The Ascent vs REMNANT II

• Perspective: Third-Person
• Multiplayer: Up to 3-Player Online Co-op (Crossplay supported)
• Setting: Post-Apocalyptic Earth & Multiple Interdimensional Worlds
• Platforms: PC (Windows - Steam, Epic Games Store), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
• Unique Feature: Procedurally generated worlds and dungeons for high replayability, deep Archetype system with dual-classing, challenging Soulslike combat, extensive weapon crafting with mods and mutators, 3-player co-op.

• Co-Op Teammates: The game supports 4-player local couch co-op and online multiplayer, allowing friends to synergize their cyberware abilities to dominate the battlefield.
  Other Players
• The Cyberdeck: Your constant companion. With a press of a button, it hacks nearby doors, ATMs for money, and turrets to turn them against your enemies.
  Digital Hacking Tool

• Handler's Dog Companion: The Handler Archetype's Prime Perk grants them a loyal dog companion. The dog actively participates in combat by attacking enemies, drawing aggro, and can provide various team buffs (e.g., damage increase, damage reduction) based on the Handler's chosen skills. The dog can also revive the Handler or allies under certain conditions.
  Canine (Specific breed varies by Handler's choice/default)
• Summoner's Minions (Root Creatures): The Summoner Archetype can conjure various Root minions to fight alongside them. These minions have different roles (melee, ranged, tank) and their effectiveness can be enhanced through the Summoner's skills and traits. Minions are temporary and often require sacrificing health to summon.
  Root Entities (Various types like Hollows, Flyers, Reavers)
• Engineer's Turrets (Heavy Weapons): The Engineer Archetype can deploy heavy weapon platforms that act as automated turrets or can be carried and wielded by the Engineer or their allies. These provide significant firepower and area denial capabilities.
  Automated Turrets (Vulcan, Flamethrower, Impact Cannon)
• Co-op Players (Other Travelers): In online co-op mode, up to two other players can join as their own Traveler characters, each with their unique Archetype builds, weapons, and skills. They act as active combat companions, capable of reviving each other, synergizing abilities, and tackling challenges together.
  Human (Player Characters with chosen Archetypes)

• Cyberdeck Upgrades: Crucial modules hidden throughout the arcology. Finding them levels up your hacking device, granting access to high-tier loot chests and heavily encrypted doors.
• Orphan Skill Points: Physical skill points hidden in the environment independent of leveling up, rewarding players who explore every corner of the map.
• Datapads: Glowing lore terminals scattered across desks and corpses that provide deep background information on the alien species and mega-corporations of Veles.

• Tomes of Knowledge: Consumable items found randomly throughout all worlds. When picked up, they are instantly consumed and grant The Traveler +1 Trait Point. If at the Trait Point cap, they grant Archetype XP and Scrap instead.
• Rings: Equippable accessories (up to 4 can be worn) that provide a wide variety of passive bonuses, such as increased damage, survivability, resource generation, or unique gameplay effects. Found as loot, in chests, from bosses, or purchased.
• Amulets: Equippable accessories (1 can be worn) that offer more significant passive bonuses or unique perks compared to rings, often defining a core aspect of a character's build. Found similarly to rings.
• Relics (e.g., Dragon Heart): Primary healing items with a limited number of charges. Different Relics can be found or crafted, each offering unique healing effects or additional temporary buffs when used. Charges are replenished at World Stones (checkpoints).
• Relic Fragments: Socketable items that can be slotted into Relics to provide minor passive stat boosts (e.g., increased health, damage reduction, skill cooldown). Come in different qualities and can be upgraded.
• Traits: Passive character upgrades that provide permanent stat increases or bonuses (e.g., Vigor for health, Endurance for stamina, Spirit for mod power generation). Acquired by leveling up, defeating bosses, completing quests, or finding Tomes of Knowledge. Trait points are spent to increase their effectiveness up to a cap.
• Weapon Mods & Mutators: Weapon Mods are crafted from boss materials and grant active abilities to weapons. Mutators are found as loot or from specific encounters and provide passive bonuses to weapons. Collecting these expands combat options.
• Quest Items & Lore Items: Various items specific to main or side quests that progress storylines. Lore items like books, notes, and audio logs are found throughout the worlds, providing backstory and world-building details.

