Remnant: From the Ashes - PWE Community
ADVENTURE MODE

Release Date: September 12, 2019

Introducing Adventure Mode - A new game mode that allows players to re-roll individual worlds. You and your party can embark on an adventure through dynamically generated Earth, Rhom, and Yaesha, beginning at a single World Stone and ending once you’ve defeated their World Boss. Dungeon locations, points of interest, enemy spawns, and more may be different than what you’ve come to expect from the main campaign.

Activated from the World Stone in Ward 13, simply choose “World Settings” and select the “Adventure Mode” option to pick the world you would like to roll. This will not replace your campaign progress and can be re-rolled freely without affecting your story. Any items found or traits gained along the way will be kept by your character.

More content, including Corsus, will be added in the future!


LETO'S LAB

Release Date: September 19, 2019

Leto’s Lab takes you on a quest through Research Station Alpha. The lab was established to research the mysterious red crystals, with the initial goal of using them as a source of infinite energy. The head researcher, Leto Apostolakis, theorized the crystals could be used for something else - to bridge space-time for near instantaneous travel. He was the one to unlock the World Stone on Ward 16 allowing mankind to take their first fledgling trips to other worlds. Leto’s experiments quickly diverged from their initial goal as he started using the World Stones to fuel a series of dubious experiments. The lab continued operating for months after the Root invaded, but was ultimately forced to evacuate when one of Leto’s experiments went awry.

The Leto’s Lab dungeon can be found dynamically spawned in Earth. It is unique among the other dungeons in Remnant as it reveals more backstory about the world and mixes in light puzzles with intense combat - including a new boss fight. It’ll take a sharp eye, steady aim, and a little luck to make it out alive!

Remnant: From the Ashes is available now on Steam, Xbox One, Playstation®4, and Arc. Stay up to date on Twitter and Facebook. Join the official Discord server to chat with the devs, find party members, and discuss the game with other players!
Counter-Strike 2 - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (John Walker)

Exciting news! Steam Charts is proud to announce it’s to be an Epic exclusive! From now on you can read your favourite article about the top selling games on Steam exclusively on the Epic Store!

But don’t worry, long-term readers – you’ll still be able to read the articles right here on RPS, after just one year. Everyone’s a winner!

(more…)

Counter-Strike 2 - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (John Walker)

URGENT: Disparaging words have been said about the game you like by people who like the other game you don’t like.

(more…)

Aug 29, 2019
Remnant: From the Ashes - PWE Community


We've pushed an update to the PC, PS4, and Xbox versions of Remnant: From the Ashes!

Build: 214857

 
QUALITY OF LIFE
  • Coop Scaling now caps at +3 levels of Host
  • Enabled VOIP toggle on PC/CONSOLES
  • Enabled Push-to-Talk option on PC by default (players must bind a key) 
  • Adjustments to help fill empty matchmaking sessions
  • Added FOV slider for PC
  • Adjusted right analog deadzone for PS4 controller (reduced by half)
DEVELOPER COMMENT: While we work on additional coop adjustments, we wanted to better ensure that higher level players and lower level players could work together without drastically penalizing the lower level players. We've changed it so that if a lower level player hosts the game, the game will never be more than 3 levels above them even if their teammates are much higher. This will prevent the coop scaling from getting too high and thus overly penalizing someone just starting out.

DEVELOPER COMMENT: We've also made a handful of other adjustments for general quality of life. Players can now access VOIP, bind a push-to-talk button, and disable it completely if they so choose.

 
BUG FIXES
  • Increased performance across Corsus
  • Increased memory stability across extended play experiences (less crashes)
  • Fixed traits not unlocking on client (Revivalist, Exploiter, Scavenger, Sleight of Hand, Suspicion, Will to Live)
  • Fixed trapdoor that Ace kept falling through in Ward 13
  • Fixed client being able to reroll hosts campaign
  • Fixed an issue with Lost Gantry not properly handling restarts
  • Fixed issue with certain bosses respawning post "Quest Complete"
  • Fixed issue with clients loading into final boss room and being stuck at World Shard
  • Fixed FOV on Archetype screen for Ultrawide Monitors/resolutions
  • Added FOV lock when changing resolutions to maintain proper proportions/alignment (menus/reticles)
  • Fixed user settings not saving when exiting out of main menu/application too fast
  • Added support to unlock certain achievements that should have been attained
  • Corrected values being shown for Scrap-based achievements/trophies
  • Fixed bug with Undying King "Death Warmed Over" achievement/trophy
  • Many general collision fixes/updates
  • Added backup profile when joining game as client
DEVELOPER COMMENT: In general, we are prioritizing performance, stability, and crashes. We've also fixed several bugs that have halted progression, side-dungeon completion, and affected achievement/trait unlocks.

