It’s been almost four months since the release of Remnant II, and Gunfire Games is working tirelessly to provide its players with an even better experience. Over the past few months, they’ve released a couple of patches and balance improvements and put together a brand new DLC. This is our Remnant II: The Awakened King DLC review.
The Awakened King is the first of three DLCs that Gunfire Games has promised its fans, with the last two coming sometime next year. This small expansion includes an all-new campaign in Losomna, featuring new dungeons, bosses, equipment, and a huge world that will take you to the Lost Coast, a new corner of the gothic town of Losomna. It’s an epic conclusion that combines both of Losomn’s previous campaigns. While it’s not as action-packed as previous Remnant DLC, hunters will easily find another dozen hours of exciting stuff to uncover.
History and setting
The Awakened King expansion builds on the existing lore of the Losomn biome, where the worlds of Faerie and Dran have merged, plunging both sides into an ever-increasing cataclysmic conflict. In the past, drans were peaceful creatures. However, they have now become groupthink creatures, easily provoked into madness, and will do anything to protect their own kind.
On the other hand, the Fae, once an organized and highly respected race, have lost their sense of direction. They are now tormented by Dran’s insatiable thirst for life force, which has made them hostile towards them, considering them inferior beings.
In the base game, the Traveler was caught up in the Fae’s internal conflict when traitors put the One True King into a long sleep. In this story, he awakens, angry and violent, and threatens to bring chaos and destruction to an already devastated world.
We learn that the Awakened King awakened when we arrived at the Forsaken Shore. We’ve explored this character’s story throughout the main campaign – even defeating his son in one of the base game’s best boss fights – but the DLC brings the king’s story to the forefront. The plot unfolds largely in the background, thanks to the lore and long-winded conversations of scattered NPCs. It’s easy to miss knowledge if you’re not looking for it – especially in a multiplayer session where no one wants to stand while someone else reads a book they found on the ground – but if you take the time to study it, you’ll find and understand about the Devoted God-king and the crusade of bloody revenge that followed.
However, you don’t have to go through scraps of old notes scattered around the world. Many rich stories are embedded in the architecture, level design, and world-building. The Forsaken Shore is the largest of Losomn’s three maps, and it takes you on a winding journey back and forth through the town, fighting your way through corrupt villagers and dungeons before eventually ascending to the castle.
The moment I stepped into new territory, I wanted to explore the surroundings and determine the position of the area. Immediately, I met new NPCs who provided me with useful information about what was going on and how to move forward.
This journey is one of the best world experiences in the entire series. Exploring the burning alleys, filthy sewers and vast rooftops of Losomn is as fun as ever, but the level design adds a dimension to exploration that makes the Forsaken Coast unique. Although you start on the bridge leading to the castle, a locked door forces you to find another path. And this is the beginning of your long journey to confront the Awakened King, and every step you take towards the castle is quickly followed by an obstacle that forces you to take two steps forward and one step back. When you eventually reach the castle, completing this journey will be a reward in itself.
Change and more
One of the highlights of Remnant II: The Awakened King is the introduction of new items: weapons, armor, mutators and trinkets. Players can look forward to powerful new weapons and equipment to help them fight the Awakened King. Each of these newly added items is worth checking out, as they offer unique effects that can further enhance existing builds.
Not only do we have a lot of new toys to play with, but the biggest addition that the DLC provided is a new archetype, the Ritualist, offering a new playstyle and opportunities for experimentation and experimentation. A DPS archetype that primarily relies on inflicting status effects.
Additionally, the DLC increases the maximum number of traits (passive skills) to 85, allowing players to further customize their builds, which enhances their overall skill. This adds another layer of development and depth to the game, giving players more reasons to keep playing and exploring. As expected, I found the main bosses to be interesting and well-designed. There were a lot of exciting mechanics to get to grips with, which led to some exciting and fun encounters.