• Cyberpunk
• Dystopia
• Megacorporations
• Twin-Stick Shooter
• Sci-Fi Action
• Arcology
• Rebellion

• Post-Apocalyptic
• Dimensional Travel
• Cosmic Horror
• Survival
• Teamwork & Co-op
• Procedural Generation
• Soulslike Challenge
• Eldritch Beings (The Root)
• Ancient Mysteries
• High Fantasy with Firearms

• The Dominator: Assault Rifle
  A rapid-fire ballistic weapon perfect for shredding crowds of unarmored gang members and low-level mutants in the slums.
• EBR Enforcer: Energy Burst-Rifle
  A highly accurate energy weapon that melts through the heavily armored corporate security forces and robotic enemies encountered in the upper tiers.
• Guillotine: Heavy Melee Sword
  Introduced in the Cyber Heist DLC, this massive, brutal blade completely shifts the dynamic of the game into a close-quarters hack-and-slash experience.

• Long Guns (Rifles, Shotguns, Bows, etc.): Primary Ranged Weapon
  Main damage-dealing firearms. Includes a wide variety like assault rifles (e.g., Blackmaw AR-47, Chicago Typewriter), shotguns (e.g., AS-10 Bulldog), sniper rifles/bows (e.g., Huntmaster M1, Crescent Moon), and unique boss weapons (e.g., Nightfall, Alpha-Omega). Each can be upgraded and equipped with a Weapon Mod and a Mutator.
• Handguns (Pistols, Revolvers, SMG-like sidearms): Secondary Ranged Weapon
  Sidearms used for backup or specific situations. Examples include revolvers (e.g., Western Classic), pistols (e.g., Rune Pistol), and special handguns like the Cube Gun or Meridian. Can also be upgraded and equipped with a Weapon Mod and a Mutator.
• Melee Weapons (Swords, Axes, Hammers, Gauntlets, etc.): Close Quarters Combat Weapon
  Used for close-range combat, dealing damage and often staggering enemies. Includes a variety of types like swords (e.g., Blade of Gul), axes (e.g., Krell Axe), hammers (e.g., Atom Smasher), and special melee weapons crafted from boss materials (e.g., Assassin's Dagger). Can be upgraded and some can be equipped with Mutators.
• Weapon Mods: Equippable Weapon Ability
  Attachable components that grant weapons unique active abilities, often with cooldowns or charges built up by dealing damage. Examples include Hot Shot (imbues bullets with fire), Healing Shot (heals allies), Space Crabs (summons explosive crabs), or boss-specific mods like Moonlight Barrage (Crescent Moon bow). Most weapons have one Mod slot.
• Mutators: Passive Weapon Augment
  Passive augments that can be socketed into Long Guns, Handguns, and some Melee Weapons. They provide various passive bonuses like increased critical chance, lifesteal, faster reload speed, or unique conditional effects. Can be upgraded.
• Corrupted Weapons: Special Weapon Variants
  Special alternate versions of existing weapons, often with unique visual effects and altered firing modes or properties. Obtained by exchanging Corrupted Shards and the original weapon with Dwell in Ward 13. Examples: Corrupted Aphelion, Corrupted Merciless.

• Habber Dash Jacket: Standard, low-tier street clothing providing minimal physical defense but high mobility, worn by common workers in the Warrens.
• CorpSec Riot Gear: Heavy, bulky tactical armor looted from corporate security forces, providing massive physical and energy defense at the cost of evasion speed.
• Cyber Warrior Armor: A premium cosmetic/tactical set offering a striking, neon-infused Samurai aesthetic, providing excellent balanced defense for endgame content.

