Remnant: From the Ashes returns with new zones and an ever-changing survival mode
Type: Singleplayer, Coop
Genre: Shooter, RPG
Developer: Gunfire Games
Publisher: Perfect World Entertainment
Release Date: 28 Apr, 2020
Overview
Swamp of Corsus is the first DLC for Remnant: From the Ashes. It adds a new adventure in Corsus with new bosses, new items and a new survival mode. Will this new content be worth your time and money? Welcome (back) to the fetid lands of Corsus and the ever-changing corridors of the survival mode!
New Areas, New Bosses, New Items
While it would’ve been awesome if the DLC was set on a new world, the additions to the Corsus Swamp are a nice touch to the base game. The new enemies are fun to play against, even if they are mostly different versions of existing ones, like the banshee for example, and the new bosses are angrier than ever.
Overall, the new bosses are a good addition to the Corsus area and represent a good challenge even to experienced players, while new characters will have a difficult time against these horrific monster, which will turn unprepared challengers in mush in very little time.
Surviving
The survival mode is the main addition made by the Swamp of Corsus DLC and adds a whole new procedurally-generated game mode with roguelike mechanics. Completely separate from the main campaign, at the start of each survival run you find yourself with a brand new character with nothing but a pistol, with the possibility to spend some scrap in randomly generated shops. After that it’s all uphill and you’ll have to explore tight corridors and rooms filled with enemies, searching for new equipment and scrap, while fighting increasing numbers of enemies.
Survival mode fixes some of the problems that affected the main game, namely the big, empty areas that required the player to walk around a lot with little to no interaction and enemies. This is because of the much smaller scale of the survival mode’s map, which also tends to have less big areas and more sprawling corridors and small secondary rooms containing loot. This different map structure serves the purpose of separating the loot from the main course the player will take, which will often force him to waste time when searching for new equipment. This is particularly important because of the timer that counts the time remaining for the spread of corruption, which makes all enemies stronger, basically creating a need to balance exploration and progress into the current section: loot too much and the next boss fight will be difficult, loot too little and you’ll probably find yourself unprepared.
While detached from the main story of the game, killing bosses in this mode drop glowing fragments, which can be used to acquire armour skins, which can be attached to existing armour to give it the appearance of another one, while keeping all the stats and bonuses.
Verdict
Swamp of Corsus adds a good amount of content for its 10€ price-tag: the new enemies are engaging and the survival mode has a lot of replayability, is difficult and even fixes some of the problems that the original game has. While the swamp area can be accessed even by low-level characters, the rogue-like mode makes for a perfect late-game addition, or a possible way to play something different between one mission and the other.
