I've been shown Remnant 2's third (and largest) DLC The Dark Horizon, as well as its free roguelike Boss Rush mode and endgame progression system—and it's Gunfire Games' biggest flex so far

GamesThird Person ShooterRemnant 2I’ve been shown Remnant 2’s third (and largest) DLC The Dark Horizon, as well as its free roguelike Boss Rush mode and endgame progression system—and it’s Gunfire Games' biggest flex so farWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Gunfire Games)

A screenshot of two bosses - horrifying cyborg monstrosities - from Remnant 2�s The Dark Horizon DLC.

Remnant 2 was one of my favourite games from last year, in part because it knows exactly what it wants to do, does it very well, and doesn’t overstay its welcome. It continued to impress with its DLCThe Awakened KingandThe Forgotten Kingdom. Both offer an expansion to the game’s core systems—new classes and items—as well as a solid 5-8 hour campaign for a very reasonable price ($10/£8.50 a pop).

The only problem, as I highlighted when it came to The Forgotten Kingdom, is that these DLCs are hard to talk about from a journalistic point of view because, well, they’re more of the same—and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. If you liked Remnant 2, you’re gonna like these things because they put more Remnant 2 on your Remnant 2. If you like cookies, there are only so many ways I can say “you are getting more cookies.”

No, really, they’re just giving you this stuff

(Image credit: Gunfire Games)

A wanderer brawls with a knight in Remnant 2’s boss rush mode.

Here’s what Remnant 2 freaks like myself are getting, for free, when The Dark Horizon releases September 24.

“We got rid of about 15 of our old fragments because we felt the stats just weren’t appealing,” Cureton tells me. “We found that about 14-15 fragments just weren’t being used, so we straight up removed them and added 20 new fragments overall.” Then there’s the new “Boss Rush” mode, which I’m told is a bit of a misnomer. “It’s somewhat misleading—that’s on us … it’s actually boss rush, and survival, and horde mode all in one,” Cureton confesses.

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

(Image credit: @verytragic on Twitter/X.)

Three difficulty modes for Remnant 2, as shared by Ben Cureton on Twitter/X.

The routine is this: You drop into a dungeon, you kill enough enemies to fill a bar, you spawn a suped-up mook called an Aberration and murder it. Then, you grab your roguelike bonus from a pylon, which gives you either stat boosts or “hacks that change the functionality of the game”—like making enemies explode on death, spawning a black hole, or creating healing orbs. Then you kill your assigned boss, grab another one of these perks, and rinse or repeat until you die or win (Cureton recently released afull detailed breakdownon Twitter if you want more specifics).

“It’s actually boss rush, and survival, and horde mode all in one.“Ben Cureton, Principal Designer of Remnant 2

“It’s actually boss rush, and survival, and horde mode all in one.”

I’m here for all of this. While Remnant 2’s worlds are procedurally arranged, working through them on a loop can be a little slow and meandering. Being able to just hop in and get a concentrated fix of boss battles sounds like a great time.

This new mode props up Prisms, which serve as a brand of endgame grind. You can unlock seven possible Prisms to grind out separately, and they cap out at level 50—taking about 10 to 12 hours to do so. Whenever you level one up, you can choose from 45 possible stat boosts—which can also fuse together to give you more slots (for example, the Hulk fusion bonus gives you health and stamina).

(Image credit: Gunfire Games)

An image of Prism enhancements, as arriving with the free content update alongside Remnant 2 DLC the Dark Horizon.

Just to reiterate, this is all stuff you don’t have to pay a cent for if you already own the game—it’s just a tasty bonus. Given this was a preview for a DLC, though, I should probably talk about that, huh?

The Dark Horizon

(Image credit: Gunfire Games)

The vibrant, yet still grim agricultural sector of N’Erud as shown in The Dark Horizon, an upcoming DLC for Remnant 2.

The Dark Horizon is set in an agricultural section of N’Erud and, like its sister DLCs, aims to flesh out N’Erud while offering its own hand-arranged “Adventure Mode” playthrough that lets you see all the new content you’d otherwise stumble into randomly on a standard run of the base game.

“We got some feedback, saying, ‘well, N’Erud is kind of desolate and flat’—and we were like, we’ll show you desolate and flat!” Cindy To exclaims. “It’s a lot more colourful and vibrant.” She’s not lying. What I’m seeing is a sort of grim cyberpunk smorgasbord of space farms splattered with pestilence, kind of like HR Giger with some potpourri to freshen the place up.