• Armor Sets (Head, Body, Legs, Gloves): Players can equip a full armor set consisting of four pieces: Head Armor, Body Armor, Leg Armor, and Gloves. Each piece contributes to the overall Armor value (damage reduction), Weight (affecting stamina regeneration and dodge roll speed - Light, Medium, Heavy, Ultra Heavy rolls), and elemental resistances (e.g., Fire, Shock, Blight, Corrode). Many sets also provide unique passive set bonuses when multiple pieces are equipped.
• Leto Mark I & II Armor Sets: Known for being extremely heavy armor sets, providing very high damage reduction at the cost of a slow 'flop' dodge roll (Leto Mark I) or a slightly better heavy roll (Leto Mark II). Popular for tank builds.
• Radiant Armor Set: An example of a set that might provide bonuses related to critical hits or sustained fire, often with a distinct visual appearance.
• Void Armor Set: A heavy armor set that often provides a perk related to taking damage, such as a temporary damage buff after being hit.
• Elder Armor Set: A set often associated with support or healing capabilities, potentially boosting Relic use or ally buffs.
• Cultist Armor Set (Example from Remnant 1, archetype starting gear in R2 may vary): Typically associated with Mod Power generation or skill cooldown reduction. Starting Archetypes in Remnant II come with their own unique-looking armor sets.
• Armor Skins / Cosmetic Transmog (Limited): While full transmog is not a primary feature, some armor sets are visually distinct, and certain pre-order/Deluxe edition bonuses provided unique armor appearances. The focus is primarily on stats and set bonuses rather than extensive cosmetic layering of armor pieces.

• Cybernetic Tattoos: Extensive character creation options allow players to cover their avatar in glowing neon circuitry and gang tattoos.
• Transmog System: A heavily requested feature added post-launch, allowing players to equip high-stat, ugly armor but change its visual appearance to any cool outfit they have previously looted.
• Animated Weapon Skins: Purchasable or unlocked weapon paints that feature moving digital patterns, making your firearms glow brightly in the dark industrial slums.

• Archetype Starting Armor: Each starting Archetype (e.g., Challenger, Handler, Hunter, Gunslinger, Medic) comes with a visually distinct set of armor (Head, Body, Legs, Gloves) that reflects their theme and role. These are actual gear pieces with stats.
• World-Dropped & Crafted Armor Sets: Numerous armor sets can be found as loot in the various worlds, crafted from materials, or purchased from merchants. Each set has a unique appearance and provides different defensive stats, elemental resistances, and often set bonuses that synergize with specific playstyles or Archetypes.
• Deluxe & Ultimate Edition Armor Sets (Cosmetic/Early Unlocks): The Deluxe Edition included three armor sets: Elder Armor Set, Radiant Armor Set, and Void Armor Set. These provide unique aesthetics and starting gear options.
• DLC Armor Sets: Each DLC ('The Awakened King,' 'The Forgotten Kingdom,' 'The Dark Horizon') introduces new armor sets with unique designs and perks thematic to the new content and worlds.
• Helmet Visibility Toggle: Players usually have the option to toggle the visibility of their equipped helmet, allowing them to see their character's face while still receiving the stats from the head armor.

The Ascent features a deep ARPG progression system. Players level up to earn Skill Points, which are invested into attributes like Tactical Sense, Weapon Handling, Aiming, and Evasion. The game's defining feature is its 'Cyberware' system. Players can install active augmentations (such as launching a barrage of homing missiles or summoning an explosive spider mech) and passive modules (like increasing maximum health or adding dodge-roll evasion). Additionally, the 'Cyberdeck' acts as a hacking tool that players must continually upgrade to slice open high-level corporate doors, ATMs, and hostile automated turrets.

Veles is designed vertically, separated into distinct 'Tiers' that represent the socio-economic status of its inhabitants. 'The Warrens' and 'Deepstink' are the lowest tiers, characterized by claustrophobic slums, raw sewage, and heavy industrial machinery. The mid-tiers feature bustling commercial hubs, neon-soaked nightclubs, and dense residential blocks. The absolute pinnacle, 'The Pinnacle', is where the corporate elite reside in clean, opulent, sunlit luxury. Exploring the map involves seamlessly riding massive elevators and traversing open urban battlegrounds filled with countless interactive NPCs, alien races, and destructible cover.

