Remnant: From the Ashes (Souls Shooter)

Got the friend requests from Mysterio and Chappers, thanks!

I went and refought my way through some more mobs to get back to the Gorefist dungeon, to get some more materials and a level. I still find that my movement skills, though, are freakin’ useless. I run from him ok, but when I turn to hit the adds, I either get hung up on something, run into a wall, or in some way get stuck and then it’s whap! Dead. I cannot seem to do what I see in the videos, the running, turn, shoot effectively, turn, run, etc.

And it doesn’t seem like you really can level up first, as there are only like one teeny overland area and a couple of mini-sewer dungeon things leading up to Gorefist.

I feel I’ve come to terms with the navigation design, which alternates between working seamlessly and being super awkward. That said, I’m really enjoying this game. It’s pretty much like co-op Resident Evil 4 with really cool monsters and characters that sport dusters and sick cowboy hats. Hit reactions on the enemies helps the combat feel super weighty and satisfying. The art style’s pretty strong.

It’s pretty cool that Gunfire managed to finally ship this game. This is their third attempt at realizing this design, following Crawler being killed during the THQ shut down and Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age being shifted from the Austin team to another internal Crytek studio, so it’s nice to see this shaping up to be a big hit for them. It makes me want to revisit Darksiders 3, and see if that’s of similar quality to Remnant. I was put off by the lead character in D3 looking like they were ripped straight from a mid-1990s defunct graphics card manufacturers’ advertisement.

It’s actually not for a couple of reasons. There’s a hub that you may not realize is a hub if you don’t explore for all the possible exits. Also, you can always “re-roll” your campaign. After getting stuck on Gorefist, I re-rolled and then played through the first area without running into Gorefist.

-Tom

Nice to know; thanks, Tom. I may do that, as I like the basic gameplay and made some boneheaded decisions on upgrades early on.

I take back my dismissive comment upthread.

This game is fantastic.

I was so put off by the first 20 mins that I asked steam for a refund. Then I kept seeing the praise roll in from all the people I usually trust about games.

So I rebought it.

I’m about 7 hours in. Played half of that co-op with two pals.

@KevinC summed up the souls comparison perfectly.

This game is doing so many clever things with the souls framework. These guys really know their stuff.

As far as I can tell there is no penalty for dying, right?

@Chappers I saw you join my game yesterday but I hadn’t figured out co-op yet. I didn’t realize I had to sit at a bonfire for the game to spawn you in!

Hope you weren’t offended! Up for co-op anytime with any QT3ers.

No worries, I’ll try and join in again another day if you are around.

There are even mutant crocodiles in it.

Sigh. I tried re-rolling to see if I got something other than Gorefist, but nope, not only had to do all of the preliminary stuff up to that point again, but got Gorefist. Tried a new character, the one with the rifle, and while it was really smooth at first, you guessed it, The Grinder and Gorefist again. I’ve tried that fight so many times. All it takes is one misstep, getting hung up on a door or a box, and Gorefist two shots me. Or I try to turn to shoot the exploding adds, and get stuck on something, and I’m rotted then killed.

I really like the feel of the shooting, and the game overall is really appealing. But I simply cannot get past this one mob. It’s gone from challenging to totally frustrating, like “shelve this and chalk it up to a waste of money” frustrating.

He was my first fight, too, and I found him really tough to take down. Not quite Father Gascoigne hard, but I lost at least four times to him. That said, after that things have become considerably easier. I’ve finished about 6ish bosses so far, including a poor dude and his dog, which felt entirely optional, but I appreciate how much it sucks when you’re stuck. KevinC’s tips helped me out a lot. I found that the key thing was to avoid getting backed into a corner, staying relatively close, opting for a weapon that has a decent-sized magazine so I wasn’t constantly reloading, and just not panicking when he charged. Getting into the rhythm of dodging just as he started his attack wind-up and firing off a couple of shots helped me take him down.

Hallelujah! Gorefist sleeps with the, um, termites? Borer beetles? Whatever. He’s dead. And I owe it all to an anonymous player named AGUMMYZOMBIE, who, after I set my game to Public in desperation, hopped in and together we managed the feat. Mr. Zombie, sadly, died in the fight and I couldn’t revive him the second time, but I am hoping he got credit even if he finished the battle as a corpse on the floor (he was still highlighted for me at least).

But I’m torn between thinking that the people who designed that fight should be exiled to Pluto or be given an award.

Congrats!! Yes, your dead colleague will get credit for the kill so he’ll get any item/material that Gorefist provides. It won’t advance him anywhere in his world, but that is how it always works, not because he died.

One thing I’ve found really helpful in this have is consumables. That oil-whatever potion is super cheap, cures Rot, and gives you 30% rot resist for 10 minutes. It, along with most of the other consumables, not only have good duration but last through death. I found those potions along with Bloodwort to heal slowly over time were godsends during the Ent fight, among others. Don’t neglect to use 'em!

Had an epic run last night. And just as I was commenting to my friends that the environments feel a little samey, things got weird.

This game goes places.

Reading all the computer terminal logs and journals really adds a ton of awesome lore to the world and its characters.

Crafted my first boss weapon too!

Game has me.

Yessss. Same here, and I know the point you’re talking about where suddenly you’re like “we’re not in Kansas Hellgate London anymore”.

Unfortunately for me, I need to wait another week before playing again. It’s really fun going through the game with a couple friends, but man it takes some willpower to set aside a game that really has its hooks in you!

I was so put off by Tom’s stream of both solo vs Gorefist and co-op vs Tree Ent, that I would never consider buying this game.

Except it’s downloading to my PC now?!? So feel free to drop in to any monofurioso games on Steam to bail me out!

Game hit a new all time peak player count last night.

The game is punishingly hard, at least, for an old non-console gamer whose best twitch days are far behind him. It’s also really fun in between the hair-pulling (if I had any hair that is).

I do think, though, that the people back in Ward 13 are wondering what kind of psycho goes around smashing all of their boxes, tables, and bookcases.

Yay, finally killed the Unclean One! I couldn’t work out how to dodge him, as it always felt like he could adjust his direction after jumping or throwing his massive hammer to home in on me, so gave me lots of trouble. In the previous zone, I found a two really cool looking armor sets, including one that involved solving a Zelda-style environmental puzzle, which I wasn’t expecting in this kind of game.

Oh, a question. There seems to be…no way to communicate when playing co-op? Like, no chat, no voice, no emotes, nada?

Gamepad works flawlessly. If you need help then let me know.