What really strikes me as unique is just how much ground I’m seeing, and how many little nooks and crannies To and Cureton could’ve squirrelled away their secrets in. Remnant 2’s traditionally plonked you in sprawling, Diablo-style hallways—so this is a welcome change of pace.

There’s also a new Archetype, the Warden, which has a drone equipped with a trio of passive effects it can swap between—Healing, Combat, and Shielding. Its signature weapon, the Repair Tool, is similarly teamwork-focused, allowing players to shoot enemies to death or shoot allies to, uh, life. You can also send your drone to chaperone your fellow players, transferring its buffs to them.

(Image credit: Gunfire Games)

The Warden holds its cybernetic drone aloft in Remnant 2: The Dark Horizon.

Naturally, there’s new rings and weapons to bolster this all up—including one I’ve been asked not to talk abouttoomuch, but which I can confirm basically turns you into Space Goku. Finally, I can live out my very specific fantasies.

Ultimately, I’m downright impressed. If The Dark Horizon was simply on par with the game’s other DLCs, I’d say Gunfire Games has given Remnant 2 a very good showing in terms of post-launch support—three solid expansions at a reasonable price point gets my kudos under any circumstances. But with the new (again, free) added game mode and progression systems, just because? I feel like the studio’s just flexing at this point.

“We’re really excited for people to play it and get a really good reception, hopefully, so that we can continue to learn and make better things right for ourselves and for the players,” says To, while Cureton chimes in: “We’re going all out, we’re not just finishing it … We wanna get as much stuff in for the players—and I know this sounds very PR-ish—but yeah, this is for the players … We’re going to give them more stuff than they ask for.”

I’d agree under most circumstances that “for the players” sounds PR-ish but, again, Remnant 2’s earned a lack of scepticism from yours truly. The Dark Horizon releases alongside the game’s free update on September 24.

More about third person shooterMarvel Rivals' latest update quietly killed the game’s burgeoning mod sceneThe best part of Marvel Rivals Season 1 is Mister Fantastic’s obnoxiously fun chest-bump attack and his ridiculously OP kitLatestFive new Steam games you probably missed (January 13, 2025)See more latest►

More about third person shooter

Marvel Rivals' latest update quietly killed the game’s burgeoning mod sceneThe best part of Marvel Rivals Season 1 is Mister Fantastic’s obnoxiously fun chest-bump attack and his ridiculously OP kit

Marvel Rivals tier list - Wolverine

Marvel Rivals' latest update quietly killed the game’s burgeoning mod scene

Mister Fantastic mid ultimate

The best part of Marvel Rivals Season 1 is Mister Fantastic’s obnoxiously fun chest-bump attack and his ridiculously OP kit

LatestFive new Steam games you probably missed (January 13, 2025)See more latest►

Latest

Five new Steam games you probably missed (January 13, 2025)

S4U: CITYPUNK 2011 AND LOVE PUNCH screenshot

Five new Steam games you probably missed (January 13, 2025)

See more latest►

Most Popular

Civilization 7 has been Steam Deck Verified ahead of its launch next month

23-year-old D&D RPG Neverwinter Nights just got a new update thanks to the ‘unpaid software engineers’ of its unkillable community

My Summer Car, the absurdly detailed Finnish life sim about vehicle maintenance and drinking in your underpants, smashes into 1.0 after nearly a decade in Steam early access

Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes a run at improving parkour, as Ubisoft strives to make the system less ‘like a gas pedal’

Today’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11

The Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in April

Lords of the Fallen publisher embraces fear of the DEI boogeyman, says it will not include ‘any social or political agendas’ in its games

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney says tech leaders are ‘pretending to be Republicans’ to gain favor with Trump, skirt antitrust laws, and ultimately ‘rip off consumers and crush competitors’

If you’re trying to convince me your ‘companionship’ robot is ‘lifelike’, maybe don’t rip her face off in the demo video

Square Enix launches new anti-harassment policy to protect its employees and partners from abusive fans

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

A bunch of the best Steam Deck accessories on a blue background.

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits

Thank Goodness You’re Here review

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits

Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits

2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback

Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback

3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

4Ikea Utespelare desk review

Ikea Utespelare desk review

5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

No, really, they’re just giving you this stuff#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

The Dark Horizon#

No, really, they’re just giving you this stuff

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

The Dark Horizon