• The Inter-Tier Transit Train: Public Transport
  The immersive fast-travel network players use to move between the massive horizontal districts of the arcology.
• The Arcology Elevator: Vertical Transport
  Massive, city-sized freight elevators required to travel between the socio-economic Tiers of Veles, bridging the gap between the slums and the corporate luxury zones.

• None (Traversal by Foot & World Stones)
  REMNANT II primarily features on-foot exploration within its worlds and dungeons. Fast travel is facilitated by interacting with World Stones (checkpoints) to teleport to other discovered World Stones within the same world or to different worlds via The Labyrinth.
• Glider Traversal System (The Dark Horizon DLC - N'Erud Only): Personal Traversal Gear
  The 'The Dark Horizon' DLC, set in N'Erud, introduces a new Glider Traversal System, allowing players to navigate specific areas of that world with enhanced mobility. This is specific to certain sections of the DLC content.

• Ferals: Mutated Humanoids
  Rabid, heavily mutated creatures that hunt in massive packs in the dark, industrial depths of 'Deepstink', requiring heavy crowd-control weapons to suppress.
• Mechanical Spiders: Robotics
  Corporate defense drones that scurry across the ceilings and floors, harassing the player with energy blasts and self-destruct mechanisms.

• The Indent: Player Avatar
  An enslaved corporate worker who must utilize extreme violence and cybernetic enhancements to survive the collapse of their mega-corporate owners.
• Poone: Syndicate Boss
  The stressed, foul-mouthed leader of your home district who acts as your primary early-game quest giver, trying desperately to keep his turf from being overrun.
• Kira: Corporate Handler
  A highly capable, mysterious operative who takes an interest in your lethal efficiency, guiding you through the complex espionage of the upper tiers.

• The Traveler: Protagonist (Player Character)
  The customizable player character, a survivor in a post-apocalyptic world. They are thrust into a conflict spanning multiple dimensions to combat The Root and uncover ancient mysteries. Their abilities are defined by chosen Archetypes, weapons, and gear.
• Clementine: Key NPC / Powerful Figure
  A returning character from the lore of Remnant: From the Ashes (implicated in the Dreamer Project). In REMNANT II, she is a powerful individual with unique abilities related to the World Stones and interdimensional travel. She plays a crucial role in guiding The Traveler and fighting The Root.
• The Keeper of the Labyrinth (Andrew Ford - Implied/Theorized): Enigmatic Guide / Guardian
  A mysterious and ancient entity responsible for maintaining the Labyrinth, the unchanging hub world that connects to other dimensions. Provides guidance and exposition to The Traveler. Potentially connected to Founder Ford from the first game.
• Commander Ford (Mentioned/Lore): Founder of Ward 13 / Explorer
  The founder of Ward 13 and a key figure from Remnant: From the Ashes who disappeared into the World Stone network. His legacy and research are often referenced.
• Wallace: NPC / Mystic & Archetype Crafter
  An NPC in Ward 13 who helps The Traveler unlock their initial Archetype and can craft Engrams for unlocking new Archetypes using special materials.
• McCabe: NPC / Weapon Mod & Boss Weapon Crafter
  A gruff but skilled weaponsmith in Ward 13. She crafts unique Weapon Mods and powerful Boss Weapons for The Traveler using materials obtained from defeated world bosses.
• Reginald 'Reggie' Malone: NPC / Consumables Vendor
  An NPC in Ward 13 who sells various consumables like ammo boxes, healing items, and concoctions.
• Mudtooth: NPC / Storyteller & Elixir Vendor
  An elderly character in Ward 13 who tells stories (granting XP boosts) and sells various concoctions (temporary buffs).
• The Root: Primary Antagonistic Force / Hive Mind Entity
  The overarching enemy faction in the Remnant universe. A sentient, plant-like hive mind entity that corrupts and invades worlds, assimilating lifeforms and creating monstrous creatures. The ultimate goal is to stop its spread and defeat its core, Annihilation.
• World Bosses (e.g., The Nightweaver, Sha'Hala, The Corruptor, Annihilation): Major Antagonists / Challenges
  Each world features unique and powerful bosses that The Traveler must defeat to progress or obtain valuable rewards. Annihilation serves as the final boss of the main campaign.

