Do You Need to Play Remnant 1 Before Remnant 2? – Answered

Remnant 2 is finally available, being the sequel to the sleeper hit Remnant: From the Ashes. It’s one of the few soulslikes not developed by From Software that’s successful, Remnant lies in the hearts of quite a few people for its punishing battles and satisfying combat systems. Seeing as it’s a sequel, though, you may be wondering whether you need to do your research before hopping in. Here’s whether you need to play Remnant 1 before Remnant 2.

Should You Play Remnant: From the Ashes Before Remnant 2?

There are two ways to break this question down, though I’ll start with the primary one first. You don’t need to play the first Remnant to understand the story of Remnant 2. There are a couple of tidbits that you’ll get more meaning out of if you played the first game, but the story doesn’t ask you to know what happened prior. In fact, the story is often not the most understandable thing anyways, so it’s not like knowing would help much anyways.

However, there’s also the fact that you likely won’t be able to play the first Remnant after finishing Remnant 2. There are a lot of improvements with the second game that make the first look rough by comparison, even if on its own, it’s a great game. If you’re willing to deal with many shortcomings by comparison, give it a shot, but for most, you’ll likely want to play more Remnant 2 while playing the first.

Related: Can You Pause the Game in Remnant 2? – Answered

With all this said, I would suggest playing the first game before playing the second, and there are a lot of reasons for that. There are the reasons listed above, of course, but there’s also the added benefit of knowing whether this is your vibe without paying the retail price for it. Remnant: From the Ashes often drops way below the standard $60-70 and is worth trying. There’s also a lot of great content that the second game doesn’t remaster, excluding one zone, so you’ll be missing out on a lot otherwise.

If you’re looking into more details before buying, check out our guide on whether Remnant 2 has crossplay functionality.