But what I didn’t like was repeating some dungeons taken from the main game or very similar. While I’m used to running around the same places and fighting the same bosses in search of alternative outcomes, the choices presented in new dungeons are often more superficial than we’re used to. At least two of them end with one key that opens two doors. You can open one of them, but if you want loot from another door, you’ll have to do a new campaign, find the same dungeon, and open another door.
It’s not the most elegant way to ensure dungeon replayability, and compared to some of the more compelling alternatives in the game, it feels a little lazy. The developers know we’re going to replay the dungeon, and even the game’s concept is geared towards replayability, but I still expect there to be a story hook or a puzzle to solve and nothing new at the end. It feels like I’m being asked to replay a dungeon for the sake of expanding the game.
Also, problems migrated from the main game to the expansion. The armor still seems absolutely meaningless, there are too many rings, and many secrets are so hidden that you will never discover them without looking in the guides, and in those places where you expect some kind of secret, for some reason there is nothing.
There is some meaning behind the piles of rings and trinkets you’ll find in the DLC, as the vast majority of them are related to status effects, which is the focus of the new Ritualist archetype. If you want to use this archetype, and if you even manage to find it hidden in the new map, you’ll have plenty of equipment to experiment with, but unless you’re doing a status effect build, then most of the loot you’ll find in the DLC will be useless.
Losomn has never looked better
The original Remnant only had two DLCs, but they were significant content updates that introduced new game modes and an entirely new biome. The three DLC packs for Remnant 2 are much smaller in scope and focus on expanding each of the three main areas of the base game. I’m happy to recommend Remnant 2 to new players once all three DLCs come out, because they seem to greatly increase the variety and replayability of the game, but I’m less enthusiastic about the prospect of checking out Remnant 2’s post-game from time to time as a side game. campaigns leak, especially when the replay value of The Awakened King is not up to par.
It’s a stunning campaign that’s well worth the time to experience at least once, and I was particularly impressed by the design of the interior of the castle, although your time there is surprisingly short and you’ll be haunted by the feeling that you’ve seen it somewhere before. But unless you’re an avid secret hunter, you’ll run through The Awakening King once or twice and be done with it in a few hours. It’s not quite what I was hoping for based on past Remnant DLC, but it’s still a worthwhile return to Losomn and probably my favorite campaign in the entire game – at least for the first time.
Design, audio and visual effects
Like the base game, The Awakened King features stunning graphics and atmospheric design. While I didn’t notice any improvements in overall graphical fidelity, it’s clear to see that Gunfire Games put a lot of effort into level design and development.
Bloodborne fans, we all know and can easily see that Losomn was somewhat inspired by this style, so we can’t help but want to see more of this world. And this DLC fulfilled that desire perfectly, expanding my favorite biome. From the dangerous docks of the Forsaken Coast with an ominous lighthouse overlooking an ominous castle, the sewers and inner slums where danger lurks around every corner, to a city street square where anyone can enjoy a beautiful view of the towering castle.
The overall level design offers a mix of a staggering amount of open space, which I appreciate, with tight corridors and spaces that keep players on their toes. The developers have done a great job introducing their new world, and I can’t help but wonder what the next areas of the upcoming DLC will look like.
In terms of performance, I didn’t encounter any game-breaking bugs that stopped my progress or ruined my immersion. While I did experience some stuttering even when installing the latest drivers, it went away after a few restarts of the game and overall performance was pretty smooth. I played the game with the following characteristics: RTX 4070ti, 32 GB of RAM and 13600k, there were some drawdowns when there were a huge number of enemies, but this is not critical, especially for the beauty that happens on the screen.
You can easily get over 10 hours of playtime with this DLC. Because of this, your mileage may vary greatly. Personally, my first playthrough took 6 hours, the second – 4 hours. After two subsequent playthroughs, I felt like I had barely scratched the surface.
At $9.99, I believe players who get the DLC will get their money’s worth if they decide to seek out everything The Awakened King has to offer. However, players who just want to buy this DLC for the story or play it as a one-time item are advised to wait until it goes on sale.
