Remnant 2: The Forgotten Kingdom DLC Review – The Magic Kingdom

Remnant 2: The Forgotten Kingdom DLC Review

I review a lot of games. The parade of new titles is unrelenting. So, I love it when I’m required to dip back into a game that I really enjoyed but just haven’t had time to play. Case in point: Remnant 2, one of my favorite action games of the past few years. Remnant 2 is, of course, a sequel to a pretty misunderstood ARPG, Remnant: From the Ashes. At first, dismissed as “Dark Souls with guns,” the 2019 game grew a supportive player base over time and Gunfire Games added two DLCs. Remnant 2 was a bigger hit right out of the gate. The new DLC, The Forgotten Kingdom, follows on the heels of The Awakened King and is the middle DLC out of a planned trilogy.

Another Return

As fans of both games know, environments in Remnant and its sequel are procedurally generated. In the first game, this was made obvious by some awkward tile mismatches. The sequel is much better and the worlds flow naturally. For The Forgotten Kingdom, the player returns to the verdant, bioluminescent planet of Yaesha and its race called the Pan. It’s a disappointment — though a minor one — that we’re revisiting an already oft-visited world. The developers are an imaginative team and an entirely new world would have been magical.

In any case, early on the player meets “Walt,” a Pan archeologist of sorts. Walt sees a mural illustrating what may be a forgotten tribe. Throughout the DLC we meet Walt in different locations as he uncovers more ancient history. Early on, we also meet the DLC’s main boss, and the tried-and-true “bring-the-world-to-order” narrative is set in motion. The Forgotten Kingdom’s story isn’t especially memorable, but other aspects of the game make up for it.

Some games’ DLC require the player to have a relatively high-level character to enter (we’re looking at you, Elden Ring). Since the Remnant games scale enemy difficulty to the player’s power level, The Forgotten Kingdom can be accessed not long after playing through the base game’s tutorial area. What’s great about this is that players can bring DLC weapons, armor, and archetypes back to the main game.

Puzzlement

While The Forgotten Kingdom’s story is, well, a bit forgettable, the generally linear path is full of obstacles and puzzles. A lot of these require platforming and precise timing and would feel right at home in Tomb Raider. There’s a bit more verticality, too. On the whole, The Forgotten Kingdom feels a bit more compact than The Awakened King.

The vast majority of Remnant 2 players will be coming to this DLC for the loot: a new Archetype, new weapons, and armor. This aspect doesn’t disappoint. The new Archetype is called the Invoker. It’s an earth-magic type caster and healer, but this Archetype has some devastating offensive powers like the Way of Kaeula’s wall of electricity.

The array of new ranged and melee weapons is impressive and fun to discover. A player favorite is sure to be the Mirage, a melee weapon that surrounds the enemy with a blinding sandstorm. Some aspects of The Forgotten Kingdom feel lean, but not the amount of stuff to find and play with.

Visual Splendor

Every time I return to Remnant 2 I’m reminded how great the game looks and sounds. As usual, Yaesha is a riot of color and light, this time enriched by some vaguely Meso-American ruins and interior spaces. There are some new enemies too, and many are a real challenge to fight.

While yet another return to Yaesha is slightly disappointing, everything else about The Forgotten Kingdom is a must-have for Remnant 2 players. The enemies, weapons, bosses, and the new Archetype are all up to the base game’s overall excellence. Especially at a very reasonable price, it’s easy to recommend The Forgotten Kingdom.

***PC code provided by the publisher for review***