 
GENERAL BALANCE
  • Radiant Tomb total spawns and intensity reduced
DEVELOPER COMMENT: The most notoriously difficulty encounter in the game, Radiant Tomb has been re-tuned to be fairer to the player and reducing the need for a very specific loadout.

 
WEAPON BALANCE
  • Repeater Pistol: Reduced max spread
  • Repeater Pistol: Reduced spread per shot
  • Repeater Pistol: Increased decay speed (faster reticle contraction)
DEVELOPER COMMENT: The Repeater Pistol ended up falling off a bit due to its accuracy. We improved the overall handling without making any damage changes.
  • Hunting Pistol: Added +2 ammo to reserve
  • Hunting Pistol: Reduced initial spread
  • Hunting Pistol: Increased decay speed
  • Hunting Pistol: Reduced penalty for moving
  • Hunting Pistol: Increased reload speed by 10% (faster)
DEVELOPER COMMENT: While an incredibly powerful weapon, the Hunting Pistol suffered from a smaller ammo reserve (less total damage) and had an abnormally high moving penalty for being a single-shot weapon (which is already somewhat of a penalty). The Hunting Pistol is now much more accurate - both stationary and moving - and reloads faster between shots.
  • Hunting Rifle: Reduced spread penalty for moving
  • Hunting Rifle: Increased initial aim decay speed and post-shot decay speed
  • Hunting Rifle: Reduced spread per shot
DEVELOPER COMMENT: The Hunting Rifle has always been considered the baseline for all other weapon balancing. However, even with pin-point accuracy while stationary, the initial spread was too great which prevented quick reaction shots. Additionally, the per-shot spread was a tad too high making it much harder to quickly pick off targets than desired.
  • Coachgun: Increased ideal range from 800 to 900
  • Coachgun: Added +4 shells to reserves
DEVELOPER COMMENT: To further separate the Coachgun from the Shotgun, we've increased the ideal range. The tighter focus, reduced drop-off, and incredible burst combined with the longer range makes the benefits of the Coachgun a bit more obvious. Additionally, we added +4 shells to the reserve ammo pool to bring the total damage in line with other longguns.
  • Assault Rifle: Added +4 bullets to reserves
  • Assault Rifle: Reduced initial spread
  • Assault Rifle: Reduced auto-fire spread curve
  • Assault Rifle: Increased decay speed
DEVELOPER COMMENT: The Assault Rifle, while highly damaging, has always suffered from too much weapon spread too quickly. We've lessened the spread curve and the maximum amount of spread to bring it closer to our vision of an Assault Rifle. It also gained +4 ammo in the clip.
  • Crossbow: Changed reticle behavior
  • Crossbow: Changed reticle graphic
DEVELOPER COMMENT: The Crossbow suffered from using the projectile reticle so we changed it to use a normal static reticle. While we still have many adjustments planned, we felt this was a solid interim solution.
  • Eye of the Storm: Increased initial decay
  • Eye of the Storm: Reduced initial spread
  • Eye of the Storm: Reduced spread per shot
  • Eye of the Storm: Added 1 extra ammo per clip (+3 total)
DEVELOPER COMMENT: With the Hunting Rifle adjustments, we wanted to also update the Eye of the Storm (which is basically a lightning Hunting Rifle). It received similar handling adjustments as well as gained additional ammo.
  • Beam Rifle: Reduced initial damage from 16 to 14 (max ramp-up is still the same)
  • Beam Rifle: Reduced reload speed by 20%
DEVELOPER COMMENT: Widely considered the most powerful weapon in the game, we wanted to bring the Beam Rifle closer to the other longguns. The initial damage was reduced by 2 requiring slightly longer DPS time to reach maximum potential. We also significantly increased the time it takes to reload so that maintaining the beam for as long as possible is the best way to maximize its potential. While it still does similar (slightly more) total DPS than the Assault Rifle, the AR always deals a constant / reliable amount of damage whereas the Beam requires a longer commitment but has a higher top-end.
  • Hive Cannon: Added +2 hive grenades per clip (5 shots total)
  • Hive Cannon: Reduced reload speed by 10%
  • Hive Cannon: Hive Shot Mod DOT damage increased from 80 to 150
  • Hive Cannon: Hive Shot Mod power requirement increased from 350 to 600
  • Hive Cannon: Hive Shot Mod charges reduced from 5 to 3
DEVELOPER COMMENT: The Hive Cannon is just a fun weapon. We wanted to make it more fun. We reduced the total number of Hive Shot charges and gave them to the primary shot (less reloading). We also increased the reload, while also dramatically buffing the damage of the Hive Shot DOT. As a trade-off, we increased the mod buildup requirement.
  • Particle Accelerator: Adjusted reticle size to better represent accuracy
DEVELOPER COMMENT: While we have a handful of changes in the works, we wanted to first adjust the accuracy of the reticle to better represent where the shots will land. Many more tweaks to PA coming soon!
  • Defiler: Reduced initial spread
  • Defiler: Increased Radioactive Volley fire rate from 1.1 to 1.2s
DEVELOPER COMMENT: The Defiler didn't really need much. We adjusted the initial spread by a small margin so players could better enjoy its secretly good range (for a Shotgun). We also removed a tiny bit of lag on firing Radioactive Volley back to back.
  • Curse of the Jungle God: Increased fire rate from 3.0 to 3.5
  • Curse of the Jungle God: Reduced damage from 32 to 28
  • Curse of the Jungle God: Decreased reload speed by 5%
DEVELOPER COMMENT: The Curse of the Jungle God felt a little too slow for our tastes, so we sped up the fire rate and made minor adjustments to both damage and reload speed. Overall, it is a more efficient weapon.
  • Devastator: Changed reticle behavior
  • Devastator: Changed reticle graphic
DEVELOPER COMMENT: Like the Crossbow, the Devastator had major issues with the projectile reticle so we changed it to use a normal static reticle. There are many adjustments planning (we see you BANDIT ARMOR USERS)... but for now, this should feel much better.
  • Repulsor: Reduced initial spread by 40%
  • Repulsor: Increased Spread Decay (faster post-shot)
  • Repulsor: Increased post-banish debuff duration by 25%
  • Repulsor: Reduced banish time from 8 to 4 (less waiting - quality of life)
  • Repulsor: Reduced friendly banish time from 4 to 2
  • Repulsor: Reduced Banish Charges from 8 to 5
DEVELOPER COMMENT: For the final boss weapon, this felt a tad underwhelming. The goal of the Repulsor was to be a well-rounded tool that can fit on any team. By reducing the initial spread and increasing the post-shot decay speed, we've made it more reliable as a primary option. Additionally, we increased the debuff to 4 seconds so that players can easily unload all 5 shells into a post-banished enemy. The Banish time was reduced to reduce the waiting and halved against friendlies, because every team has "that guy" on it. To adjust for the upped effectiveness (as well as higher +20 scaling) we reduced the total Banish charges from 8 to 5.