• Mutual Dependencies: Early Campaign
  Fight through rival turf in the deep slums to restart the district's primary water supply, establishing your value to the local crime boss.
• Data Miner: Corporate Espionage
  A massive mid-game raid on a high-tech corporate facility requiring heavy hacking, culminating in a brutal boss fight against a heavily armed mechanical spider.
• Unhandled Exception: Story Finale
  The climactic final campaign mission requiring players to defend a central hacking terminal against endless waves of the most elite corporate security forces in the game.

• Main Campaign (Stop The Root)
  A series of narrative quests spanning multiple procedurally generated worlds (Yaesha, Losomn, N'Erud) connected by The Labyrinth, culminating in a journey to Root Earth to confront and defeat Annihilation, the source of The Root's corruption. Involves finding Clementine and working with The Keeper.
• World-Specific Storylines & Bosses
  Each major world (Yaesha, Losomn, N'Erud) has its own main questline, often involving unique NPCs, moral choices, and culminating in a world boss fight. The specific storyline and boss encountered can vary due to procedural generation (e.g., The Nightweaver or Faelin/Faerin in Losomn; The Corruptor or The Ravager in Yaesha; Sha'Hala or Tal'Ratha in N'Erud).
• Side Dungeons & Events
  Exploring optional dungeons and encountering dynamic events within each world. These often reward unique loot, traits, weapon mods, mutators, rings, or amulets. Many side dungeons have their own mini-bosses or puzzles.
• Archetype Unlocking Quests/Puzzles
  Many Archetypes beyond the starting choices are unlocked by finding specific items (Engrams) hidden in the worlds or obtained by completing secret objectives, puzzles, or interacting with specific NPCs under certain conditions.
• Adventure Mode
  A separate game mode that allows players to re-roll individual worlds (Yaesha, Losomn, N'Erud) with new procedural generation, independent of their main campaign progress. Used for farming specific items, encountering different storylines/bosses, or leveling up.
• DLC Campaigns (The Awakened King, The Forgotten Kingdom, The Dark Horizon)
  Each DLC adds a new self-contained storyline within one of the existing game worlds (Losomn, Yaesha, N'Erud respectively), introducing new areas, dungeons, bosses, enemies, items, and a new playable Archetype.

The Ascent features both single-player and up to 4-player cooperative multiplayer. Uniquely for a modern game, it fully supports 'couch co-op' (local multiplayer on a shared screen) as well as online co-op. Playing with a squad fundamentally changes the combat dynamic, allowing players to synergize their cyberware—such as one player acting as a heavy tank with energy shields while others use sniper rifles and hacking abilities to control the battlefield. Enemy health and spawns scale dynamically based on the player count.

The core gameplay is designed for up to 3-player online co-operative PvE. Players can join friends or use matchmaking to tackle the campaign, explore worlds, and fight bosses together. The game's difficulty scales with the number of players. Loot is instanced per player.

The Ascent launched on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S (including Day One on Xbox Game Pass) on July 29, 2021, and later expanded to PS4 and PS5. The base game is sold standalone, but Curve Games also released the 'Cyber Edition' bundle, which packages the base game with the 'Cyber Heist' story DLC and several cosmetic/weapon packs, including the 'Cyber Warrior Pack' and the 'CyberSec Pack'. These premium packs offer unique Samurai-inspired armor sets, animated weapon skins, and tactical grenades.

Released in several editions: Standard Edition (base game). Deluxe Edition (included three armor sets: Elder, Radiant, Void). Ultimate Edition (included Deluxe Edition content, Survival Pack with consumables, and early access to 'The Awakened King,' 'The Forgotten Kingdom,' and 'The Dark Horizon' DLCs, which form the DLC Bundle).

Neon Giant provided excellent post-launch support. The major expansion, 'Cyber Heist' (released August 2022), takes place immediately after the main campaign. It introduces new overworld locations, new main and side missions, and highly requested melee weapons like the Rock Crusher and Guillotine. Additionally, several cosmetic DLCs ('CyberSec Pack', 'Cyber Warrior Pack') were added, alongside free game updates that introduced a highly requested Transmogrification system (allowing players to change their armor's appearance without losing stats) and a New Game+ mode.

