WithRemnant 2now a part of Xbox Game Pass, many newcomer fans and fans of the first game,Remnant: From the Ashes,are wondering about both the game’s qualityas well as the game’s difficulty. Not only is the difficulty of Soulslike games almost always a conversation point between players whenever a new title comes out, but in general, the firstRemnantwas known to be pretty easy up until a certain difficulty level or point in the main campaign.
With that in mind, let’s break down the four difficulty optionsRemnant 2offers, what the differences are between them, and which one players should pick based on their experiences with the franchise or other games overall.
Updated December 5th, 2023 by Jacob Buchalter:With Remnant 2 getting a bit of a resurgence in popularity (at the time of writing this) due to the Awakened King DLC and its addition to the Game Pass lineup, it seemed like an apt time to take a look back at this guide. New players getting started in Remnant 2 are going to want a bit of info that tells them what exactly the differences are between the difficulty options, especially since it’s pretty painful to have to re-roll a Campaign after sinking hours into it. So, let’s go over all the difficulty options in Remnant 2, those being Survivor, Veteran, Nightmare, and Apocalypse, and talk about which one players should probably pick and why.
Remnant 2’s Four Difficulty Options
Survivor, Veteran, Nightmare, & Apocalypse
To break things down as simply as possible,Remnant 2has four difficulty options, with three selectable by default, andthe most grueling option (Apocalypse) only being unlocked after beating the gameonce on any difficulty.Each of these difficulty options gives bonus Experience per kill, but the mobs and bosses are also harder to deal with in exchange:
405 Percent
150 Percent
Again, for those familiar withRemnant: From the Ashes, these difficulty modifiers are pretty much a 1 to 1 copy of the difficulty options from that game, with the only difference being that the ‘Hard’ difficulty is now called ‘Veteran’ and ‘Normal’ is now ‘Survivor’.
However, that doesn’t mean both games are equally difficult, as anyone who made the mistake ofstarting The Awakened King DLC in Losomnon Apocalypse and fought thosehorrifying Dran Fiendscan verify.
Which Difficulty Option To Pick
It All Depends On Your Preferences & Previous Experiences With Soulslikes
This decision varies from player to player based on what they want out ofRemnant 2,obviously, so overall they can use this general guide below to help out when picking a difficulty option:
All that said, let’s go a bit more into each option to talk about how exactly they’re different from each other.
Survivor
Great For Newcomers & For Farming Items
First up is the Survivor difficulty,which is a great starting point for playerswho never experienced the firstRemnantgame, and is even better for those who aren’t exceedingly familiar with Soulslike games overall. It’s designed to be approachable and rewarding, while still being difficult enough to ‘challenge’ players at times.
Players will still find themselves dying plenty of times on this difficulty if they’re not careful. Also, Survivor is usually the difficultyplayers end up using in Adventure Modewhen they’re farming mapsfor all the different Ring, Amulet, and Gear drops.
Veteran
The ‘Default’ Difficulty
Veteran difficulty seems to be designed as the default difficulty option for Soulslike fans and veteranRemnant: From the Ashesplayers. They’ll level up faster than they would on Survivor difficulty, but in exchange the enemies take a bit longer to kill, deal a bit more damage, and the bosses are just a pinch scarier.
If players felt that Normal difficulty inRemnant: From the Asheswas ‘just a bit’ too easy, then Veteran is a pretty good option to choose in the sequel. Also a great default option to use instead of Survivor in multiplayer, as the scaling actually makes the difficulty closer to Survivor when there are 2-3 more player characters fighting enemies.
Nightmare
For Soulslike Veterans & For Those Who Want The Nightmare-Exclusive Rewards
Remnant: From the Ashesplayers who felt that Normal difficulty was ‘much too easy’ in that title should try out Nightmare inRemnant 2.While it may be understandable to assume that Nightmare would only be slightly more difficult than the Veteran difficulty, the jump is actually a bit bigger than one might expect.
While the percentage increases (whether it’s Mob Damage or Boss HP Bonus) from Survivor to Veteran range from about a 50-65 percent increase, to jump from Veteran to Nightmare range between 100-185 percent for the same 15 percent increase in EXP. Additionally, in the description of this difficulty alone, it mentions that this is designed for those with strong builds already, heavily implying that Gunfire Games literally built Nightmare with the idea of players ‘working their way’ up to itwith a build of guns, gear, and Traitsthat they craft through multiple Campaign/Adventure Mode playthroughs.
Lastly, this is the first difficulty to have exclusive rewards for completing certain areas (or the campaign as a whole) while on it,such as the Repulsor, the Onyx Pendulum, or the Hero’s Sword.
Apocalypse
For The Types Of Players Who Care About Self-Satisfaction More Than Tangible Rewards
In the originalRemnantgame, Apocolypse wasn’t even an option on launch and was only added later on as an additional ‘challenge’ players could take on for the sport of it, much like the Hardcore Mode. And, it seems like that concept is still the same inRemnant 2, but this timeplayers just need to beat the Campaign once (on any difficulty) to unlock Apocalypseinstead of waiting for Gunfire Games to add it into the game.
With a description that just says ‘Good Luck’ it should be obvious thatthis difficulty option is intended for players who like to really challenge themselves more than it’s intended for players who are fine with a harder game in exchange for extra rewards.
Only getting 20 percent more EXP than Nightmare to deal with mobs and bosses that are literally more than 4 times as tough as they would be on Survivor just doesn’t make sense, which is exactly why it’s intended for players who feel rewarded by the challenge more than they feel ‘punished’ for it. There are also some exclusive rewards for playing on this difficulty option as well, such as the Devoured Loop, World’s Edge, and Star Killer. Also, it’s worth notingthat the Awakened King DLC, surprisingly, doesn’t have any exclusive rewards for beating it on any difficulty, so there’s no need to even attempt it on Apocalypse.