 
ARMOR BALANCE
  • Hunter Sharpshooter: Now increases ALL ranged DMG at 15m+
DEVELOPER COMMENT: We've removed the Weakspot requirement because not every enemy has a Weakspot and because it already has a pretty strict range requirement. We will monitor the change and adjust both range and damage value accordingly.
  • Ex-Cultist Blood Pact: No longer requires Critical hits for mod power generation
  • Ex-Cultist Blood Pact: Reduced max generation from 50% to 40% to compensate for no crits
DEVELOPER COMMENT: Like Hunter armor, we removed the additional requirement to gain the Ex-Cultist armor bonus. In conjunction with the reduced Spirit value, the Ex-Cultist armor should be more appealing end-game as a mod-generation option.
  • Scrapper Challenger: Damage increased from 15% to 25%
  • Scrapper Challenger: Range increased from 2.5m to 5m
DEVELOPER COMMENT: The range requirement has been made more forgiving and the damage bonus has been increased significantly. We will monitor the change and see if players find the Scrapper armor more appealing as a close-range set.
  • Akari Opportunist: Changed perfect dodge to grant 100% MELEE crit chance
  • Akari Opportunity: Added Melee Speed buff on perfect dodge
  • Akari Opportunist: Removed Melee damage buff on perfect dodge
DEVELOPER COMMENT: We fixed a bug that was granting players ALL crit chance when perfect dodging. We also removed the raw melee damage buff and replaced it with melee speed to better facilitate an in-close melee style. Most notably, any perfect dodge (even with only one piece) will grant 100% crit chance (which is still a 50% minimum damage increase).
  • Elder Believer: Changed to allow Dragon Hearts to heal allies
  • Elder Believer: Range increased to 15m
DEVELOPER COMMENT: We've changed how this set works. The original benefit (chance to not use a Dragon Heart) was not as appealing as we had hoped (especially for a full armor set). We swapped the effect with the Mender's Charm so that Dragon Hearts now heal teammates. This makes the Elder Armor an excellent support option.
  • Twisted Armor: Health regen increased
DEVELOPER COMMENT: Players asked for it, we obliged. Enjoy having lots of health.

