Remnant: From the Ashes (review)

[Tristerin]

Last weekend we sat in Discord discussing what to play, I mentioned some gift cards burning a hole in my pocket so a few of us elected to get the subject game.

 

Things to note:

Random dungeons (see below)

 

 

Basics - its literally just a looter shooter with some minimal RPG elements.  Character looks, and how you decide to spend your points are up to you.  Not sure if its unlimited points or not but they accrue quick enough on Normal mode.  In all reality its not worth the $40 price tag to me.  While I can see it has some repeatable elements, there isn't enough RPG for me to want to invest in running repeat campaigns to see some randomized scenarios that are available. 

 

And on that note...of the 5 of us who got it, basically the difference in our map layouts we noted was entirely dependent on the "class" archetype you picked.  Three archetypes, 3 diff types of layouts to get through the Story Mode - they are similar but have different big bosses.

 

Story: Its okay, I like that its something different - not aliens as we usually see them, demons, zombies etc.  While I enjoyed listening to the cut scenes its just that - a new take on some old stories.  Not complaining but not impressed.

 

Free Mode: Its okay, at first its cool but you quickly start to see the "blocks" that repeat to create different maps with different end points to the next "random zone".  End bosses in this mode (when all of the random comes to a final last boss conclusion) usually drop an item that you can craft (not really crafting) and an emote.  Note sure if that changes (how much and what drops) at Nightmare setting.

 

Crafting: Its not, its finding an item that you exchange to a person with some money and they give you something "made out of it"

 

Solo: I have more fun solo than in multiplayer.  In solo I had to take my time, if I wanted to do well.  But you can zerg most anything because of the amount of save points to get ammo back.  However - don't expect a map to tell you where to go.  While you get a Map, and a Mini-Map - there are no waypoints.  And since its randomized YouTube "shouldn't" (was always the same as my map lol so it worked for me when lost) be of help.  Game is short, imho.  3/5 people have completed it within a couple days of playing.

 

Multiplayer: (story or free mode) From my perspective - that is where this game shines but then quickly loses steam.  You either have to be OP in solo to get past some bosses or go in with a team.  With my team, we have been gaming together for a LONG time.  So our cohesiveness ended up making this boring quite fast.  At first, when we had no gear, bosses were hard.  As soon as we had over half of the storyline complete we had enough items to be OP.  The rest of the game was a pull 1 time and figure it out then execute.  I could see where PUGs would make this harder.  With us, the fights are fairly obvious on how to win.  

NOTE - you get anything in Free or Story Mode during multiplayer that other people get sans ammo - so if you join someone in a high end fight at lvl 1, you too can have a Beam Rifle.  This is good and bad, we didn't abuse this because we all started at the same time.  All items are shared, sans ammo, or certain quest items.  If you already have an item from your instance of the game that someone else loots you will get a decent amount of coin instead.

 

TLDR: I personally don't think its even remotely worth $40.  $20 I would say yes, this is a game worth $20 maybe even a bit more.  But not at its current price tag on Steam that I paid.  Also, once you "get" the game and how it works, it becomes painstakingly repeatable and boring imho.  I think its best if you try to play solo without anyone so you can take more time getting your monies worth out of the title.  IF I personally found it repeatable it may be better than I put it, but I don't think it is as the RPG element just isn't good enough.