Remnant II: The Awakened King is a Bracing Dip Back into the Abyss

wccftech.com:

Remnant II has had a solid run since launching earlier this year, attracting over 2 million players with its unique combination of looter-shooter action, Dark Souls vibes, and Unreal Engine 5 visuals. I had some reservations about Remnant II, criticizing its gunplay and underwhelming approach to loot in my review, but I’ll admit the game’s sprawling procedurally generated world offered plenty of innovation and promise. Remnant II had a lot of the right pieces, it just couldn’t quite fit them together.

So, does the recently-released Remnant II expansion, “The Awakened King,” build on the game’s success and promise? Or does it just feel like so much leftovers? The World Stone beckons yet again…

Note: This is an opinion piece and, thus, not as detailed as a full, scored review would be.

Developer Gunfire Games is referring to Remnant II: The Awakened King as a “one-shot adventure,” which is to say, a smaller, more focused story with less variability than the expansive randomized core campaign. At least that’s how it is on your first playthrough. Later replays promise to mix in more dungeons and other elements from the base game. The Awakened King takes place in Losomn from the original game, although you’ll be exploring a new series of locations within the biome. After defeating the Imposter King in the base game, The One True King has awakened, and wouldn’t you know it, he’s hungry for destruction following his nap. So, it’s up to you to take down another king. No biggie.

The hub area connecting the new Awakened King locations and dungeons together is the Forlorn Coast. The Losomn biome always wore its Bloodborne inspirations on its sleeve, and the Forlorn Coast adds an additional Lovecraftian flavor to the area. The Forlorn