masterpiece, it is amazing that The Awakened King managed to improve on what had come before.
Remnant II released earlier this year to both critical and audience acclaim. The reviews were in, and they were fantastic, with most raving about the gameplay, the story, and the fantastic RPG elements that mean the player can be taken in a multitude of different directions as the game shifts and twists with the player. Remnant 2 – The Awakened King had big shoes to fill as the first DLC available for the original game, coming with a whole new story, a new class, and a whole lot of extra content.
Gunfire Games are known for creating fascinating worlds that are full of comprehensive lore and RPG elements that are rarely rivalled. When Remnant II was released this year, it followed this tradition, giving players a clear indication of the level of polish to be expected from future works.
It was important for The Awakened King to follow this lead, particularly as there was a fairly lengthy break between the release of the game and this additional content. Remnant 2 – The Awakened King seems to fill the, frankly massive, shoes of the game that came before it with a lot of additional content and gameplay that matches that which came before it.
This DLC is the first of 3 that Gunfire Games plan to put out for Remnant II. The pressure was certainly on to make it good enough to have players want to buy DLC 2 and 3, which are also available in a bundle if you want to buy them that way. Once you have unlocked the adventure mode, the DLC is available for anyone who chooses to purchase it. By simply approaching a touch stone the player can select the Remnant 2 – The Awakened King adventure mode and explore the new world at their disposal.
The story of Remnant 2 – The Awakened King follows the story of the One True King, who has returned from a great slumber but has been infected by the Root that has taken over much of the rest of this world. The King is under the impression that the Dran are in the place of the Fae who he thinks have betrayed him during his long sleep. The player must make their way over towards the large castle that looms over the player while working their way through various dungeons to finally reach the high castle, being able to look back over the treacherous route they have just taken.
The gameplay of Remnant 2 – The Awakened King is a continuation of the gameplay in Remnant II. Like in the original game, the gunplay is varied and difficult, with enemies that require different techniques to fight against, whether that be moving in close for melee attacks or backing off and working from a further range to try to snipe from afar. There are some who have described the gameplay in Remnant II as Gunfire’s take on a Dark Souls game or Elden Ring with guns, and it is safe to say this is correct.
The enemies are often tanky, or there are just so many of them that they can feel that way, even if the individuals are a little less intimidating when alone. Like in the main game, there are mini-bosses as well as these onslaughts of hoarding enemies that often take a lot more strategy to take down in order to avoid them being absolute bullet sponges. In the main game of Remnant II, there are many different arenas to fight in, and while most had environmental damages that could be used against these mini bosses, or a particularly determined pack of grunts, there seemed to be far more readily available in Remnant 2 – The Awakened King.
These environmental elements made for a lot of variation in the gameplay. This, by no means, means that the original Remnant II game was missing this variety. Instead, it was an additional joy to suddenly be presented with far more opportunities to blow up an explosive barrel in someone’s face or to force them off a high drop or over a cliff. The environment being useful in this way allows the player to be reminded of the world they are in, one where the ground around them is covered in Root, trying to take them down as much as the evil characters that surround them.
There is also a fun variety of new enemy types in The Awakened King that work alongside the ones most players will be useful. While many of the environments are procedurally generated, meaning the experience will be different for every player, I found that in my playthroughs on both an easy and hard difficulty with different characters met these new enemies in a very similar way. While moving through the new area, I was met with many enemies I was used to, giving me a lot of unearned confidence, so when I suddenly faced a new foe, I was left stunned and very much had my arse handed to me.
The addition of this more interactive environment is certainly very useful, as some of the environmental puzzles in Remnant 2 – The Awakened King lack a certain amount of polish. This is not to say they are all this way. There is a key item that can be found towards the end of a playthrough that can be used once yet unlocks two doors. The ability to unlock the basement door isn’t revealed until the player examines the item and turns it to orient in a different way, making the key work in a whole new setting.
