Remnant From the Ashes is a third-person survival action shooter from 2019 that was overshadowed by all the great games that came out that year, and you probably never heard of it or thought it was a small game that would be boring, but it’s actually a hidden gem.

Remnant from the Ashes takes place in a post-apocalyptic Earth that is overrun by creatures called the Root, and the player has to travel to a tower on an island in an attempt to end the Root. Remnant is different because they have mechanics similar to the Dark Souls series or the Souls-like genre, where you dodge enemies, have a stamina bar, use limited healing items, fight big bosses, and have checkpoints that respawn enemies. Some people also say it’s Dark Souls with guns. 

You can play the game solo or bring two other friends for three player co-op, similar to Destiny. Another thing unique to the game is that when you enter a new area, the world is randomly generated, which offers different experiences to other players. The world then determines what loot, enemies, and bosses you get each time you start a new campaign, which adds high replayability.

There are three classes you can choose near the start of the game, you can start off as a Scrapper for close-range damage, which is good for close combat. You could choose the Ex-Cultist, which is a supporting character and is good for mid-range combat. Lastly, you could choose the Hunter for better critical damage which is good for long-range combat. You can also equip different armor sets, weapons and weapon mods, rings, and amulets which could give you buffs to player stats, protection, bonuses, and resistance to status ailments.

The leveling-up system is similar to most games, and you can even find books in the game that give you free skill points to help you out. When you die in this type of game you expect to lose something, but you actually don’t lose anything and just spawn back at the checkpoint with the enemies respawned, which discourages fewer gamers that are unfamiliar with the genre.

The game can be challenging at times, and you may keep dying from a boss, but that is part of the game, where you have to rethink your plan or strategy. There is one thing that bothered me and many other players. It is when you get to this one optional mission, you HAVE to make sure that two AI characters don’t die from the Root, or else you can’t get access to a weapon and other loot. If you fail to protect the AI you may be able to reload the save or checkpoint until you get the mission again, but if you can’t, you have to restart or reroll the campaign which is a bummer.

There are a couple of glitches, but nothing game-breaking during my playthrough. The story is okay but is kind of short if you just play for the story and don’t explore the world. The game does encourage you to explore since the world is randomly generated each time you start a new campaign. The dialog is not that great, and the animations for the characters you talk to are basic but get the job done.

The main part of the game is to loot, defeat enemies and bosses, upgrade, buy, and level up your character which makes the gameplay satisfying. The game is on every platform and is about to come out on the switch. I would recommend buying the game on sale and buying the DLC which gives you more story and adds more loot to find. A sequel is also coming out called Remnant II which continues the story and updates or improves the gameplay and graphics, unfortunately, it’s only on newer consoles and on PC, but no PS4, Xbox 1, and Nintendo Switch versions are confirmed.