 
TRAIT BALANCE
  • Catalyst buff maximum reverted from 15% to 20%
DEVELOPER COMMENT: Since we have removed the interaction between Catalyst and Devouring Loop, Catalyst has been reverted to its pre-nerf state.
  • Rapid Strikes attack speed buff reduced from 20% to 15% (to allow Akari Armor Buff)
DEVELOPER COMMENT: To better allow the Akari Armor buff to be meaningful, we reduced the Rapid Strikes bonus.
  • Spirit max reduced from 50% to 30% (to allow Ex-Cultist Armor Buff)
DEVELOPER COMMENT: To better entice/reward players using the Ex-Cultist armor for mod generation, we reduced the overall bonus of Spirit. This should make Ex-Cultist the goto set for mod generation.

 
TRINKET BALANCE
  • Devouring Loop: No longer affected by Catalyst Trait
DEVELOPER COMMENT: The Devouring Loop was never meant to work with the Catalyst Trait as it is not a status effect but we thought it would be a cool/fun idea. Spoiler alert: We all make mistakes.
  • Cleansing Jewel: Removed healing effect, added 50% status buildup resistance
  • Mender's Charm: Gained old Elder Armor Skill (heal allies)
  • Mender's Charm: Gained 25% additional self-healing (from Cleansing Jewel)
DEVELOPER COMMENT: With the recent shift of Elder Armor bonus and Mender's Charm, we wanted to give each of these items a proper focus. Cleaning Jewel is now focused around status buildup and cleansing, while Mender's Charm is all about healing.
  • Soul Anchor: Adds +1 max simultaneous summoned abilities
DEVELOPER COMMENT: Due to the change in how summons work, we wanted to allow players the opportunity to still have more summons than the base game would allow so we added functionality to the Soul Anchor. This does not add additional charges, but it does allow you to have more than the "max" out at any one time.

 
CONSUMABLE BALANCE
  • Adrenaline: Melee speed buff reduced from 15% to 10%
DEVELOPER COMMENT: To better allow the Akari Armor buff to be meaningful, we reduced the Adrenaline buff so that melee speeds didn't get out of hand.