REMNANT II has a DLC Bundle featuring three major expansions:

1. 'The Awakened King' (released November 2023): New storyline in Losomn focusing on the One True King, new Archetype (The Ritualist), new dungeons, bosses, items, and weapons.

2. 'The Forgotten Kingdom' (released April 2024): New storyline in Yaesha exploring a lost tribe and a vengeful stone spirit Lydusa, new Archetype (The Invoker), new dungeons, bosses, items, and weapons.

3. 'The Dark Horizon' (released September 2024): New storyline in N'Erud, new Archetype (The Warden), new dungeons, bosses, items, weapons, and a new Glider Traversal System for N'Erud.

• Q: Does The Ascent support local couch co-op?
  A: Yes! It is one of the few modern ARPGs to fully support up to 4-player local shared-screen co-op, as well as online multiplayer.
• Q: Is it a looter shooter like Destiny?
  A: No. While you do collect armor and weapons, it is a traditional ARPG. Weapons have fixed stats (which you can upgrade), meaning you aren't constantly grinding for randomized 'God Rolls'.
• Q: Is there a New Game Plus mode?
  A: Yes. A post-launch update added NG+, allowing you to restart the campaign with all your high-level gear and cyberware against significantly tougher enemies.
• Q: Do I have to play the DLC?
  A: The 'Cyber Heist' DLC is entirely optional but provides an extended endgame story, new locations, and highly requested melee weapons that change the combat dynamic.

• Q: When was REMNANT II released?
  A: REMNANT II was released on July 25, 2023, for PC (Windows), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
• Q: What kind of game is REMNANT II?
  A: REMNANT II is a third-person action RPG shooter with Soulslike elements, focusing on challenging combat, deep character customization through the Archetype system, and procedurally generated worlds. It can be played solo or in up to 3-player co-op.
• Q: Is REMNANT II a direct sequel to Remnant: From the Ashes?
  A: Yes, it is a direct sequel set some years after the events of the first game and its DLCs, continuing the story of humanity's fight against The Root.
• Q: What are Archetypes in REMNANT II?
  A: Archetypes are character classes that provide unique skills, perks, and traits. Players choose a starting Archetype and can later unlock and equip a secondary Archetype to create hybrid builds. Examples include Handler (dog companion), Challenger (tank/melee), Hunter (ranged DPS), Medic (healing), and many more unlockable ones.
• Q: How does procedural generation work in REMNANT II?
  A: The game dynamically generates world layouts, dungeons, enemy placements, questlines, events, and even some boss encounters. This ensures that each playthrough and Adventure Mode roll offers a different experience, enhancing replayability.
• Q: Does REMNANT II have multiplayer and crossplay?
  A: Yes, REMNANT II supports up to 3-player online co-op. Crossplay between PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S was added via a post-launch update (requires linking an Epic Games account for console players).
• Q: What kind of DLC is available for REMNANT II?
  A: REMNANT II has a DLC bundle featuring three major expansions: 'The Awakened King,' 'The Forgotten Kingdom,' and 'The Dark Horizon.' Each DLC adds new storylines, worlds/areas, Archetypes, enemies, bosses, weapons, and items.
• Q: Is REMNANT II a Soulslike game?
  A: Yes, it incorporates many Soulslike elements, including challenging combat, formidable boss battles that require learning attack patterns, a healing/checkpoint system (World Stones), and a penalty upon death (though typically less severe than some traditional Souls games).

Despite being developed by an incredibly small indie team of 11 people at Neon Giant, The Ascent boasts 'AAA' visual fidelity. The game is played from a classic isometric perspective, but the camera seamlessly shifts and pans to showcase the breathtaking scale of the arcology. The environmental detail is staggering, with hundreds of physics objects, volumetric smoke, and neon signs reflecting in rain-slicked puddles. The implementation of Ray Traced reflections and shadows on PC is considered some of the best in the industry, making the grimy, futuristic city look hyper-realistic.

