Remnant 2 ‘potentially adding a fifth difficulty’ if players want a tougher challenge

Remnant 2 is already a tough game, but according to the devs, it might get even tougher.

A free Remnant 2 update drops the same day The Dark Horizon DLC launches, adding Boss Rush mode and overhauling endgame progression. The new progression system increases player power across the board, so a fifth difficulty above Apocalypse is in the cards—but only if players are up for the challenge.

The update, launching on Sept. 24, replaces Remnant 2’s Relic Fragments with a new system that the devs promise will change the game. “It got really clunky,” Remnant 2 principal designer Ben “Tragic” Cureton told Dot Esports during a recent preview. “We cleaned it up. The Prism system is the new endgame grind system, kind of like Badass Points (in Borderlands) or Paragon levels (in Diablo).”

It’s nice to see a familiar face

After the update, you’ll find Prisms out in the world that give you a choice of three random stat upgrades. Many used to be Relic Fragments, but Cureton said the team deleted 14 that were “too weak” and then added 20 more. “The goal was to really flesh out that system. There’s a huge amount of selection with 45 total stats,” he said.

You can have five Prism bonuses active at once and level them all up to 10, and once you reach level 50, you unlock a legendary Prism Enhancement with a game-changing, build-defining effect. “A Legendary bonus can change everything,” Cureton said. There are over 40, and they confer powerful effects like giving you double mod charges or infinite N’Erudian Energy. “We wanted to make something unique and original while still being familiar,” Cureton said.

Let’s kick things up a notch

I wondered whether the new endgame system would make players stronger, and Cureton wholeheartedly agreed: “You’re absolutely right. It’s going to scale the power, and that’s why we’ve at least been talking about another difficulty.”

Remnant 2’s fifth difficulty would sit above Apocalypse and be “way, extra, mega-hard,” according to Cureton. “We’re just talking about it to see. We want to see how people react to this system and if they want another, harder challenge.”

Apocalypse is tough, but I’m certain the Remnant 2 community is eager for a harder challenge—especially since the new systems are sure to enable powerful new builds. It sounds like we’ll have to make our voices heard if we want Gunfire Games to turn up the heat.

Remnant 2’s free update revamps endgame progression and adds Boss Rush alongside a host of quality-of-life features, like an item filter, on Sept. 24—the same day The Dark Horizon launches.