Remnant 2: The Dark Horizon is the biggest, deepest expansion yet | Hands-off preview

Remnant 2 was, without a doubt, one of 2023’s most interesting games. A sprawling sci-fi adventure full of secrets and mysteries, it brought the gaming community together like no other title last year. It’s first DLC, The Awakened King, was exceptionally good, adding a new Archetype in the Ritualist and developing the story of Losomn. The follow-up, The Forgotten Kingdom, took us back to the jungles of Yaesha in a smaller, slightly less ground-breaking excursion. Now we’re just a week away from the release of the third and final promised expansion, Remnant 2: The Dark Horizon – and we got to see it in action thanks to Gunfire Games and Arc Games.

Sitting down at a digital event with Principal Designer Ben “Tragic” Cureton and Principal Level Designer Cindy To, we saw the new biomes of N’Erud, as well as some of the new enemies, bosses, and features coming on September 24.

Remnant 2: The Dark Horizon | Lost in space

What was obvious immediately was just how big this new area is. While we don’t have solid confirmation that this is the last DLC coming to Remnant 2, if it turns out to be the swan-song then Gunfire is going out with a bang on this one. The new One Shot will take players back to N’Erud, to an area preserved in time. This is not the N’Erud we know, either. It’s more colourful, dotted with alien farmland where creepy Harvester robots tend to otherworldly crops.

As with both previous DLCs, the new area is also very vertical, with vantage points that afford a view of the surrounding landscapes, towering cliffs overlooking glittering dark lakes. But what’s even cooler is the manner by which you navigate these massive spaces. At certain points as you approach a platform on the edge of a cliff, a mechanical glider will appear, allowing you to float majestically to far-away areas. Controlling it is freeform, Tragic explained, so even though you can only summon the glider at launch pads, you can take it anywhere once you’re airborne. You can’t shoot though, we were warned by Cindy T, so glide at your own risk.

While they didn’t reveal much of the story, we do know that it will feature a battle against rogue AI (is there any other kind?), and a confrontation with a powerful alien entity that watches over the necropolis of N’Erud. And of course, a new DLC means a brand new Archetype.

Watch over me

The Warden is a support type, coming with two primary items that will help keep your teammates – and yourself – alive. Firstly is the Repair Tool primary weapon, which will heal allies you shoot with it but damage enemies. The second is the Archetype’s main talent, the Drone. This little fella draws no aggro and can’t be harmed, but comes in a couple of flavours. Firstly, it’s combat ready, and will defend the Warden to the end, while the second mode focuses on healing.

The third mode will keep an overshield active on you, and the Drone can be sent to guard teammates or attack specific targets similar to the Handler’s dog. I can only imagine how powerful the Warden will be when combined with the Medic Archetype, although it synergises by design with the Engineer, increasing the longevity and damage of your turrets.

The new abilities are as follows:

Prime Perk: Dynamic – Allows players to automatically regenerate Shield and greatly increase the base N’Eurdian Energy Reserve for the Drone and Turret.

Skill 1: Shield Drone – The Warden truly shines through the use of their secret weapon, The Drone. Players can choose from three variants for it: Shield, Heal and Combat. For the Shield Drone, while energized, the Drone will constantly grant Shield to the selected ally until they are at 100 percent and will reduce all incoming damage by a small amount.

Skill 2: Heal Drone – The Warden can deploy a Heal Drone that constantly heals an ally until their health is fully restored, and passively, it grants a Relic Use Speed buff. If the goal is to keep yourself or an ally alive while boosting Relic Functionality, then the Healing Drone is perfect.

Skill 3: Combat Drone – When it’s time to go all out and guns blazing, there’s the Combat Drone. Designed to be a constant offensive presence, an energized Combat Drone attacks any threat near the selected ally.

Archetype Trait: Barrier – To round out the Warden’s kit, there’s the Archetype Trait, Barrier. This unique trait increases the effectiveness of Shields the Warden applies, which means that even when applying protection to an ally, they’ll also gain the benefit. When making a Shield build, Barrier is a must.

When we asked about unlocking the Archetype, we were told it would be somewhere between the last two in terms of difficulty. The Ritualist was as easy as walking into a cave, while the Invoker required considerable patience, luck, and keen observation and had everyone stumped for a while. It will likely be everyone’s primary objective, and will certainly come in handy for the new endgame grind: the Prism system.

See how it glitters

Relic Fragments were a bit of an uneven element in Remnant II, but the new system helps to both streamline their use and increase their potency. A Prism can be found in multiple ways, but primarily through completing boss fights. Once you acquire and equip one, you’ll receive a bunch of handy stat bonuses.

However, you can also slot your Relic Fragments, which gives you a chance to permanently imprint the Fragment’s effects on the Prism when you level it up.

You can only equip one at a time, but you can carry several, allowing you to build multiple Prisms to switch out like your other gear and convey specific buffs while it’s equipped. It’s here that the grind comes in, as you’ll want to target specific bosses to drop certain Relic Fragments and build your Prism in a certain way. This, of course, is helped by the new Boss Rush Mode.

Remnant 2: The Dark Horizon | The bigger they are

Coming free for everyone whether they have The Dark Horizon or not, the new Boss Rush Mode will allow you to team up with either Travelers or go it alone. We saw this mode in action, noting that enemies are marked on the minimap as you battle through waves between boss fights. You’ll have three movies to choose from here: Triple Threat will give you a trio of completely random bosses; Trial by Fire will pit you against six and Annihilation; and The Gauntlet will give you eighteen bosses and Annihilation to overcome.

It would be nice to have a couple of other options that don’t end with Annihilation, who may be a cool fight but remains incredibly tough and long-winded. Still, there’s no reason you can’t spam the Triple Threat mode and have a ball. Between boss areas is a short skirmish with standard and elite enemies on a compact, claustrophobic map. After each wave (and if you find a special hidden item in each area) you’ll get a choice of three buffs, similar to a roguelike. These buffs stack if you take the same one multiple times, and will help you survive the increasingly tough boss battles.

Completing the boss fights will reward you with boss materials, Lumenite, Relic Fragments, and – most importantly – rings and amulets. But interestingly, these won’t be entirely random. Instead, the dropped item will be pulled from the pool of items you don’t already own. And while many veterans will already have most items, there are 210 rings alone in Remnant 2, so all those random drops you’ve missed will have a chance to roll in Boss Rush Mode.

Oh, and one more thing: item filters. Finally, after months of requests, Remnant 2 is getting item filters on rings and amulets that allow you to search for specific functions and affixes like you can in Diablo 4. No more scrolling endlessly through rings or having thirty-eight favourites. Now you can simply search by keyword and find what you’re looking for to round out that build you want to try.

With only a week to go until the release of The Dark Horizon, we’re itching to head back to the world of Remnant 2 and experience the new biome, Archetype, and, of course, Boss Rush Mode. The opportunities for further build diversity are massive, and we can’t wait to start uncovering all the new mysteries and secrets hidden in N’Erud.

Remnant 2: The Dark Horizon launches on PC, PS5, and Xbox on September 24, 2024.

WANT TO FIND MORE ARCHETYPES? CLICK HERE FOR OUR COMPLETE GUIDE

CLICK HERE TO GO TO OUR REMNANT 2 BOSS GUIDES PAGE