Developed using Unreal Engine 4 (despite some early UE5 speculation), REMNANT II features detailed environments with distinct visual themes for each world, impressive enemy and boss designs, and a dark, gritty art style consistent with its post-apocalyptic and cosmic horror themes.

The auditory experience is a standout feature, headlined by a pulsating, heavy synthwave soundtrack composed by Paweł Błaszczak (known for his work on Dying Light and The Witcher). The music dynamically shifts from brooding, atmospheric synthesizer hums during exploration to aggressive, high-tempo club beats during massive firefights. The weapon sound design is incredibly punchy, and the diverse alien languages spoken by the ambient crowds make the arcology feel like a true melting pot.

The UI embraces the cyberpunk aesthetic with sleek, red-and-cyan holographic menus. In combat, the HUD displays a health bar, energy meter (for augmentations), and a tactical charge meter. One of the best UI features is the 'Waypoint' system; pressing a button projects a glowing digital line on the ground guiding the player to their next objective, seamlessly integrating navigation into the world without cluttering the screen with permanent mini-maps.

Features a clear UI displaying health, stamina, mod power, skill cooldowns, ammo, and equipped items. Inventory management involves weapons, armor, mods, mutators, rings, amulets, and consumables. A minimap aids navigation through the procedurally generated environments.

The game offers standard accessibility settings including text scaling, subtitle backgrounds, and UI color adjustments. It also includes highly customizable aim-assist settings, which is incredibly helpful for players using gamepads in a fast-paced twin-stick shooter. Difficulty can be adjusted at any time, allowing players to scale back enemy damage if a particular boss fight proves too punishing.

Includes options such as subtitles (though initially not highly customizable, patches may have improved), separate volume controls for voice, SFX, and music, remappable keybindings, gamepad support with auto-snap to enemies, adjustable video effects, and sensitivity customization for aiming, mouse, and camera (including X/Y inversion). An option to auto-equip picked-up items is also available.

• System requirements are strictly verified against the official Steam store page. The Ascent utilizes Unreal Engine 4, featuring highly dense, destructible cyberpunk environments and impressive, hardware-intensive Ray Tracing capabilities for reflections and shadows.
• Laptop Performance Note: The extreme environmental density and massive amount of particle effects from explosions and lasers will heavily tax mobile hardware. Maintaining high frame rates is crucial for a twin-stick shooter, so managing thermals to prevent GPU downclocking is vital.
• Laptop Consideration: G P U T G P: A minimal TGP of 60W is required for 1080p rendering (e.g., GTX 1650/RTX 3050 Mobile). To maintain 60 FPS on High settings with Ray Tracing enabled, an 85W+ TGP (RTX 3060 Mobile or higher) is heavily recommended.
• Laptop Consideration: Cooling Thermals: The densely populated arcology features hundreds of AI NPCs and complex physics calculations for destructible cover. A cooling pad is strongly recommended to prevent thermal throttling during massive 4-player co-op firefights.
• Laptop Consideration: C P U Power Limits: Set Windows power delivery to 'Performance'. Restricting the CPU power can cause severe micro-stutters when transitioning seamlessly between the massive tiers of the arcology.
• Laptop Consideration: M U X Switch Optimus: Highly recommended to reduce render latency during fast-paced twin-stick combat, ensuring aiming and dodging inputs are instantly registered.
• Optimization Detail: Upscaling Tech: Supports NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR. Using upscaling is highly recommended to maintain 60+ FPS on mid-range hardware if playing with Ray Traced reflections turned on.
• Optimization Detail: Key Settings Impact: Ray Tracing (Reflections and Shadows), Volumetric Fog, and Post-Processing severely impact GPU overhead. Lowering these can yield substantial framerate improvements.
• Game Name: The Ascent