 
MOD BALANCE
  • General: Mods now properly scale with Weapon Level
  • General: Certain Mods also scale effect based on other factors (player health, triage, etc)
  • General: Limited amount of maximum "same type" summons (dupes will kill older summons)
  • General: Added "max allowed simultaneous" summon value to summon description
DEVELOPER COMMENT: We've converted all Mods to properly scale with weapon level. Typically they start lower than their original base but scale higher - thus, you get a bigger benefit out of slotting them in higher-leveled weapons. We've also made a change to how summons work so that there is a cap on simultaneous instances. If the max is reached and a new summon is activated, it will destroy the oldest. The max simultaneous can be increased with Soul Anchor.
  • Iron Sentinel: Properly targets/shoots Ghasts and Root Frog
DEVELOPER COMMENT: Basically, just a bug fix.
  • Rattle Weed: Power requirement increased from 750 to 1000
  • Rattle Weed: Reduced initial aggro generation pulse
  • Rattle Weed: Enemies can now be pulled off Rattle Weed if they take enough damage
  • Rattle Weed: Enabled constant "pulsing" aggro generation to pull enemies spawned after cast
  • Rattle Weed: Casting a 2nd Rattle Weed while first is out will remove the 1st
  • Rattle Weed: When expired/killed, drops aggro immediately (originally was still active for 5s)
  • Rattle Weed: Now affected by Soul Anchor for +1 max simultaneous summons
DEVELOPER COMMENT: Rattle Weed has always been "too good" in a game that has a lot of enemies that you are expected to deal with. We didn't want to change the core concept of the mod, but we did want to reduce how overpowered it was. We increased the buildup so it takes just a bit longer to fill. We reduced the initial aggro "pulse" by a significant amount so it didn't lock enemies on it until death (this allows you to pull enemies off now with damage). We also added a constant "pulse" that will pull newly spawned enemies towards it assuming you do not already have too much aggro. Additionally, when a second Rattle Weed is summoned, the first one is immediately killed. Previously, it would stick around for 5s and hold aggro which made it even more effective than it should have been. Players can still summon 2 Rattle Weed if they use Soul Anchor.
  • Veil of the Black Tear: Now unbreakable while active - duration scales with weapon level
DEVELOPER COMMENT: No longer breakable while active, Veil of the Black Tear should now do the job we all thought it should be doing from the beginning.
  • Swarm: Increased duration from 20s to 25s
  • Swarm: Reduced charges to 1
DEVELOPER COMMENT: We wanted to make Swarm a sort of "buddy" that followed you around and attacked anything dangerous. However, there is a bug (no pun intended) in this patch that keeps the duration to 12s. It's known and will be fixed in the next patch. However, look forward to double duration in the future. Putting this note here because we know players will see that it says 25s and is still only lasting half that duration.
  • Breath of the Desert: Charges increased from 2 to 3
DEVELOPER COMMENT: Reverted the reduction of charges. We want players to feel more like a caster with Breath of the Desert. With 3 charges, we may eventually need to adjust the damage. For now, rest assured that we will never again change the total charges of Breath of the Desert (unless we do).

 
ENEMIES
  • Shade/Shatter: Improved behavior across the board
  • Undying King: Beam Rifle will properly stagger certain phases
  • Undying King: No longer changes target mid attack
  • Canker: Wave can no longer be killed via explosions
  • Ixillis: Fixed issue with exploiting part of fight through wall
  • Ixillis: Changed scream hit-reaction so as to no longer push players off bridge
  • The Unclean One: Caskets no longer spawn enemies after the fight
  • Kin-Caller: No longer slows game when killed during summon
DEVELOPER COMMENT: General behavior and bug feedback. The goal is to clean up the rough edges and make the fights less exploitable and more consistent!
  • Nightmare: Breakout requirement reduced by 30% (was 10% of 1mil base, now 3.5% of 2mil base)
  • Nightmare: Breakout phase timer variance (15-30s) removed - now 30s flat
  • Nightmare: Vulnerable phase increased from 5s to 7s
  • Nightmare: No longer faces away when broken out
  • Nightmare: No longer changes target after starting an attack
  • Nightmare: Health doubled (... we're serious.)
  • Nightmare: Should no longer be fightable immediately after being defeated
DEVELOPER COMMENT: Some players found the Nightmare breakout phase to be tedious so we reduced the breakout threshold and increased the total health (by double). This is so that players can more consistently get to the "fun" part of the fight which is seeing massive numbers. We also reduced the variance of the breakout phase (for consistency) and increased the total amount of DPS time when broken. Also... some bug fixes.


MISC
  • Used the Control Rod to play fetch with Wasteland Goodboy
DEVELOPER COMMENT: The Wasteland Goodboy has been an extremely good boy since launch day and we felt it only right that he got some quality play time. We've been working on setting up a play date with Earth Goodboy but have yet to find him.

 

Please restart your game client to apply the update. Players will need to be on the same version to group up in multiplayer.

For all technical issues and bugs, please contact: https://support.arcgames.com/.

Follow our Twitter and Facebook pages for official announcements!

 
Counter-Strike 2 - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (John Walker)

Why, what’s this? Oh I say, a Steam Charts you say? How intriguing>.

