Dark Division

Remnant: From the ashes is a surprisingly nourishing mechanical soup.

- Rick Lane

This odd genre mash-up looks like it was coughed out by a game development algorithm. It’s equal parts a third-person looter-shooter and a Dark Souls-inspired boss rush, with a cooperative emphasis and a dynamically generated campaign. Stylistically it’s inspired by fantasy, science-fiction, Westerns, post-apocalyptic worlds and various kinds of horror fiction. Even the title reads like it was generated by a Twitter bot.

And it gets off to a rather underwhelming start. Its introduction sees your character washed up on an island with nothing but a sword and the clothes on their back. Eventually you end up at Ward 13, the Firelink Shrine of Remnant’s world. Here you learn that a race of tree people called the Root have conquered Earth. Despite the fact that you’ve just arrived, the leader of the Ward decides you’re the person to stop them. You’re given a couple of guns and are dispatched into the end-times.

It’s an uninspired opening. The first hour of the campaign fares little better. Remnant’s representation of a destroyed Earth is generic and dull, all reddish piles of rubble, hollowed-out tower blocks, and dank, brown sewers. Fortunately, you don’t have much time to admire the scenery, as the Root are in your face like grass pollen in summertime.