Remnant 2 Is Going All In On Sweet, Sweet Numbies (2024)

Remnant 2 was my most-anticipated game heading into Summer Game Fest, and the hands-on demo I played at Play Days didn’t disappoint. It appears to be everything a sequel should be. Refined gameplay, an expanded world, more impressive graphics, and greater ambition. But Remnant 2 also takes a rather bold step away from the approachability of the original in order to explore a deeper loot system that wouldn’t have been possible in Remnant: From the Ashes. It’s a decision that might turn some players off, but as a certified loot goblin, I can’t wait to munch on those sweet, sweet numbies.

Numbies are numbers, but more delicious. Those scrumptious stat lines, those crunchy morsels of incremental increases in seemingly arbitrary attributes. I crave numbies. I dream about scarfing down tasty numbies every night. I’m already gorging myself on Diablo 4 numbies, and now Remnant is bringing even more mouthwatering loot to munch on? Jeez, fellas, it’s not even my birthday.

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In Remnant: From the Ashes, numbies were pretty sparse. Though there were a few gear slots to fill and plenty of weapons to upgrade, there wasn’t a real loot progression to be found. Remnant had great build crafting thanks to the set bonuses on armor and the passive skills on accessories, but the actual armor rating and damage values of your gear was secondary to the function of your build. Once you put on the gear that gave you the bonuses you wanted, you never really had a reason to replace it. The only stat micromanagement you had was in how you spent your trait points when you leveled up.

Remnant 2 is going full RPG when it comes to loot. Armor pieces no longer have any set bonuses. Instead, every piece has a unique stat distribution, and you're meant to mix and match pieces and trade them out when you get more powerful gear. Your accessory slots have been expanded from three to six, which create a lot more potential for creative builds, and they’ve also added three additional slots to your Dragon Heart, now called the Relic, where you can equip more stats-enhancers. All of those numbies, on top of the new class-exclusive perks and skills, are designed to give players a lot more latitude in how they customize and build up their characters.

Not everyone craves numbies the way I do. There’s a mounting backlash to the injection of numbies into seemingly every facet of gaming, particularly in triple-A. The general attitude towards the upcoming Suicide Squad game has been overwhelmingly negative, largely in response to its loot system. The same was true of Marvel’s Avengers, it’s why Gotham Knights was ridiculed, and it's a big reason why Dying Light 2 didn’t turn out as good as the original. You can throw Redfall in there too, though the loot system probably doesn’t crack the list of the top ten biggest problems with that game. Even God of War gets flak for having numbies, and I can totally understand why.

The Destiny-fication of triple-A gaming has not gone well for many games. The creators of Avengers and Gotham Knights wanted to get in on the highly habit-forming looter hype, without really understanding what makes Destiny work. The backlash to numbies is not unwarranted, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some people - even people that were fans of Remnant: From the Ashes - aren’t interested in Remnant 2’s loot game. During the demo I found a relic fragment that increased my reload speed by one percent. They have played us for absolute fools.

Clearly, RPG mechanics aren’t going anywhere. Numbies have been around a long time, and the success of Diablo 4 is a good indication that, despite the backlash, people still love when numbers go up. Remnant 2’s pivot towards hard RPG looter mechanics doesn’t feel nearly as shoehorned as say, Darksider 2’s. For the sake of the casuals, I hope the crunchy numbers don't distract too much from the things that already made Remnant great. But I fully embrace the numbies, and I can’t wait to get into its delicious, delectable loot grind.