(more…)

Aug 22, 2019
Remnant: From the Ashes - PWE Community


We've pushed an update to Remnant: From the Ashes!

Build# 214415


WEAPONS
  • Increased Scar of the Jungle God bleed speed (same damage but faster).

ITEMS
  • Vengeance Idol buffed to 50% DMG below 25% health.
  • Gaelnic Charm buffed from 50% to 300% mod generation on DMG taken.

MODS
  • Reduced Breath of the Desert Charges (3 to 2).
  • Increased Breath of the Desert buildup requirement (500 to 750).
  • Gravity Core DMG reduced (750 to 500).
  • Gravity Core AOE DMG significantly reduced against friendlies.
  • Gravity Core pull significantly reduced against friendlies.
  • Gravity Core projectile time significantly increased.
  • Gravity Core buildup requirement reduced (2000 to 1500).
  • Tentacle Shot no longer hits friendlies.
  • Increased Hunter's Mark buildup (750 to 1000).
  • Certain mods should now properly target more enemies.

ARMORS
  • Removed the duration for Slayer Armor buff post reload.
  • Set bonuses properly update on client without needing to reequip.

TRAITS
  • Reduced Catalyst buff (20% to 15%).

ENEMIES
  • Adjusted all Vyr Annointed weakspots (head) to be the correct size.
  • Ixillis fix for secondary particle not showing up for non-host (client).
  • Adjusted method for gaining additional ammo during Ixillis.
  • Non-hitscan weapons (projectiles) can now deal weakspot DMG to Ixillis.
  • Shade/Shatter will should no longer get pushed out of their dome.
  • Projectiles used against Shade/Shatter dome will now DMG the dome.
  • Shade no longer sticks in dome anim when Shatter is killed on startup.
  • Fix for The Harrow alternate kill method.
  • Nightmare no longer takes the same teammate every time.
  • Nightmare Portals will no longer wait to appear.
  • Certain Mods now properly attack Claviger's chest.

QUALITY OF LIFE
  • Ace decided to sell higher quantities of Irons (less min/max variance).
  • Many keybinding fixes.

BUG FIXES
  • Fix for inconsistent reviving where it would often cancel (YESSSS!)
  • Spectators should now see proper death/grapple/interaction animations.
  • Fix for dying after obtaining Mysterious Coin / Tarnished Ring.
  • Fix for saves without progression keys (Howling Key, Guardian Heart, etc).
  • Fuse box fixes!
  • Added persistence component to bell handler.
  • Bosses dying to DOT should no longer break the game.
  • Fixes for enemies grappling Rattle Weed.
  • Many additional trophy/achievement fixes.
  • Hair color should no longer change color when equipping Hunter Shroud.
  • Force Burst should no longer cause banished enemies to suspend in air.
  • Ent scream longer instakills players using Mantle of Thorns (...lol).
  • Added minion tag to Monolith spawns.
  • Collision adjusted on Monlith tile to prevent players from falling through.
  • Added save bool for Lost Gantry to prevent lock-out if player exits on death.
  • Fix for certain elemental MOD damage types being considered Melee DMG.
  • Totems in Shroud dungeon should now always properly summon Shroud.
  • General art/collision fixes in many zones.

TECH
  • Set max players on unreal to 3.
  • Matchmaking optimizations.

ANIMAL CARE
  • Told the Wasteland Goodboy that he's a goodboy.


Please restart your game client to apply the update. Players will need to be on the same version to group up in multiplayer.

For all technical issues and bugs, please contact: https://support.arcgames.com/.

Follow our Twitter and Facebook pages for official announcements!
Remnant: From the Ashes - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Alice O'Connor)

Forever revelling in the end of human civilisation, Darksiders III developers Gunfire Games today launched Remnant: From The Ashes. Set in a(nother) world where fantasy gubbins has smashed into our Earth with apocalyptic consequences, it’s a third-person shoot-o-RPG of the sort that makes many people squint and halfheartedly suggest Dark Souls as a distant point of comparison even though they know explaining the differences will take as long as detailing the similarities would. So it’s not Dark Souls, or ‘Dark Souls with guns’, or… but it is out now. The launch trailer below proves it.

