Remnant: From the Ashes from THQ Nordic, Perfect World, and Gunfire Games is a third-person survival action shooter with a dash of Soulslike in a post-apocalyptic world. Check our Remnant: From the Ashes review!
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Remnant: From the Ashes from THQ Nordic, Perfect World, and Gunfire Games is a third-person survival action shooter with a dash of Soulslike in a post-apocalyptic world that has certainly seen better days. An ancient evil from another dimension is wreaking havoc on humanity, taking it to the brink of extinction. The game was previously released on Sony’s PlayStation 4 back in 2019, and it’s now made the jump to Nintendo’s console. I got a chance to review 3D action RPG Chronos: Before the Ashes from this publisher and developer combo, so I was ready to check what this game had to offer.
Your task is simple, yet not an easy one: survive. You’ll be doing this either on your own or with up to two other players, either through local wireless play or by way of the power of the internet. It’s not something that you can take on lightly because the mistakes you make along the way will end up costing you dearly. There are hundreds of deadly enemies out to get you, along with more than 20 bosses that will test your skills. Along with the main game, this Nintendo Switch version also includes two DLC at no extra cost: Subject 2923 and Swamps of Corsus. Both provide new story segments, new enemies, new bosses, and new weapons. On top of that, you also get Survival Mode, which adds a roguelike twist to the whole scenario.
Something that’s interesting about Remnant: From the Ashes is that the world that you’re setting out to explore and its challenges are dynamically generated by the game. Be careful when you die because you’ll be sent to the last checkpoint you activated, and all enemies will respawn! When you give the game a go, you’ll be getting a new map, a new set of enemies and bosses to battle, and a new set of objectives to work your way through as you try to find as much loot as possible so that you can at least scavenge just enough stuff to keep you going – more on this in a bit.
The first step will be to create your character. Once you choose between a male or female avatar, you’ll then select from a variety of options to customize your look. This includes choosing between 8 different head types, 8 different hairstyles, 9 different hair colors, 6 different eye colors, 8 different skin tones, a variety of scars, and a handful of different voice types. After all, that’s been taken care of, select the game mode (standard or hardcore, which is basically perma-death), difficulty setting (normal, hard, nightmare, or apocalypse), and if you’d like to skip the intro tutorial or not.
As mentioned before, Remnant: From the Ashes is played from a third-person perspective, so you’ll be controlling your character with the left analog stick as you move the camera around and aim your long-range attacks with the right one. You can sprint by pressing in on the left analog stick. You’ll have melee attacks at your disposal for when danger gets a bit too close for comfort, which you can use with the ZR button. You can crouch with the A button so that you can move through some obstacles on your path.
You can use the B button for a dodge roll that will allow you to avoid some incoming attacks. Pressing the B button close to a small obstacle will also allow you to vault over it. For long-range attacks, you’ll first select your gun and press the ZL button to bring it up and then shoot with the ZR button. You can switch weapons by pressing the X button. Your weapons will also have an alternate fire mode, which is used with the R button. Any items that you find can be grabbed with the Y button. This will add them to your inventory, which you can check by pressing the + button. Any consumables that you have equipped can be used by pressing up on the D-Pad. Pressing the – button will open up your map, which is extremely useful for getting a better idea of what you’re going up against.
The L button is reserved for the Dragon Heart, which you’ll be able to use once obtained. What this does is heal some of your wounds from battle, as well as make it possible to revive one of your fallen allies if you act fast enough. This is not an instantaneous process, so make sure that there are no enemies ready to attack you! The Dragon Heart will have a limited set of charges for you to use as you see fit. The good news is that these charges will be restored once you activate a checkpoint and get some much-needed rest.
You can play as one of three different archetypes, which are the classes you can select for your character. This will certainly affect your run since each one will have some pros and cons for you to keep in mind. The Hunter specializes in long-range precision-based combat, making it an excellent choice for those of you who want to keep enemies at a safe distance, taking care of them before they know what hit them. It has a mod called Hunter’s Mark, which, as the name suggests, allows it to mark enemies, which makes it possible for all players to spot targets through walls while also increasing critical hit chance.
There’s also the Ex-Cultist, a character that specializes in mid-range combat and support, offering a good way of dealing some burst damage that can help sort out a group of enemies who don’t know any better. It also has a special mod known as Mender’s Aura, which allows it to cast an area-effect heal that will restore the health of all teammates. Having an Ex-Cultist in your group can certainly make a difference in the long run!
The last archetype option is the Scrapper. As expected, the Scrapper is the one of the three that will excel at close-range combat thanks to its huge scrap hammer, as well as having a shotgun and a repeater pistol. If an enemy is foolish enough to get close to you, it’s in for a world of hurt! The Scrapper’s mod is Hot Shot, which gives imbues ammunition with fire, which means it will have a chance to set enemies ablaze. Which archetype are you going to choose?
The resources that you collect can be used to upgrade your guns and armor. You will get materials when exploring each area as well as by defeating enemies. Upgrading your equipment is crucial if you want to stay on top of things and survive against the many monsters you’ll battle. Say you picked the Ex-Cultist as your archetype. You could use some iron to upgrade the coach gun so that you can deal more damage, which is important since it doesn’t have much ammo capacity. You could also upgrade the scrap hatchet to deal more damage and improve its critical hit chance in case an enemy sneaks up on you. Your starting armor can’t be upgraded, so you’ll need to get some new equipment to boost your protection and eventually upgrade it.
As you defeat enemies, you will gain experience points. Once you’ve managed to secure enough, you’ll be able to level up. When this happens, your stats will get a boost, and you will also receive a Trait Point. These can be used to boost the level of any of your available Traits. You can get more Traits by completing quests and finding secrets. There’s one for Vigor, which increases your overall HP. Another one is Endurance, which is directly tied to your stamina, which you’ll use when you sprint or dodge. Spirit will affect your mod power generation rate, so the higher it is, the faster you’ll be able to activate your special mod.
Remnant: From the Ashes is a good third-person survival action shooter with a dash of Soulslike that has managed to make the jump to Nintendo Switch with a solid port. Sure, some concessions had to be made, with a lower resolution and a lower but stable framerate when playing in Docked, Portable, or Tabletop Mode. The good news is that all of the content from the base game is included, along with the two DLC for Subject 2923 and Swamps of Corsus, at no extra cost. There’s plenty of content to enjoy, making this an easy one to recommend. Remnant: From the Ashes is out tomorrow on Nintendo Switch at a $39.99 price.
Disclaimer
This Remnant: From the Ashes review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by THQ Nordic.
