Remnant 2 The Dark Horizon DLC review: Excellent expansion and a fitting finale

Remnant 2 The Dark Horizon is by far, the best Remnant expansion to date. While the previous two DLCs were pretty good, they don't hold a candle to the sheer scale and scope of The Dark Horizon. From the verticality of the fresh map to the brand-new adversaries, everything feels like a substantial upgrade over not only the base game but also the previous expansions.

Going into The Dark Horizon, I already expected to be impressed, given my love for the previous Remnant 2 DLCs. However, my expectations have been exceeded. Having sunk in more than 25 hours going through the expansion, I can safely say that The Dark Horizon is one of the best DLCs I've ever played. Period.

The new DLC somehow manages to address some of the major complaints I had with The Forgotten Kingdom, while simultaneously adding a ton of quality-of-life improvements as well as additions to the moment-to-moment gameplay. While the expansion isn't immune to criticism, it's still a pretty good time and a fitting finale for Remnant 2.

Looking for Crossword hints & solutions? Check out latest NYT Mini Crossword Answers, LA Times Crossword Answers, and USA Today Crossword Answers

Remnant 2 The Dark Horizon - Keeps what works, and improves on the rest

What does The Dark Horizon have to offer?

Remnant 2 The Dark Horizon is an excellent DLC that not only iterates over the previous expansions for the game but also evolves on some of the past ideas. The first biggest improvement The Dark Horizon has over the previous expansions is its map. Not only is the new map of N'Erud more expansive compared to the base game version, but it's also way more vertical.

The overworld map of the new N'Erud (Image via Arc Games)

Verticality is something that was never truly tapped into by past Remnant 2 expansions. The Forgotten Kingdom did feature some elements of verticality, but it was not front and center. As someone who likes an intricate map design in his Souls-like experiences, I really enjoyed exploring the new N'Erud, perhaps much more than I expected to.

The increased verticality is further supplemented by a new "Glyder" system, which is essentially a drone that can be used to get between different parts of the map. The Glyder is also used for some of the most creative puzzles I've seen in Remnant 2 since the original Darksiders.

If you're someone who loved the environmental puzzles in Remnant 2's base game as well as the previous two expansions, you're in for a treat with The Dark Horizon. Apart from the map, the DLC also comes with a new Archetype - the Warden. The main gimmick of the Archetype is its ability to regenerate a protective shield.

The Warden also comes with an autonomous Drone, that has its own skills, much like the Dog for the Handler Archetype. However, instead of simply being a distraction for enemies, the Drone has a much more active role in combat. Based on the skills you choose, the Drone can either heal you, repair your shield, or go fully offensive on enemies.

The Warden Archetype (Image via Arc Games)

As someone who had been using Summoner and Handler (secondary) until I got my hands on the Ritualist, the Warden felt like an Archetype that's custom-built for players like me. I came to Remnant 2 quite late, and while I do like going full berserker with Archetypes like the Challenger, I tend to see myself going back to more defensive options.

While I did find Ritualist (with Summoner as secondary) to be the best fit for my playstyle, it still didn't feel quite right. That was until I saw the Warden in action. The Warden can be both offensive and defensive at the same time, without any compromises. Furthermore, the Warden is also one of the few Archetypes that's effective in both solo and co-op modes.

To me, Warden feels like the perfect Archetype for anyone who is starting Remnant 2 for the first time and is looking for a well-balanced option that does not require too much work to get going. That's not to say Warden isn't a good fit for returning players. I've played Remnant 2 for more than 400 hours and ended up putting Warden as my primary Archetype.

The new N'Erud and the mysteries it inhabits

While the map is surely the biggest highlight of The Dark Horizon, there are also a few other aspects of the expansion that stood out to me as an improvement over the previous Remnant 2 DLCs. The enemies and bosses, for instance, are a massive improvement over both The Forgotten Kingdom and The Awakened King as well as the base game N'Erud.

The new map is much more vertical than the base game N'Erud (Image via Arc Games)

Instead of relying on ambushing the players with a horde, The Dark Horizon focuses more on one-on-one encounters. This also means that the new DLC has more elite enemy types compared to regular mobs. However, that's a net positive in my books considering Remnant 2's combat system is best suited for those one-on-one skirmishes.

Furthermore, the difficulty here is balanced way better compared to the previous expansions. In my experience, both The Awakened King and The Forgotten Kingdom featured a rather abrupt spike in difficulty when it came to some of the bosses. However, that's not the case with The Dark Horizon.

Don't get me wrong, The Dark Horizon isn't a cakewalk, even with an end-game build. However, the difficulty in the new expansion is more symmetrical throughout its runtime. There are no bizarre difficulty spikes that pop up all of a sudden, just because you've reached a main story boss. This is the kind of difficulty I like in my video games, especially Souls-likes.

That's not to say the bosses in Remnant 2 The Dark Horizon are easy; far from it actually. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that some of the bosses here size up to the likes of Annihilation, and I'm not exaggerating. However, the challenge they offer never feels artificially inflated for the sake of making them tough.

The Boss Rush mode is a "game changer"

The Dark Horizon also comes with its fair share of new loot, including brand-new armor sets, weapons, and other combat gear. However, given The Dark Horizon is the final piece of content from Remnant 2's post-launch roadmap, there's hardly any incentive to collect those fresh weapons and armor sets, outside of New Game+ (re-rolling campaign).

