Remnant 2 - The Awakened King DLC PC Review

Gunfire Games is at it again and they’ve brought us a whole new version of Losomn to explore, but a lot has changed. Now, we all know Gunfire Games for their brilliant work on Remnant: From The Ashes, Darksiders II, and most recently, Remnant 2. However, the world of Remnant seems to have needed a little shake-up and it came in the form of a DLC titled – The Awakened King, which was released on 14 November.

 

As for how Remnant 2 - The Awakened King affects the rest of the world, it doesn’t exactly form part of the main story or the world, it’s more meant to be a one-shot adventure. Luckily, Remnant 2 allows you to switch between Campaign and Adventure Mode, along with rerolling both worlds for multiple runs or just more loot. Because we can’t forget about that sweet loot, just waiting to be plundered and used.

Your adventure in Remnant 2 - The Awakened King starts off in a different version of Losomn, the city run by the Dran and the Fae in a very indirect sense. Though nothing is as it seems in the Forlon Coast and you start off with no information at the edge of a dock, on the plus side, you don’t go in empty-handed since you’ll at least have your campaign gear and loadout. This DLC should come with a warning that you’ll need some decent gear if you want any chance of survival, this is due to the fact that the threats you’ll be facing are much more difficult than what you’d find in the campaign.

Sadly, like with most things in the Remnant universe, the story might be a little vague at first. As you’ve seen in the main campaign, Losomn is ruled by a human-like race known as the Dran, along with the Fae. Now, the Fae are a strange race who aren’t just in Losumn but in other worlds too like Yaesha. If you’ve met Nimue before, buckle up because you’ll get to meet her again but under different circumstances and you’ll also get to learn a lot more about her dark past, how she was a pivotal part of a massive coup, and how she had a slight change of heart at the last second. However, Nimue is as cryptic and accepting of fate as always and will accept whatever fate you choose.

 

Now comes the part that will definitely leave you wondering. As mentioned before, Nimue was part of a coup to overthrow the Fae King. Now, based on the lore and what we are told in-game, the Fae King was a very driven but also very mad entity who believed in cruelty to get results while ruling over his kingdom. That same madness also blurred the lines between entertainment and punishment, so it’s only natural that his people would want to depose him permanently. However, getting to him would require you to explore the majority of the Forlorn Coast and then face off against his only son, The Red Prince.

The Red Prince is a hell of a boss fight right off the bat and probably the most notable fight for Remnant 2 - The Awakened King, but it’s also completely optional, which might give you a different dialogue and story path depending on how you decide to go at it. Next up is The Awakened King boss fight, and once again, your previous choices can affect how the conversation with him goes down. Though the most probable path will likely end with you having to choose between putting Nimue down permanently or challenging the Fae King himself, both tasks are actually quite easy, but one would be less satisfying than the other.

Now, with that in mind, Remnant 2 - The Awakened King  clearly comes across as a DLC that needs to be played multiple times for the sake of seeing how your choices could affect the end. Granted, this is easier said than done, but the exploration part to see if you missed anything does add that little bit of extra incentive. Plus, we can’t overlook the mountains of lore to be found in Remnant 2 - The Awakened King that can shed a lot more light on the state of Losumn.

 

As for the actual action in Remnant 2 - The Awakened King, not much has changed in terms of exploration. You’ll still have dungeons you can explore for loot alongside your main objective, though you’ll also have a few new enemy types that can and will ruin your day, along with the usual ones we know and love to shoot. This also brings us to the ever-burning curiosity of Remnant 2 being famous for its treasure trove of secrets, and The Awakened King DLC is no exception since it brings just as many secrets with it and a new Archetype.

The new Archetype in question is the Ritualist, and with it comes a completely new playstyle aimed at status effects. You won’t just be dishing out status effects and feeling like Oprah; the Ritualist Archetype is also meant to reduce the effects you feel from them, too, completely shifting the balance in your favor. With its Prime Perk, Vile, all the negative status effects you apply will also apply to Infected. Now, Infected isn’t just another type of simple poison status effect, and it hits a lot harder in other places. For starters, enemies with the Infected status effect will take more damage from other status effects, but as an added bonus, they’ll spread the same status effects to other enemies when they die.

Now, Remnant 2 - The Awakened King would be a little dry without new gear to pick up. Well, prepare yourself; alongside the new Archetype is a ton of new gear like rings, amulets, and weapons. You’ll quite literally be spoiled for choice at the end of this DLC if you like to explore every tiny detail, but that’s not all that has to offer. Aside from the new gear, you can also expect new materials from dungeons that can be used to make new weapons and mods if you ever need more firepower to add to your arsenal.

 

Remnant 2 - The Awakened King still maintains the same high-quality visuals as the main campaign, though the new enemy variants are a nice touch too. Unfortunately, the new enemies are a nice sight, but there aren’t really enough to keep them interesting. Using the same repetitive attacks can actually dry up the interest factor, and it starts becoming predictable in the end. A bit more variety would be just what the DLC needs to spice things up instead of a few overpowered enemies that are built to make life as hard as possible.

Once again, Gunfire Games has gone above and beyond with sound engineering and possibly added a bit more polish to make Remnant 2 - The Awakened King stand out a lot more. Even though you have to go looking for people who would be willing to talk to you, the new and old characters you do get to have a chat with play their roles perfectly while maintaining a sense of eerie mystery. The one thing that did come across as a little lacking was the spatial sound. The main campaign had a lot more polish on this front, which made it easier to hear where the attacking creatures are, while the DLC didn’t make this quite as easy.

 

Overall, Remnant 2 - The Awakened King might be a one-shot adventure, but it’s completely worth playing if you’re after a bit more mystery and some new lore as to the worlds in Remnant 2. The only drawback is the lack of enemy variety and special sound, but these can still be overlooked, and you’ll just need to be careful with where you walk, or you might find yourself on the unforgiving end of a few nasty ranged attacks.

Jay Claassen (@R3GR3T_3NVY)
Senior Editor, NoobFeed