(more…)

Remnant: From the Ashes

At a glance, Remnant: From the Ashes looks like it was coughed out by a game development algorithm. It’s a third-person looter-shooter and a Dark Souls-inspired boss rush, with an emphasis on co-op and a dynamically generated campaign. Stylistically it's inspired by fantasy, science fiction, Westerns, post-apocalyptic worlds like Fallout and Gears of War, and various kinds of horror fiction, most notably the SCP Foundation. Even the title reads like it was generated by a Twitter bot.

I was apprehensive going in, but was surprised by how much I enjoyed Remnant. It’s a bizarre game, and it's completely shameless in how it assembles borrowed concepts, but like a wasteland vehicle from a Mad Max film, it works.

Ashes to castles

Initially, my scepticism appeared well-founded. Remnant gets off to an underwhelming start. Its introduction sees your custom character washed up on an island with nothing but the clothes on their back and a brittle-looking sword. The ensuring tutorial guides you through some bleak city ruins, instructing you in the basics of roll-dodging and melee attacks while you’re assaulted by tree-people known as the Root.

Remnant suddenly conjures a castle out of the sky, and the whole game becomes far more interesting.

Eventually you end up at Ward 13, the Firelink Shrine of Remnant’s world. Here you learn that the Root have taken over all of Earth and the only way to stop them is by destroying the heart of the Root located in a nearby tower. Unfortunately, the only person who knows how to get into the Tower—a man known as the Founder—has disappeared.

Despite the fact that you’ve just arrived, have been recently wounded, and your only significant contribution to Ward 13 is restoring the power, the leader of the Ward decides you’re the person to track down the Founder. You’re given a couple of guns and a contrived-looking outfit based around your starting class, and are sent out to explore the island’s destroyed city.

It’s a lackluster opening, and the first hour of the campaign doesn't fare much better. Remnant’s representation of a destroyed Earth is generic and dull, like Gears of War viewed through bloodshot eyes. It’s all rusted piles of rubble, hollowed-out tower blocks, and dank brown sewers. The only saving grace is that you don’t have much time to admire the scenery, as the Root are up in your face like pollen in summertime.

While Remnant resembles a cover shooter, in practice it plays much more like Dark Souls from an over-the-shoulder perspective. Even basic enemies are aggressive and hit hard, so to stay alive for any length of time you need to evade their attacks. You also can’t rely on enemies dropping ammo, and you burn through your own supply quickly, so where possible it's best to get up close and personal, dispatching opponents with your melee attacks.

Gradually, you pick your way through the ruins, moving between glowing crystals analogous to Dark Souls’ bonfires and fighting some creatively-designed bosses (more on those later). It’s all fine, but nothing stands out about the design. Then, as you’re walking down another grey and dilapidated street, Remnant suddenly conjures a castle out of the sky, and the whole game becomes far more interesting.

Guns that shoot bees

Within minutes of this event, you’re no longer wandering the ruins of Earth. You’re on Rhom, a desert planet populated by spear-chucking cavemen, living in the shadow of ancient obsidian obelisks that stab upwards to a sun caught in an eternal eclipse. It’s the beginning of a brilliantly bonkers pan-dimensional adventure. It’s also the moment when the game’s systems start to pay off.

Unlike The Division, which drip-feeds the player incrementally better guns, Remnant’s loot is less common and more tailored. You’ll pick up one or two interesting items per area, usually a ring or a necklace that provides a specific buff. The real treasures, however, are dropped by bosses: powerful items which can be taken back to Ward 13 to craft new weapons and weapon mods.

These weapons are as unique as the bosses used to make them. After defeating a fire-spitting demon called Singe, I crafted a submachinegun that fired incendiary bullets as a default, with a power that turned it into a flamethrower. During my time with Remnant, I also wielded a gauss rifle that created black holes, a pistol that fired swarms of bees, and a radioactive beam-rifle. Some weapons have replaceable mod powers, letting you modify your favourite gun with an area-of-effect heal or the ability to summon a minion to your side.

It’s an exciting and creative arsenal, far more compelling than a torrent of nigh-identical assault rifles. I didn’t see as much variety with either melee weapons or armour, but it is possible that I didn’t encounter them because of the way Remnant’s campaign works.