Yes, Annihilation also makes a return in Boss Rush, albeit only in The Gauntlet (Image via Arc Games)

As much as I like Remnant 2, I'd admit, that replaying the same stages over and over again, does get somewhat boring after a while. The only thing that makes replaying the campaign fun are the boss fights, but those are few and far between. Furthermore, some of the best bosses require you to complete quests that can take quite a lot of time.

I remember going through two full playthroughs of Remnant 2 to prepare for the DLC, and both of the times when I loaded into Losomn, I ended up having to fight the One True King. Don't get me wrong, I like the battle against the King, but he's not my favorite. Honestly, It does get a bit tedious having to re-roll campaigns just in the hopes of fighting your favorite boss.

Well, guess what? Gunfire Games had just the solution for that - a Boss Rush mode. As someone who adores Darksiders 2 and 3's Crucible modes, a Boss Rush was something I always wanted to see in Remnant. And with Remnant 2's final expansion, Gunfire Games has delivered just that.

The Boss Rush mode features three tiers - Triple Threat, Trial by Fire, and The Gauntlet. The basic premise of the mode is that get into your desired tier, choose a difficulty, and then face multiple waves of bosses. You first need to defeat a handful of regular enemies, which then end up summoning an Aberration.

Even the DLC bosses are part of the Boss Rush roster (Image via Arc Games)

Upon defeating the Aberration, you get to fight a boss. Keeping with the procedural generation theme of Remnant 2's base game, the Boss Rush is also randomized. The three tiers essentially decide the number of bosses you will face before completing a run. Furthermore, the Boss Rush mode also features a "rogue-lite" element, which grants you temporary buffs.

You get these buffs upon defeating bosses or from certain checkpoints across the map, prior to heading into a boss fight. Also, the loot you get from completing a full Boss Rush run, carries over to your regular game, meaning, you can essentially use the new mode as a replacement for grinding campaign runs (New Game+).

Moreover, if you have the DLCs installed, the bosses and enemies from the expansions will appear in the Boss Rush. I honestly couldn't have asked for anything more. The Boss Rush mode has single-handedly reignited my love for Remnant 2. And guess what? It's not paywalled behind the expansion. Instead, it's a free update coming to everyone who owns the base game.

Lastly, the free update also adds the Prism system, which replaces the Relic glyphs. The Prism system essentially adds an "end-game" objective to work toward, that ends up making your survivor more powerful as you level up. The idea of the Prism system is simple - as you gain experience, you can choose to invest it into the Prism.

The Boss Rush and the Prism system are an excellent alternative to grinding campaigns for loot and XP (Image via Arc Games)

Doing so rewards you with a random upgrade glyph. Previously you were limited to only three glyphs at a time. However, with the Prism system, you can have up to 10 active glyphs, as you keep on upgrading the Prism. The glyphs are randomly generated but often include perks that offer substantial attribute upgrades. I really like this system.

The new quality-of-life updates like the Prism system go hand-in-hand with the Boss Rush mode. While it's not necessary to engage with the Prism system if you don't want to, investing time in tinkering with it as you progress through the DLC or even the base game, grants your survivor significant buffs, separate from your chosen weapon or armor.

Few shortcomings

While my time with Remnant 2 The Dark Horizon as well as the Boss Rush mode was indeed a pleasant one, just like any other piece of art, the upcoming expansion has its fair share of flaws. As I mentioned previously, The Dark Horizon iterates and also evolves over plenty of ideas that were brought to Remnant 2 with the previous DLCs.

Some of the new enemies you will face in The Dark Horizon (Image via Arc Games)

That said, that does not mean it ended up addressing every shortcoming from Remnant 2's past. While I thoroughly enjoyed every single moment of the 400+ hours that I've spent playing the game, I'm still not a fan of its storytelling. The story was one of the weakest links in the past Remnant 2 expansions, which is still the case with The Dark Horizon.

I adore the premise as well as the history behind Remnant's universe. However, the primary story that connects the player to the game's world and its characters, has never been a strong suit of Remnant 2, or its DLCs. Apart from the story, the only other major complaint I have with The Dark Horizon is its performance on PC.

For some reason, after installing the new expansion, both the base game as well as the other two DLCs ended up performing worse than they used to. I played the game on a Ryzen 5 5600X and RTX 4070-equipped PC, which technically is more than enough to run it at 1440p60fps with High settings. However, my system was struggling to maintain a stable frame rate.

The only solution that helped me maintain a steady 60fps was to use DLSS in Quality mode. For context, prior to this update I was playing the game with DLAA and was easily getting 60fps, with the same settings. Gunfire Games did mention that the version I played was still being worked on, and I hope the performance issues are fixed come the release date.

In conclusion

Remnant 2 The Dark Horizon is easily the best expansion created by Gunfire Games. Not only does it iterate over the best aspects of the previous two expansions for the game, but also adds its own spin and "verticality" to the map of N'Erud. Unfortunately, The Dark Horizon still suffers from the same pitfalls of the previous two DLCs, i.e., story and technical performance.

Remnant 2 The Dark Horizon is an incredibly well-made DLC, which serves as the perfect finale for the series, for now at least (Image via Arc Games)

Be that as it may, if you can look past those minor shortcomings, and focus primarily on gameplay, build crafting, and boss fights, Remnant 2's latest expansion is reason enough to jump back into the game. And if that's not all, there's also the Boss Rush add-on, which is a cherry on top. The Dark Horizon is an excellent expansion and a fitting finale.