Remnant II has had a solid run since launching earlier this year, attracting over 2 million players with its unique combination of looter-shooter action, Dark Souls vibes, and Unreal Engine 5 visuals. I had some reservations about Remnant II, criticizing its gunplay and underwhelming approach to loot in my review, but I’ll admit the game’s sprawling procedurally generated world offered plenty of innovation and promise. Remnant II had a lot of the right pieces, it just couldn’t quite fit them together.

　　So, does the recently-released Remnant II expansion, “The Awakened King,” build on the game’s success and promise? Or does it just feel like so much leftovers? The World Stone beckons yet again…

　　Note: This is an opinion piece and, thus, not as detailed as a full, scored review would be.

　　Developer Gunfire Games is referring to Remnant II: The Awakened King as a “one-shot adventure,” which is to say, a smaller, more focused story with less variability than the expansive randomized core campaign. At least that’s how it is on your first playthrough. Later replays promise to mix in more dungeons and other elements from the base game. The Awakened King takes place in Losomn from the original game, although you’ll be exploring a new series of locations within the biome. After defeating the Imposter King in the base game, The One True King has awakened, and wouldn’t you know it, he’s hungry for destruction following his nap. So, it’s up to you to take down another king. No biggie.

　　The hub area connecting the new Awakened King locations and dungeons together is the Forlorn Coast. The Losomn biome always wore its Bloodborne inspirations on its sleeve, and the Forlorn Coast adds an additional Lovecraftian flavor to the area. The Forlorn Coast itself is a twisted knot of crumbling piers, winding walkways, and ramshackle fishing shacks, all overrun with fanatical villagers. This is probably the best Remnant II hub to date, with its sprawling pathways leading to a burning cities, bone-strewn sewers, a crumbling palace, and many other memorable and dangerous locales. Gunfire reuses a fair number of assets to create these new areas, but they mix up the level designs enough that they feel fresh. In addition to the new sights, you look forward to the new Ritualist Archetype, as well as a handful of new enemy types, bosses, and more.

　　Admittedly, I was a bit intimidated about the prospect of jumping back into Remnant II. While I consider the game’s far-reaching interconnected world its greatest asset, it can be a hell of a complex thing. Not having played the game for a couple months, my memories of how everything fit together were already a bit hazy. Thankfully, Gunfire seems to have designed The Awakened King with folks like me in mind. By setting the DLC in its own little standalone cluster of locations, players can start fresh, even if they haven’t spent the last few months rerolling the world and perfecting their builds. It’s a nice nod to approachability from a franchise that isn’t always the most player-friendly.

　　Some of the issues from the base game persist. This still doesn’t feel like a top-tier shooter and enemy AI is dumb, although I will say, the loot is a bit better. It’s not thrilling, as you’re still mostly rewarded with an endless deluge of crafting items, but new gear, weapons, and other actually-interesting goodies are more densely packed into this DLC. It feels like I picked up more cool stuff over the course of 6 hours with The Awakened King than my 20-plus-hour playthrough of Remnant II’s core campaign.

A Small Yet Plentiful Kingdom

　　Remnant II can be played on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5. The Awakened King DLC is available as part of the game’s Deluxe and Ultimate Editions or can be purchased a la carte for $10.