Remnant’s most unique feature is its dynamically-generated campaign. Environments can be laid out in different ways and dungeons located in different places, while some areas may or may not appear in your campaign at all. Similarly, each boss encounter has several possible variants. (If you get stuck, you can re-roll your campaign, maintaining your character progress but regenerating the world.)

I played through the first half of Remnant twice, and in the second run, Singe was replaced by the Ent, a giant tree with a face like Cthulhu. I should also point out that there are tons of standard enemy types—I’d estimate around a dozen per world—and bar a couple of annoying exceptions, most of them are fun to fight.

The dynamic generation is a clever way of encouraging you to invest in other player’s campaigns to see more of the game. Of course, this means you’ll need to play Remnant multiple times to see everything. Yet for a game that borrows from both The Division and Dark Souls, Remnant plays fast. Your first campaign will likely take you anywhere between 12 and 20 hours depending on how you cope with the challenge. With a high-level character, however, you could potentially do a complete run on normal difficulty in half that time.

Style salad

Remnant is a better game than first impressions indicate, but that isn’t to say it becomes pure brilliance after an hour. My biggest gripe with Remnant is that, while the boss encounters look great, in practice they’re far too reliant on spamming players with mob enemies to make them challenging. Making boss fights cater for between one and three players in terms of challenge can’t be easy, but the effect of Remnant’s approach is that, rather than thinking about what the upcoming boss is going to be like, you’re thinking, “I hope the mob spawns aren’t too awkward on this one”.

Remnant's strange worlds, robust challenge, and unique loot make it a refreshing alternative to the drab militarism of The Division.

Elsewhere, although I’m glad Remnant quickly moves away from its grungy apocalypse into world-hopping weirdness, it's a strange stylistic salad, combining elements with seemingly no relation to each other. The issue partly lies with how Remnant borrows Dark Souls’ approach to storytelling, using item descriptions and fragmented conversations with NPCs to build its lore piecemeal. Dark Souls’ world is cogent, consistent, and painstakingly built, whereas Remnant too often feels like it’s making things up as it goes along. There are plot reasons for this revealed right at the end, but it feels like a cop-out, veering dangerously close to one of the most wearisome clichés in storytelling.

There are a couple of more specific problems, too. During my playthrough, both myself and my main cooperative partner experienced several crashes to desktop, which is not something you want to happen in the middle of a boss fight. Meanwhile, the Dragon Heart—Remnant’s equivalent of an Estus Flask—takes too long to use considering the mob-heavy nature of most boss encounters. Lastly, if you die during a game, you’re stuck watching your co-op buddies until either they die or you respawn. It would be useful to be able to view your inventory in such circumstances, tinkering with weapon builds or reading item descriptions.

Nonetheless, Remnant's strange worlds, robust challenge, and unique loot make it a refreshing alternative to the drab militarism of The Division. Ubisoft’s game may be more well-rounded overall, but Remnant is undoubtedly more interesting. Given some adjustments, it could become one of the best examples of its genre around.

Remnant: From the Ashes - PWE Community


🎉 Remnant: From the Ashes has officially launched! See you in Ward 13, Survivors!
Quake II - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Katharine Castle)

It’s Gamescom this week, which can only mean one thing – more confirmed ray tracing games for Nvidia’s RTX and selected GTX 16-series graphics cards. Indeed, the big one that’s just been announced is Minecraft, which (like Quake II RTX) is getting full, real-time ray tracing support for everything from water reflections to its entire lighting system. That’s not all, though. Dying Light 2 will also be getting real-time ray tracing, while Tencent’s freshly-announced action survival game Synced: Off-Planet will be getting ray-traced reflections and shadow support.

In truth, the number of games on this list that you can actually play with ray tracing enabled right this second is still pretty small. A lot of the confirmed RTX games you’ll see below still haven’t received their promised ray tracing and performance-boosting DLSS support, so this is more of a complete ‘this is how many games will have it eventually’ kind of thing than ‘these are all the games you can play with ray tracing right now’. Still, if you’re currently on the fence about buying one of Nvidia’s RTX or RTX Super graphics cards as opposed to the new AMD Navi GPUs, this guide should hopefully help you decide whether ray tracing is something worth investing in. Here’s every confirmed ray tracing and DLSS game we know about so far.

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