Title:Â Remnant: From the Ashes – Swamps of Corsus
Developer: Gunfire Games
Publisher: Perfect World Entertainment
Genre: Third-Person Souls-like Shooter
Available on: PC (PS4 and Xbox One coming June 4th)
Version Tested: PC
Official Site: Remnant: From the Ashes – Swamps of Corsus
Release Date: April 28th, 2020
If you got the chance to check out my review of Remnant: From the Ashes, you may recall what I said of Corsus. The swamp filled planet is my favorite section in the game, with great setpieces and grotesquely fitting enemies. My only gripe with it was that it was a little shorter than I wanted, but Gunfire Games answered my prayers. The team recently released the Swamps of Corsus DLC for the game and needless to say I was ecstatic. A more fleshed-out version of my favorite planet was an opportunity I couldn’t miss.
Swamps of Corsus Bosses
The Swamps of Corsus DLC introduces several new bosses to the area. I took them all on in my playthrough and for the most part, they’re well designed. There are four new bosses, and three of them are solid. They’re all a new form of grotesque that the game hasn’t shown off before with new move sets and rewards to boot. Defeating them and getting the alternate kill on one of them was an enjoyable experience. Unfortunately though, they only show up on some of your Adventure runs. Other runs you won’t ever see them, not including the Campaign (which they’re a part of for base game owners). This might be in the campaign already, but it doesn’t excuse it still existing. I understand why you’d want there to be replayability, but leaving that up to chance feels like a lazy way to do it.
Regardless, there is one boss that I despise the design of, and that’s the Dream Eater. The idea behind him is cool, feeling like he’s straight out of a horror movie. When it comes to his move sets though, some of them can be incredibly frustrating to counter. There are these odd timings on attacks and different mechanics that leave little room for error. The worst is when he combos some of those attacks to the point where there’s too much to worry about. For the sake of spoilers I won’t talk about the moves, but I wish the Dream Eater was a little better designed. It feels like so much potential wasted.
New Area and Survival Mode
That is only one aspect of the Swamps of Corsus though. One of the big aspects added was a new tileset specifically to Corsus Adventure mode. This new tileset (despite housing the Dream Eater) feels incredibly grotesque but also really interesting. It reminds me of years ago, going through the Locust stronghold in Gears of War 2 and seeing just how disgusting that race is. It’s the kind of inspiration you like seeing from a game, as compared to some of the imitations this game pulls.
But with those out of the way, it’s time to talk about one of the biggest additions to Remnant. The Survival Mode added with Swamps of Corsus is one of the best experiences you can have. You spawn in with little and must go through different sections collecting supplies and defeating enemies to get stronger. You’re constantly in a race against the clock as while you’re leveling up, enemies are every six minutes. It’s just the right amount of pressure to where you can’t waste time but also have enough to do some exploring. It almost reminds me of Risk of Rain 2’s system. I can see players spending hours upon hours competing for the best time on each difficulty. It even helps you to get some of the new Glowing Fragments added with Swamps of Corsus.
Armor Skins and Story in Swamps of Corsus
This leads me to my final point, the Armor Skins added with this DLC. There’s a new vendor known as Whispers who’s only communication is through a whiteboard and some chalk. It’d be pretty funny if it weren’t because he got stabbed in the neck. Morbid jokes aside, he sells some pretty nice looking gear for Glowing Fragments. Nothing that’s going to wow you and make you say “I need this right now”, but some nice looking stuff. I specifically like the new Carapace armor, but that’s mainly due to my love of black clothing. I guess I secretly still have that little bit of edge in me.
The only thing I really could’ve asked for is some better way of understanding new or existing lore. Swamps of Corsus doesn’t do much in that regard and it’s a bit of a disappointment. This was the perfect opportunity to expand upon the lore of Corsus, and it feels like that opportunity was forgotten. There are a few scenes where the story was done well, but I can’t help but feel there’s a lot of potential lost here. Corsus could be its own miniature story with fleshed-out characters that react more to your actions. In its current state though, it leaves a lot to be desired.
Verdict: Swamps of Corsus does a lot to improve upon the formula already set by Remnant. It heavily improves the world of Corsus with new bosses, an entirely new and well-designed area, and a great mode to shake things up. One of the new bosses is poorly designed and the story lacks substantial improvements, but the whole package is still more than worth it. At a price tag of just $10, Swamps of Corsus is a DLC that fans of Remnant should pick up when they have the chance.
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