Remnant 2’s new free mode remixes the shooter’s best moments

By Tomas Franzese September 10, 2024

A boss players can fight in Remnant II's boss rush mode. — Arc Games

Remnant 2 will get its final paid DLC on September 24, but there’s something to look forward to even if you don’t plan on buying its DLC. On that same day, Gunfire Games and Arc Games will release a free update for Remnant 2 that adds a Boss Rush mode.

If you’ve played Remnant 2, you know that the boss fights are the best moments of the experience. The procedurally generated campaigns of this Souls-inspired third-person shooter are always at their best when players encounter one of its creatively designed bosses. While bosses in shooters can be button-spongey affairs, each Remnant 2 boss twists the core gameplay loop up and keeps players thinking on the fly. A mode where players can fight the game’s bosses back-to-back sounds particularly enticing.

After installing the September 24 update, players will be able to access this new mode via the World Stone in Ward 13 and play it alone or with friends. Players can choose from a three-, seven-, or nine-boss run. Players will earn temporary buffs and find weapons that make them stronger in the middle of the runs and they will also have to survive hordes of enemies between the bigger boss fights. If you’re looking for a more concise version of the best parts of Remnant 2, it seems like Boss Rush mode will provide just that.

If you want more of the main game, then The Dark Horizon DLC will also release later this month. It introduces a new area in the world of N’Erud for players to explore, and a lot of new story, dungeon, boss, and enemy content comes with that. From a gameplay perspective, its most interesting additions are a glider traversal system and The Warden archetype.

Remnant 2 is available now for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. The Dark Horizon DLC and free Boss Rush mode update launch on September 24.

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Tomas Franzese is a Staff Writer at Digital Trends, where he reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…

Gaming

Remnant 2 is a master class in great shooter boss fight design

Remnant II's Mother Mind boss fight

The more that shooters embrace RPG elements, the worse their boss fights tend to get. Instead of featuring unforgettable encounters that test players' skills and recontextualize game elements in exciting ways, many bosses in games like Outriders feel like bullet sponges that any player can beat as long as they have a good enough weapon. I haven’t experienced a truly fantastic, memorable boss fight in a shooter for some time, so Remnant II shocked me when it provided three in just a couple of hours of play.

Gunfire Games’ Soulslike shooter sequel to 2019 sleeper hit Remnant: From the Ashes builds upon the formula that its predecessor established, so fans of the first game will find a lot to enjoy here. At first, I had trouble getting into what felt like a mediocre third-person shooter with some stark, colorful levels. But after a couple of astonishing boss fights, I’m starting to come around on Remnant II.
Better Bosses
For those that haven’t played Remnant II, players essentially fight through a string of dungeons set across multiversal realms. Big bad bosses that play around with the third-person shooter’s mechanics are often lurking at the end of each area. At the start of my Remnant II campaign, I ventured through a realm called Yaesha and met my first memorable boss in a place called The Twisted Chantry.

Gaming

The best traits to level first in Remnant 2

Three characters shoot at a boss in Remnant 2.

Much of Remnant 2's leveling process is based around increasing the ranks of traits that you'll discover throughout your journe. This will give you plenty of opportunities to build a character that best matches your playstyle. In the game's opening hours, however, each character will begin with just a few traits that can be leveled, and your equally limited trait points can make deciding which of those you want to invest in somewhat of a challenge. In this guide, we'll give you our opinion on which of these are best to focus on for optimizing the early part of your adventure. Here are the best traits to level first in Remnant 2
Best traits to level first in Remnant 2
When beginning the game with a new character, you'll have only five traits – one archetype trait exclusive to the archetype you've chosen and four core traits that every character begins with. Your archetype trait will level automatically as you play with that archetype, so you don't need to do anything with that trait. Instead, let's take a look at the four other core traits and discuss which ones are best to invest in.
Vigor
Vigor improves your overall health, which means you can take more damage before dying. This is likely the most important trait to pump points into, especially when first setting out into the dangerous world of Remnant 2. Enemies hit hard (especially bosses) and you have limited healing options during these opening hours, so you'll need every bit of extra health you can get. It wouldn't hurt to prioritize this trait until you get it to level 10, actually, as you'll be able to get plenty more points as the game progresses, and being able to take a few more hits against the game's first few bosses is immensely helpful. This is even more true for Challengers in team compositions where they'll be tanking and spending a lot of time in melee range.
Endurance
Endurance improves your overall stamina, which will allow you to run and roll more during combat. This is a great option to level up if you're playing a character that is focused on melee, as it will allow you to run more when you get surrounded or roll out of the way of enemy attacks without worrying as much about your stamina meter. For primarily ranged players, though, it's a bit less useful, so you're probably better putting those points elsewhere early on. As with Vigor, though, Challengers will likely benefit most from the trait due to their tendency to be a group's close-quarters combat specialist.
Spirit
Spirit improves your weapon mod power generation. This helps you to earn the ability to use your weapon mods more often in combat, meaning that its usefulness is entirely dependent on how useful your weapon mods are to your build. At the beginning of the game, your weapon mods will be most helpful during boss battles, and you're likely to end them before generating a second use of your mod anyways. Because of this, Spirit is likely better saved for leveling later on so that you can focus on survivability first. Gunslingers, however, are likely to see this as a good option in group settings because they're designed to be a DPS powerhouse.
Expertise
Expertise improves the cooldown speed of your archetype skills. This will aid you in using these skills more frequently, which can be a help against bosses and packs of deadly foes. However, like with Spirit, the usefulness of this trait in the initial few hours of the game is limited due to the already long cooldowns and the speed at which many bosses are likely to fall anyways. While Vigor should still be a priority for most classes, Expertise can be a particularly worthwhile trait for Medics who are playing with a group, as it's vital to keep their healing capabilities available as much as possible.

Gaming

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2’s new trailer is frighteningly immersive

Senua looks into the water in Hellblade 2

During the Xbox Games Showcase today, we got a new look at Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 and learned that it will come out next year.

After a brief introduction from Senua actor Melina Juergens, we jumped into nearly four minutes of gameplay. We see Senua explore a misty, mysterious cave that seems to be shifting all around her. Senua continues to struggle with the voices in her head, which eventually lead her to look at her reflection in the water and proclaim that everything she's done has led her to this place. She then gets pulled into the water at the end of the trailer.