• OFFICIAL AND EXTRAPOLATED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS for REMNANT II (Released July 2023). This information is based on official PC specifications from Gunfire Games/Arc Games and includes extrapolated tiers for higher performance targets, adapted to the requested JSON structure for a May 2025 context. REMNANT II is a demanding Unreal Engine 5 title, and using upscaling technologies (DLSS, FSR, XeSS) is highly recommended for optimal performance across all tiers. Laptop GPU mentions for RTX 50 series are speculative.
• Laptop Performance Note: Laptop models of listed desktop GPUs require comparable performance, which is heavily dependent on TGP (Total Graphics Power), VRAM, and robust cooling. REMNANT II is very demanding; high-performance laptop hardware with effective thermal management is crucial, especially for higher settings or resolutions.
• Laptop Consideration: G P U T G P: Maximum TGP for the laptop GPU is critical for achieving playable framerates in REMNANT II.
• Laptop Consideration: Cooling Thermals: Excellent and sustained cooling is essential to prevent severe thermal throttling, as the game can heavily stress both CPU and GPU.
• Laptop Consideration: C P U Power Limits: High sustained CPU power limits are beneficial, as Unreal Engine 5 games can be CPU-intensive, particularly with complex world states and enemy encounters.
• Laptop Consideration: M U X Switch Optimus: A MUX switch or NVIDIA Advanced Optimus is highly recommended for optimal performance and reduced latency.
• Optimization Detail: Upscaling Tech: Supports NVIDIA DLSS (Super Resolution, Frame Generation - DLSS 3.7 as of April 2024), AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR 2.2 at launch, FSR 3.0 with Frame Generation supported as of April 2024), and Intel XeSS (1.1 at launch, 1.3 as of April 2024). The game was designed with upscaling in mind; using these technologies is essential for achieving target framerates, especially at resolutions above 1080p or with higher graphics settings.
• Optimization Detail: Key Settings Impact: Overall Graphics Quality (Low, Medium, High, Ultra), Shadow Quality, Post Processing, Foliage Quality, View Distance, and Effects Quality significantly impact performance. Native resolution rendering is extremely demanding; upscaling is key.
• Game Name: REMNANT II

• Upscaling Tech: Supports NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR. Using upscaling is highly recommended to maintain 60+ FPS on mid-range hardware if playing with Ray Traced reflections turned on.
• Key Settings Impact: Ray Tracing (Reflections and Shadows), Volumetric Fog, and Post-Processing severely impact GPU overhead. Lowering these can yield substantial framerate improvements.

• Upscaling Tech: Supports NVIDIA DLSS (Super Resolution, Frame Generation - DLSS 3.7 as of April 2024), AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR 2.2 at launch, FSR 3.0 with Frame Generation supported as of April 2024), and Intel XeSS (1.1 at launch, 1.3 as of April 2024). The game was designed with upscaling in mind; using these technologies is essential for achieving target framerates, especially at resolutions above 1080p or with higher graphics settings.
• Key Settings Impact: Overall Graphics Quality (Low, Medium, High, Ultra), Shadow Quality, Post Processing, Foliage Quality, View Distance, and Effects Quality significantly impact performance. Native resolution rendering is extremely demanding; upscaling is key.

• G P U T G P: A minimal TGP of 60W is required for 1080p rendering (e.g., GTX 1650/RTX 3050 Mobile). To maintain 60 FPS on High settings with Ray Tracing enabled, an 85W+ TGP (RTX 3060 Mobile or higher) is heavily recommended.
• Cooling Thermals: The densely populated arcology features hundreds of AI NPCs and complex physics calculations for destructible cover. A cooling pad is strongly recommended to prevent thermal throttling during massive 4-player co-op firefights.
• C P U Power Limits: Set Windows power delivery to 'Performance'. Restricting the CPU power can cause severe micro-stutters when transitioning seamlessly between the massive tiers of the arcology.
• M U X Switch Optimus: Highly recommended to reduce render latency during fast-paced twin-stick combat, ensuring aiming and dodging inputs are instantly registered.

• G P U T G P: Maximum TGP for the laptop GPU is critical for achieving playable framerates in REMNANT II.
• Cooling Thermals: Excellent and sustained cooling is essential to prevent severe thermal throttling, as the game can heavily stress both CPU and GPU.
• C P U Power Limits: High sustained CPU power limits are beneficial, as Unreal Engine 5 games can be CPU-intensive, particularly with complex world states and enemy encounters.
• M U X Switch Optimus: A MUX switch or NVIDIA Advanced Optimus is highly recommended for optimal performance and reduced latency.