izigame.me

OK, this game is good. I enjoy it. I'll keep playing it. Certain parts, like the loadouts and expanded jewelry list feel really good, and the archetypes are really interesting. But I'm very disappointed - its just not as fun nor as good as Remnant 1, especially for long-term replayability or even just game design. I think patches could repair many of these issues, so please keep an eye on what they do with this game over the next year. But I'm disappointed I pre-ordered this game thinking it would build on the good parts of the prequel. All my complaints below are introduced in Remnant 2.
- Stability issues: It crashes often, experiences memory leaks, lags with crazy lag spikes even at the lowest graphic settings on a 3070ti.
- Gameplay restrictions: Melee is not viable. In remnant 1, only two bosses fly out of reach. In this game, nearly every boss is flying out of reach. The few who aren't flying have an insta-kill melee attack, so you don't want to be near them (insta-kill is not good game design...). Additionally, almost every region has common flying enemies or explosion on death effects, so even open world melee feels bad.
- No survival mode: Remnant 1's best replayability was survival mode (rogue-like, find the game's jewelry and see how many bosses you can beat). This game entirely misses it. But, with the boss difficulty so much higher in this game, I don't even know if its viable. Remnant 1 bosses could be beaten reliably once you're good at the game. This game introduces insta-kills to boss fights, and often unavoidable deaths with the sheer number of hitboxes or enemies in boss fights. IMO, that doesn't make it more fun.
- Weirdly Balanced: Certain min/max builds severely outpace any casual or fun build. With the increased difficulty and high health pools of enemies, this makes casual/fun builds feel too difficult to play, and many interesting jewelry don't get used.
- Far less replayability: I'm amazed that, after my first playthrough, I'm getting so many repeat jewelry/weapon pickups (purple items turning to scrap). The areas in each region repeat so often, and the jewelry that appear in those regions are static, meaning the second playthough doesn't feel much different than the first. Mix that with the 65 trait cap, why would I continue playing the game? Leveling up archetypes is also pretty quick, so where's the added benefit beyond grinding to upgrade my weapons? Mix this with the lack of survival mode that I mentioned before, and I struggle to convince myself to keep playing. I've dumped hundreds of hours in remnant 1 and continue to do so; yet after 50 in this "highly replayable" game, I'd seen enough. That's crazy for a sequel that promises more equipment, jewelry, content etc! I'm amazed we still only have 3 worlds to explore - that's less than remnant 1 even before it's DLC! And the upcoming remnant 2's first DLC isn't adding a world??
- Menuing feels so much worse - why did you have to add so many more button clicks to put on mods and gear? Why take away the table format from remnant 1 where I could at least see ring names/details, where now I need to memorize ring images to remember what each one does? Especially prevalent on the shards you add to the relics; blue/red/yellow being the only visible information is insane.
Gunfire games, I don't know what changed about your vision, but it feels like you wanted to make this game more souls-like in a stand-back-and-fire gameplay. So many boss attacks feel un-dodge-able (ex: multi-hit where dodging the first hit means the second hit clips you). Other boss attacks do unnecessary amounts of damage. and what's with the insta-kills? Remnant 1 played more like an arcade shooter with just enough difficulty sprinkled in, works in melee/short-range/long-range. The ability to swap between different styles of gameplay based on the build is what made remnant 1 so good and replayable. This game feels like that excellent balance and design was tossed out the window.