Remnant: From the Ashes PC Review

User Rating: 9
Remnant: From the Ashes Review

It’s rare that I come into a game that I have some decent expectations about and manage to hold onto those beyond the first two hours or so. It is even rarer for them to be exceeded. After my first few hours of playing Remnant: From the Ashes, my brain had half convinced me that running around cackling maniacally. Seriously, Remnant is awesome.  This is our Remnant from the Ashes Review.

Xevrin and I posing in front of a church as we wait for our third-Alexious-to pop back online. Thanks for the assist, Alex.

Somewhat flying under the radar Gunfire Games seems to have a runaway hit in the making. The hardest part about all of it has been restraining myself from posting “HOOK IT TO MY VEINS!!” on the various FB ads I’ve seen with comment availability. Okay, maybe not that, but not talking about Remnant has been really hard for me. It’s that good.

Don’t forget to look up.

I’m not a Dark Souls type player. Not by any means. I find artificially inflated difficulties silly, especially since I have a life where time can be somewhat of a premium. Making a game take longer simply by making it more difficult seems like kind of a ripoff, to me, when the same story and plot can be revealed without needless deaths and repetition. I’m not in school anymore, I have bills, a spouse, work and other things that need to get done. When it came to Remnant, however, I did look it over when it popped up on Steam and put it on my mental watch list. So when I got a chance to review it, I snagged it. It may be noted, at this time, I was one of four people who wanted to review it. So, I guess I wasn’t alone. Not only am I delighted in a possibly unstable sort of way that Remnant is all I thought it could be, but I’m also ecstatic because it took my expectations, patted them on the head, and then left them in the dust.

Abandoned subways…the perfect place to get ambushed. Many many times.

Shortlisted, the graphics are really solid, the sound and music are amazing (and necessary), the voice acting is on point, and the story is great. The environments and atmosphere scratch the perfect balance of gritty but not entirely hopeless, creepy without being too disturbing, and dark without leaving you blind. There’s a bit of control lag, but the dodge is the best I’ve ever seen in a game for responsiveness, but the swapping weapons and aiming could use a touch more sensitivity. It does lack a VOIP or text channel which could be an issue for some, but for those of us with discord-or willing to use Steam’s chat function, it’s pretty much a non-issue.

I shortlist these, because, after a couple of early sessions, I opened a file to write down my thoughts. I’ve decided to share them with you, as they probably detail my original reactions better than carefully written sentences of decent grammar and structure. Here’s a pasted snippet:

I’m gonna die soooo much.

Hey …I didn’t lose my loot when I died. Neat!

I hate you ginormous tree ogre.

I hate you more armored tree witch thing in the sewers.

Dammit.

Multiplayer has got to be easier than this.

Hey, I have a key for downstairs! Neat!

Oooo there’s stuff in here.

0.o those log entries…and …bodies.

And a fuse! I know where that goes! Ooo more creepy stuff…and bodies.

Hmm, now I need two keys. Stupid doors and their being locked-ness.

The rest sort of rants on like that because that’s the kind of game Remnant feels like. It’s quick, it’s smooth and it has bodies *everywhere*. Of course, Xevrin played with me, and I’m obligated to get his two cents, so, here you go:

When I started Remnant, all I was expecting was a post-apocalyptic co-op shooter, and my first impressions, were, honestly, mediocre. Character creation options are limited, and while the graphics were good, the world felt..lacking. Then I got ambushed from the ceiling, which was neat, and once I reached Ward 13 things got a lot better.

The voice acting is great, the story is really good but a slow starter. Building your character as you go is pretty customizable and the combat is fun and responsive.

I did notice occasional input lag, both with aiming and dodging, and, of course, got killed because of it. Not having ammo shared between players is a problem, though all other loot is. During co-op play there were a couple of times I bugged and had to log out and back in. During solo play, two boss battles bugged making them either a lot easier or in one case, impossible, to complete. I expect most of these are simple fixes that will disappear with a future patch.

Remnant is a lot of fun, especially in co-op, though it is a hard game. If difficult games aren’t something you can enjoy you may want to pass on this one.

As you can see he’s much more coherent and restrained. One of us has to act like the sane one in our relationship. Yes, both of us were supplied with keys for this review, but if Remnant wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, rest assured, I would have no problems saying as much.

Another place you’ll become familiar with-but a bit later.

Summary
All in all, Remnant is an excellent game and definitely hits on both of our “MUST BUY” lists. Other than a bit of input lag on commands there really isn't anything we can complain about, which is pretty damned rare for the both of us, since the years have made us both bitter and picky when it comes to games. If you have the money, and you have access to a platform that will support it, you should be playing it. NOW.
Good
  • Beautiful art and aesthetic
  • Intuitive controls
  • Excellent voice acting
Bad
  • Some input lag
  • Limited character creation options
  • Story is a slow starter
9
Amazing

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