At Summer Game Fest 2023, Gunfire Games and Gearbox Publishing announced the release date of Remnant 2. The sequel to 2019’s Soulslike-inspired third-person shooter game will be released on July 25th for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X.
Following the first game’s success (From the Ashes had sold over three million copies by the end of 2021), Gunfire Games is looking to expand upon that foundation in several ways.
To discuss that, we had the chance to interview Principal Level Designer Cindy To during the Summer Game Fest’s Play Days for the press. Also, look forward to our hands-on of the Remnant 2 demo on Monday.
According to the lore, how many years have passed since the first game?
It’s been a couple of decades since the end of Remnant: From the Ashes and the beginning of Remnant 2.
And will there be several returning characters?
You could say that!
All right. How did you guys select the canon choices from the first game? Was there a narrative reason, or did you pick the most common player actions?
So obviously, if I had the lore team here, they could probably dive into a little bit more details. But I think we’ve always had an overarching story that we wanted to tell you of the humans who worked on Ward 13, as well as some other storylines that we wanted to expand on. So the choices that were made and presented in Remnant 2 align with kind of this larger story that we wanted to tell.
The branching storylines are definitely a big focus with Remnant 2. Can you talk a little about how they work and how much replay value you think they can bring to this title?
So in Remnant 2, there will be a main driver that keeps an overarching story and a main driver that brings purpose to the player coming toward their team, seeing what’s going on there and, due to some unforeseen circumstances, allowing them to travel and visit other worlds. And then, during that journey, everyone’s playthrough is very different.
Like, in this middle part of the game featured in this demo, visiting this world and the things that happen there will be a different experience amongst different players. For example, the demo we have here today features the world of Yaesha, but you could wake up in and realize you’re in some weird temple or ziggurat and you’re just wondering what’s going on. But the person next to you did not start there, and in fact, they started in the heart of the jungle.
That alone alludes to the fact there must be at least two different storylines obviously what we took from the first game is the different experiences that occur along the way. So, player A plays the game and sees this boss, but player B plays the game and sees a completely different boss even though they’re both in the same area.
To add to that, player A could be starting in Yaesha, but player B could wake up in a completely different world. That alone just implies the difference, the capabilities, and the possibilities for the replayable aspect.
Are the biomes and the environments gonna be larger in this sequel?
Definitely. Let’s just say even from a level design perspective, we took a lot of values and a lot of lessons from the first game. I would describe a lot of the level design in From the Ashes was kind of flat, like you’re going from point A to point B and there’s not a whole lot of changes along the way. If you compare the level design from the first game to Remnant 2, something we pushed was a lot more exploration. There’s verticality and that comes from expanding our player package. Unlike the first game, you can now jump; you can climb ladders. That gave us the toolsets for level designers to essentially expand in the vertical direction, essentially physically making the world bigger with a lot more secrets.
Great to hear that. Can you talk a bit about how scaling works in Remnant 2 in various situations, whether it’s playing solo or co-op?
First of all, we have different difficulties players can choose. Your easy, normal, hard, really hard AKA Apocalyptic (it does make a comeback in this new game). You have those options as you roll your game. Then within that, once you select your difficulty, you can play it solo or host a cooperative game inviting up to two additional players.
When you’re solo, there’s a set scale behind the scenes for that player based off the difficulty. Then that begins to multiply in a particular way. Quantity scaling occurs when you invite more people to your party. Definitely, it doesn’t always mean having more people is easier. In fact that things could be pretty tricky when you invite more than one person to the game.
Will it scale if you’ve got three players and they all have dogs, so you technically have three humans and three AI at that point?
I’m not entirely sure. I know that on the progression team, we’re still tuning stuff and we’re getting the fine little bits and knobs in a way where, when we hit retail, we provide a good experience for the players. So I don’t know much more about this.
Do you know how many weapons are going to be in Remnant 2?
Definitely more than the first game. I don’t know the exact numbers, but I will say there’s much more to search and gain into your arsenal.
Will stealth gameplay be viable in Remnant 2?
So similar to the first game, if you’re crouching, you’re quieter, your footsteps are quieter, right? So some enemies may or may not follow those rules. In Remnant 2, in different encounters as you go through the world, if you’re the type of person who’s a little bit more methodical and deliberate, that can definitely be part of your toolset.
We’re not a stealth game by any means, but there is that aspect of how stealth is a little bit reflected in some of the events or levels that you may encounter.
Do you know if there’s going to be a way to ‘farm’ specific events or bosses?
I can’t dive too much into that, but when the game releases, we’ll definitely ensure there are means for players to be able to get back into the game and see what you haven’t played. There’s definitely a ton of content, so I think we won’t disappoint players when the game comes out.
You talked about how players might enter the world in different areas at different times. How does that factor into co-op? If someone has a game session started and I go into the quick join menu and join their game, how does that progression carry over where I’m seeing a completely different part of the world at that point?
It’s a lot like the first game where when you play a game, you’re the host of that game. If you’re open to having coop, when they join, they have joined your campaign. They’re part of your journey.
If the two of you have gone to a boss, take it down the boss and get a mod from that, that second player will unlock that line and they can take that back with them. It helps encourage people to go ‘Hey, why don’t you join my game or perhaps I join your game?’ Because what you earn from your player, you carry on your player. So if you unlock this gun, that gun is part of that player and they can take it back to their world and resume that campaign that that player B was essentially part of, right?
That coincides with the ability factor and the different storylines that can happen. Because if player A has seen Yaesha but player B is in a completely different world, maybe they can communicate and say, ‘Hey, do you want to come over and we can beat this boss and you can get this weapon or mod and then we go back to your game and we can bounce back and forth?’
Is there anything else that you wanted to share with the fans?
I think the biggest thing for me personally is a lot of the developers, myself included, put a lot of heart and soul and love into this game. Remnant: From the Ashes was a passion project for Gunfire Games and to see the original game thrive in the way it did and the community showed how much love they have for this game. We wanted to deliver a well-deserved Remnant 2. We wanted to make a game that we also love playing. I can’t wait personally for retail because I want to get in there and play the game with my friends and make memories and troll each other, joke around, and just have a good time. We hope that the fans will see how much we put into the game and how much of a love letter to.
Thank you for your time.