The inventive and exciting moments like this, however, serve as somewhat of a curse as it proves the level of talent at Gunfire Games. The innovation of such a small moment only makes the other attempts at puzzles and environmental elements pale in comparison, while this section stands out.
The section of gameplay that stands out the most from the rest of Remnant II in The Awakened King is the new Archetype that was introduced as a part of the DLC. This new class is called the Ritualist and is a high-risk, high-reward class that adds a great level of variety to the existing classes. This Archetype is so much fun, making a player have to play the game in a massively different way to what they are used to no matter the previous role they were using. Often the player will have to risk their own health in order to have damaging effects on the enemies in the area.
The Ritualist is one of the most entertaining parts of the new DLC. It allows for a lot of new gameplay elements, and it should be a top priority for anyone playing The Awakened King once you start playing. The class has a lot of area-of-effect attacks and relies heavily on debuffs and negative status effects. It is important to remember that the Prime Perk of the Ritualist, Vile, makes the status effect of an enemy more effective and passes to its allies once it has fallen. So many sure you are using the right weapons, you can’t have a status effect pass if you haven’t caused one yet.
Fine-tuning the class and how it can be played will be down to the individual player. Some may focus on increasing the effect caused to an individual enemy, while others will increase the AOE to affect as many foes as possible. The ins and outs of the class have been online for a while, and it really is as fun to play as it looks on paper.
It is worth noting that The Ritualist is a fairly hard-to-master Archetype, and The Awakened King DLC is a very hard section of the game. Unlocking the full potential of the class will take a lot of time and a lot of trial and error when it comes to what weapons work best with the class, no matter how you have chosen to build and use them.
It is a good idea to spend some time honing the Ritualist and discovering the best ways to use it before taking it through the remaining of The Awakened King, as the second half of the DLC is very challenging and probably not the best time to be learning a whole new class, rather than focusing on how exactly to use the perks, or even worse, using a weapon that doesn’t have a status effect ability.
The graphics in Remnant II are clearly fantastic, and using the same Unreal Engine 5, it stands to reason that The Awakened King offers the same fantastic quality. The new weapons that can be found, as well as the armour, as a part of the Ritualist class, have an amazing artistic style that stands out from many of the other guns we have already seen in the rest of the game.
Remnant 2 – The Awakened King takes place in Losomn, so follows many of the artistic directions that were already in that world. It stands to reason that with two other DLCs on the way, we can expect the other stories to take place in N’Erud and Yaesha, so the areas in this content are similar to the aesthetics of the rest of Losomn and fit in very well.
One of the most impressive parts of The Awakened King is the view of the looming castle that sits above the players as they make their way through the story. The building is impressive and feels so daunting as it is being approached. And looking back over the way you have come once you reach the top is a truly impressive sight.
The sound is also excellent, as it is in the main Remnant II game. Using the Ritualist will allow the player to experience some amazing sound effects as they spread status effects, and these often gruesome effects take place on the screen. The voice acting remains at the high level seen in the rest of the game, which is fantastic. Much of the core of the quality in Remnant II is found in the role-playing elements, so this quality voice acting is a very important part of the content.
When it came to the DLC that was expected to be added to Remnant II, there was no need for the content to be groundbreaking. The quality of the game was enough that any player would have been happy with a simple expansion that followed much of the same as what had come before. However, Remnant 2 – The Awakened King does more than this. While some of the environments aren’t as exciting as those seen in the main game of Remnant II, the addition of the Ritualist Archetype adds a wealth of new gameplay that adds to the enjoyment found in the game.
Along with a whole new section of gameplay that will add variety and interest to the overall experience, the story is in keeping with the rest of the content in Remnant II. The visuals keep to the same stunning standard as the rest of the game and add the necessary flare to keep players interested. Gunfire Game had a winner on their hands with Remnant II and used Remnant 2 – The Awakened King to continue to grow the amazing world they have created.
