Co-op shooter Remnant: From the Ashes will see the launch of its final DLC next month. Titled Subject 2923, the expansion introduces two major new biomes for players to explore, alongside a new campaign story that traces the origins of Remnant's strange world.
Subject 2923 takes place after the events of the main game, focussing on a location known as Ward Prime, which you can see in the new trailer above. A precursor to the starting location of Ward 13, Ward Prime is a military research complex where humanity's Dreamer project, which saw Earth connect with other worlds via powerful beings known as Guardians, was originally founded.
"It's a little bit different in pacing from anything else we've done," says Remnant design director John Pearl. "A lot of weird stuff went down there. It's a huge complex that you get to explore. There's puzzles. There's a whole lot of lore there for people who enjoy reading the lore. There's lots of interesting stuff to discover and you get a lot more backstory."
Alongside Ward 13 itself, players will explore a more rural area of Remnant's post-apocalyptic Earth (a change from the exclusively urban areas in the original), Additionally, it'll introduce a whole new world, the icebound Kingdom of Reisum, an idea the studio has been keen to explore since the beginning of Remnant’s development. “The world of Reisum was from a concept we did really early on for Remnant, which was this picture of this human-type creature, but he's giant, and then there's human sized rats.”
Subject 2923 is Remnant's largest expansion, adding 4-6 hours depending on the player's skill and inclinations, as well as new weapons, upgrades, armor sets, and trinkets. The new areas will also retain the randomised element of Remnant, so you'll have to play the DLC more than once to see everything.
I was pleasantly surprised by Remnant when I reviewed it last year. Any game that takes Dark Souls as a primary inspiration is giving itself a steep mountain to climb. But Remnant’s focus on gunplay, alongside its highly imaginative environment design does enough to set it apart. Its combat is entertaining, and its bosses genuinely challenging. But Remnant's most interesting feature was always its strange, interconnected worlds, from the ancient, sand-blasted Kingdom of Rohm, to the idyllic forest world of Yaisha.
Expanding that universe is absolutely what I want from the final DLC, so I'm optimistic. Gunfire has also learned a lot from its experience developing Remnant, it says, and will be making some important adjustments and changes for the DLC. You can read about those in our full interview with John Pearl here.
Subject 2923 will launch on August 20, priced at $10. At the same time, Remnant: From the Ashes Complete Edition will also release for $50, and will include the base game, the Swamps of Corsus DLC, as well as Subject 2923.
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