Summary
The Forgotten Kingdom is yet another iteration of standard DLCs for Remnant 2. It’s not fantastic or groundbreaking, but it’s not bad either. If you’re looking for something more substantial, or like most other players, an entirely new world, you won’t find it here. But if you’re looking for more loot to acquire, puzzles to solve, and baddies to kill, this one will get the job done.
Developer – Gunfire Games
Publisher – Gearbox Publishing
Platforms – PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, PC (reviewed)
Review copy given by publisher
Gunfire Games has just released the second of three planned story expansions to its co-op Soulslike shooter Remnant 2. This time titled The Forgotten Kingdom, the DLC explores the remnants of a lost civilization led by an ancient spirit known as Lydusa. This expansion is more of what you love and enjoy about Remnant 2, but keep your expectations in check.
I mentioned in my review of the first DLC that the game did not have enough locales for the players to explore. And that it’s the perfect opportunity for the developers to introduce new ones in the form of DLC, but they didn’t do it back then and they didn’t do it now either. Instead of creating a brand new world from scratch, the developers again decided to expand on an existing world. The Forgotten Kingdom further explores the Yaesha locale, which existed both in the base game and the first Remnant.
But just like the previous expansion, this one is priced at a more than reasonable $9.99. You’ll get roughly 3-4 hours in one playthrough depending on which difficulty you play on and how skilled you are. You’re also getting a brand new archetype and obviously new bosses, characters, loot, and enemy types. You can access this DLC as a One-Shot challenge that can be chosen through Adventure Mode after you complete Yaesha once in the base game. Look out for the Glittering Grotto and you’ll know you’re in the right place.
The new archetype is known as The Invoker, and as one, you can double cast power spells with the Visionary Perk and inflict debuffs on enemies while granting your friends buffs. The skills that come with the Invoker include summoning rainstorms, gaining lifesteal against Gloomed enemies, and increasing critical chance and damage while unleashing an area of effect sand attack. It’s pretty cool.
To my surprise, there are a ton of puzzles in this DLC, and I mean a lot. You’ll be tested with tons of brain-teasing riddles, platforming sections, and death traps. Just know that the reward waiting for you is legendary, including new weapons, amulets, rings, and armor sets! I wasn’t really a fan of the one-hit kill trap system in the base game, so you’re in for a frustrating time if you’re anything like me. Furthermore, some of the secrets are way too obscure and require too many campaign re-rolls to figure out.
Just like the previous DLC, each update seems to degrade performance even further on PC. This game does not run well even on an RTX3080 with 32GB of ram. Frame rates constantly drop and frequent stutters occur during combat. I doubt that the developers will do anything at this point in terms of optimization and performance polishing, but I still need to mention it. Your mileage may vary obviously.
The Forgotten Kingdom is yet another iteration of standard DLCs for Remnant 2. It’s not fantastic or groundbreaking, but it’s not bad either. If you’re looking for something more substantial, or like most other players, an entirely new world, you won’t find it here. But if you’re looking for more loot to acquire, puzzles to solve, and baddies to kill, this one will get the job done.
