Remnant: From the Ashes was a game released in summer 2019 from the studio behind Darksiders 3, Gunfire Games and published by Perfect World. Now, it makes its appearance on Nintendo Switch with an edition that brings all the content in the form of DLC released so far.
It is a game that drinks from two waters, on the one hand it is a third person shooter with RPG elements and a strong focus on exploration and survival. On the other hand, it has certain influences from the Souls saga in terms of its difficulty and some combat mechanics.
Pulling out the root evil
The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where there are few traces of humanity as it was nearly wiped out by an unknown force known as the Root. The protagonist is a nameless human who must travel through a series of alternate dimensions to find the source of the Root, stop its spread, and save what little is left of the world.
On his way, the player arrives at a gloomy island and in a confrontation is defeated and almost left for dead. Upon awakening we realize that they took us to one of the final settlements of humanity, Base 13, and this is where we meet the few remaining humans. In exchange for saving ourselves, we are tasked with searching for a former leader of Base 13 in the hope that his lost knowledge may help expose the core of the Root’s power.
The game is set in the 70s, and much of its lore is known from the different documents that we will find throughout the adventure. Really, his story is not to dazzle us but at least his post-apocalyptic world is well built. Although not a particularly deep plot, the story is interesting enough to keep the player interested to further progress through the game.
surviving the unknown
The main mechanic of the game is the exploration and the fight against the different enemies. We will have to travel through different dimensions that will take us to new worlds full of dangerous enemies and powerful bosses.
The game begins by creating our character, choosing the gender, appearance and basic attributes. It’s not a deep crafting system and you can barely choose traits like hair, eye color, facial hair, and skin color. We can choose one of the three main classes:
- Hunter: Specialized in long-distance combat, but also has the ability to mark enemies and for allies to see them through walls.
- Ex-Cultist: A class that specializes in support and medium-range combat.
- Survivor: It is the tank class whose specialty is close range combat and melee damage.
Each class has its own unique abilities and perks that are unlocked as you progress through the game. Also, they have weapon modifiers whose use will get us out of more than one trouble. We can heat our ammunition to do more damage per second, for example.
The game also features a progression system based on leveling up, gaining experience, and upgrading equipment. We gain experience by killing enemies and completing objectives, which earns us Trait Points that unlock new abilities and stat boosts. We will find equipment that can be upgraded and modified to improve its combat effectiveness.
a changing world
Combat is in real time and focuses on the use of firearms, melee weapons that linger in the background, and special abilities. We can equip up to two firearms and one melee weapon, as well as a variety of armor and accessories to improve our abilities and statistics. The game’s combat is fast-paced and intense, and players will have to dodge, roll, and shoot their way through a variety of enemies. There is a considerable variety of enemies and bosses, and they can make use of special abilities that cause us status effects.
One of the most interesting features of Remnant: From the Ashes is that it has a procedural map generation system, that is, we will visit random levels. Every time the player travels to a different dimension, the map is generated randomly, which means that every time we play, we will find a new world with different enemies and items.
Another interesting feature of the game is the multiplayer mode. Up to two friends can join our online matches to play together and fight enemies with increasing difficulty based on the number of players. Multiplayer also offers a unique experience as randomly generated worlds are shared between players. However, the game was created with multiplayer in mind, which means that playing alone will be more difficult for those who can’t find friends to play with.
At Base 13 we will have access to workshops for certain improvements for weapons, but also for the character and modifiers, which we can acquire if we gather the necessary resources for it. In Remnant: From the Ashes we will have a variety of different weapons, each with their own unique traits and abilities. We can improve our weapons and armor using scrap found throughout the game.
hybrid version
The game for Nintendo Switch comes with all the DLC released so far: Swamps of Corsus and Subject 2923. In addition, it comes with certain rewards in the form of equipment for the first few hours and a new game mode called Survival Mode.
Survival Mode consists of a standalone game of the main campaign, with no time that has a streamlined progression and increasing difficulty. It is a challenging mode that will require us to master the game perfectly to be victorious.
The portable post-apocalyptic world
Remnant: From the Ashes on Nintendo Switch he makes an effort to look good, and succeeds to some extent. The game can handle many elements on the screen and light and shadow effects. However, the game presents the problems that other titles of a similar size usually have, such as shadows with sawtooth, motion blur, but the downside is that it has long loading times that range from one to two minutes.
The sound part fulfills its mission with themes that range from the epic to the gloomy. It comes with English dubbing although you can download other language packs that were not available at the time of testing the game.
Verdict
Remnant: From the Ashes is a third-person shooter action game that offers a unique experience with a mix of various genres such as Shooter and Soulslike. It has a procedural generation system and weapon system that will make no game look like the other. The game is best enjoyed in cooperative, being the mode that was kept in mind when developing it since we will have it difficult alone. Graphically, Switch makes a great effort to run the game but the long load times between zones are not to everyone’s liking.
Note: This review was made for Nintendo Switch and the code was provided thanks to Perfect World.
