Any excuse to play more Remnant 2 is a good one, an🎃d the first DLC pack, The Awakened King, brings us back to the fan-favorite world of Losomn to settle the score with its so-called One True King. The bite-sized expansion features a brand new campaign ♏within Losomn that introduces new dungeons, bosses, gear, and a massive, hand-crafted overworld that takes you to the Forlorn Coast, a new corner of Losomn’s gothic township. This is the epic conclusion that ties together both of Losomn’s previous campaigns, and while it isn’t as meaty as previous Remnant DLCs, secret hunters will easily find another dozen hours of exciting things to uncover.
When we arrive in the Forlorn Coast we learn that the Awakened King has, well, awakened. We’ve been circling this character’s story throughout the main campaign - even vanquishing his son in one of the base game’s best boss fights - but the DLC puts the king’s story front and center. As usual the plot unfolds largely in the background through lore drops and long-winded rambles from scattered NPCs. It’s easy to miss out on the lore if you’re not looking for it - especially in a multiplayer session where no one wa🐬nts to stand around while someone reads a book they found on the ground - but if you take the time to absorb it you’ll find a compelling mystery about a betrayed god king and the crusade of bloody vengeance that followed.
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You don’t need to shuffle through scraps of old notes scattered throughout the world though. There’s plenty of rich storytelling baked into the architecture, level design, and ambient world-building too. The Forlorn Coast is the largest of the three Losomn maps, and it takes you on a winding journey back and forth across the township as you fight your way through corrupted villagers🎀 - their MO is to engulf themselves in flames before running at you - and dungeons before eventually ascending the castle.
That journey is one of the best overworld experiences in the entire series. Exploring Losomn’♏s burning alleyways, grimy sewers, and sprawling rooftops is as fun as ever, but the level design here adds a dimension to exploration that makes the Forlorn Coast unique. Though you start out at the bridge leading to the castle, a locked door forces you to find another way. This is the beginning of your long journey to confront the Awakened King, and every bit of progress you make towards the castle is quickly followed by a roadblock that forces you to take two steps forward and one step back. When you do eventually reach the castle, completing that journey is a reward unto itself.
While Remnant maps are typically just the connective tissue between the more interesting dungeons and boss fights, the Forlorn Coast itself is definitely the main attraction here. While that makes for a compelling first playthrough, the trade off is that repeated runs in Adventure Mode can feel like a slog. The bewildering structure of the map makes it difficult to remember𝓡 where the dungeon entrances are tucked away, so sprinting between them is a lot harder. The campaign has a few set piece moments that are great the first time, but lose a lot of their charm on repeat.
I didn’t enjoy repeating some of the dungeons either. While I’m used to running through the same spaces and fighting the same bosses to look for alternate outcomes, the choices presented in the new dungeons are often more shallow than we’re♐ used to. At least two of them end with what amounts to one key that opens two doors. You can open one of them, but if you want to get the loot in the other door, you have to roll a new campaign, find the same dungeon, and unlock the other door.
It’s not the most elegant way to build replayability into a dungeon, and compared to some of the more compelling alternate solutions in the game, it comes across a bit lazy. The developers know we’re going to replay the dungeo✨n, we kno🎀w we’re going to replay the dungeon, but I still expect there to be a narrative hook or puzzle to solve. This just feels like I’m being asked to replay the dungeon for the sake of extending the game. Even if that’s always been the case, I don’t appreciate how little effort was put into disguising that fact.
As a big fan of the original Remnant, The Awakened King often r𒐪eminded me of the pain points and frustrations I have with the sequel. Its shortcomings are still present in the DLC. Armor🦄 still feels flat and rather meaningless, there’s far too many rings, and many secrets are so hidden that you’ll never discover them without looking them up.
There’s some intention behind the piles of rings and trinkets you’ll find in the DLC, as the vast majority of them are related to status effects, which just so happens to be the focus of the new𒐪 archetype, the Ritualist. If you want to use this archetype (and if you can even manage to find it hidden in the new map) then you’ll have lots of gear to experiment with, but if you’re not doing a status effect build, then most of the loot you find in the DLC wil൲l be useless. \
Losomn Has Never Looked Better
The original Remnant only had two DLCs, but they were significant content updates that🦋 introduced new game modes and an entirely new biome. Remnant 2’s three DLC packs are much smaller in scope, focused on expanding each of the three major areas from the base game. I’m excited to recommend Remnant 2 to new players once all three DLCs are out, because they seem🎶 to expand the variety and replayability of the game significantly, but I’m less enthusiastic about the prospect of occasionally checking into Remnant 2’s postgame as minor campaigns trickle in - especially when the replayability of The Awakened King isn’t on par.
It’s a stunning campaign that is well worth the time to experience at least once, and I was especially impressed with the design of the inside of the castle, though your time there is surprisingly brief. But unless you’re a hardcore secret hunter, you’ll run through The Awakened King once or twice and be done with it in a few hours. It isn’t quite what I was hoping for, base✱d on past Remnant DLC, but it’s still a worthwhile return to Losomn, and likely my favorite campaign in the entire game - at least the first time through.
