Beaten: Remnant From The Ashes (One)

 As the years race by, the number of games I missed when they came out increases dramatically, but that is a good thing. I have a pool from multiple generations of consoles and computer games now to draw from when I want something different. There are already two Remnant games, and I decided to check out the first one to see if it clicked. 

Remnant: From the Ashes didn't really click in and of itself, but when I got stuck on the first boss, I toggled online mode to be on and allow other players to join me to help. Now, it’s the summer of 2026 and Remnant From the Ashes came out in 2019, so I wasn’t expecting much help, if any. The sequel has been out for a few years so one would think the playerbase had migrated there.

However, this was not the case. There were veteran players making multiple playthroughs to level up and for some reason helping me helped them with that. The first player got me past that first boss and far beyond, using the ability to right click on things to draw my attention to them so I didn’t miss any loot. 

These sessions continued with various guide-players joining me and when they weren’t around I made as much progress as I could on my own. With the pressure of just surviving boss fights gone, and loot raining down enough to level up and upgrade my gear, I found myself having much more fun with Remnant than I had expected. 

I admit to letting the story fly over my head and just embracing the third-person action, but there is a story there about a corrupted world and the player being the hero going forth to stop it. Remnant From the Ashes plays like a Dark Souls game, but with excellent gunplay more that traditional melee options, and lots of character, weapon, and armor upgrades to explore. I suspect this draw is what keeps those players I encountered playing, that desire to get better skills and gear.

I wasn't even sure I was going to finish Remnant From the Ashes, but I continued to have fun with it, both alone and with experienced guides showing me the way, over several weeks. The game is not that big, though, consisting of four main worlds and a central hub, and before I knew it I was fighting past the last few bosses and high-fiving my guide in-game to celebrate.

Online play is not usually my thing, but Remnant From the Ashes now has me considering other online co-op titles that I might have dismissed before. My hats off to the team behind Remnant for making the co-op play accessible and fun, and to all those dedicated players grinding through the game over and over,  helping us newbs make it through our first run along the way.