Summary
- The use of the Worldstone is connected to immortality, with Commander Ford and possibly Bo gaining immortality through its usage.
- The player character from Remnant: From the Ashes, known as the Wanderer, is mentioned by NPCs in Remnant 2 as a powerful human who visited their settlements.
- The NPCs in Remnant 2 have aged significantly, with characters like Clementine, Bo, McCabe, and Reggie looking older and experiencing changes in their lives.
The setting of the looter-shooter 'Soulslike' Remnant games (including Chronos: Before the Ashes) has always been incredibly interesting. The Guardians, the Worldstones, the Labyrinth, Dreamers, Guardians, and the Root invasion are all such unique concepts that give the game stakes and help players connect to the 'Wanderer' they play as in Remnant: From the Ashes.
So, what are some ways that Remnant 2 lets fans of the franchise know that the events of the first game actually mattered? Let's take a look at some of the best examples in Remnant 2, as many people's memory of the events and lore in R: FtA is likely a little spotty at this point.
8 Bo Is Now Likely Immortal Like Clementine & Founder Ford
There's long been a theory about how Commander Ford got his immortality in Remnant: From the Ashes. The guy has now outlived his wife Evelyn (the Root Mother), his daughter Nadine, and his granddaughter (Ellen Ford), and yet he barely looks any older than in the first game (except for him now being bald). Some fans thought this immortality he gained was some secret he would never reveal, others thought he was maybe eating the same 'fruits of life' the immortal priests in Yaesha ate, but now it's basically been confirmed that using the Worldstone is what causes it.
In the Journal players can find in Commander Ford's room in Ward 13, Ford gets a package from a friend that should be long dead, and the conclusion he comes to is that this friend must have used a Worldstone if they're still alive, basically confirming that interacting with the Worldstone and gaining immortality are connected. The only other NPC known to have gone through a Worldstone to another world, outside of the protagonists, Clementine, and Commander Ford, is Bo when he briefly came with the 'Wanderer' to Reisum in the Subject 2923 DLC before running away scared back to Ward 13. No wonder Dr. Norah mentions being so impressed by Mayor Bo's young looks in her Journal, the guy likely still doesn't even know he's now immortal.
7 Everyone Knows Of The 'Wanderer'
Like the Fallout game's monikers for their protagonists such as the Vault Dweller, the Lone Wanderer, the Courier, and so on, Remnant now follows a similar pattern. In Remnant 2, most NPCs in Ward 13 mention a powerful human who came to their settlement called the 'Wanderer'. This, for those who didn't play the Remnant: From the Ashes, is the player character from this game. In the second game, the player character is known as the Traveler, and while the Wanderer is known to have come from the same settlement as the protagonist of Chronos: Before the Ashes, the origins of the Traveler are still unclear.
6 Clementine Being Around At All
The sheer fact that Clementine is around at all, and especially the fact that she's with Ward 13, should let players of Remnant: From the Ashes know that the first game mattered. In the Subject 2923 DLC for R: FtA, players meet Clementine, explore the world of Reisum, explore Ward Prime, and 'put an end' to the Root by taking out Dr Haarsgard (with Clementine's help).
After this, Clementine is thankful to the Wanderer but mentions she likely won't be returning to Ward 13, as this was originally her prison when she was part of the Dreamer experiments. However, she's there now in Remnant 2, which implies that either enough time has passed that she can feel relatively safe in Ward 13, or she realized just how much she was needed by everyone living there.
5 All The NPCs Are Older
Between Remnant: From the Ashes and Remnant 2, about 2 decades have passed. To give a more tangible picture of what that means, in R: FtA, Wallace is a young child, and now in Remnant 2 he's a full-grown adult.
And Wallace isn't the only one looking a lot older either, Gunfire Games really put a lot of work into making it 'feel' like time has passed between the first game and now through the aging of the NPCs, such as:
- Clementine looks like a full adult now.
- Bo looks older and is now 'Mayor' of Ward 13.
- McCabe looks much older.
- Rigs honestly looks pretty much the same.
- Reggie looks much older, and his hair has greyed.
- Mud Tooth has longer hair, and his mind seems to be slipping a bit more than before.
- Commander Ellen Ford has long since passed away.
- Ace is gone, likely in search of her friend Lenny or dead, McCabe is the only one who mentions Ace at all.
- The Root Mother is dead and spent her last years teaching Wallace to use his future sight.
- Commander Ford looks a bit older now and his hairline's receded even more.
4 Mud Tooth & Brabus Being In Ward 13
Another big change in the environment of Ward 13 is the addition of both Brabus and Mud Tooth. This father and son duo were the main participants in a variety of different side quests in Remnant: From the Ashes, and now one of those outcomes has been canonized. After the 'Wanderer' gave Brabus that Pocket Watch from Mud Tooth, he went and reconnected with the old man, disbanded the Mud Dogs, and settled down in Ward 13. Both of them now function as fantastic NPC Merchants in the sequel, with Mud Tooth especially having a lot more to offer than before.
Again, this is something that was primarily done for the fans of the first game, as anyone new to the franchise or those who skipped all the plot/lore in R: FtA likely won't know why people are so happy to see these two NPCs.
3 Ward 13 Being Out In The Open Instead Of Underground
Whereas Yaesha is now dealing with the invasion of the Root in full where there was barely any Root to be seen there in R: FtA, Earth is on a path of recovery from their long Root invasion. Patches of Root creatures are seen in dark corners of Earth's tunnels, but for the most part, humanity is slowly climbing out of their bunkers, including Ward 13.
The entirety of Remnant: From the Ashes' hub took place in the Ward 13 Bunker, but now things have become safe enough that they can set up a town under the sunlight, turning Ward 13 from a small enclosed 'hub' to a full expansive settlement that feels a lot less claustrophobic than before.
2 The Progression Of The Root Invasion In Yaesha
Speaking of the Root invasion in Yaesha, things have gotten really bad there. As the only Realm to appear in all three games, those being Chronos: Before the Ashes, Remnant: From the Ashes, and Remnant 2, Yaesha has had a lot of its history seen by the players. In Chronos: Before the Ashes, the protagonist of this game is tricked into killing the Krell Guardian, Earth's Guardian, and Yaesha's Guardian by both Clawbone and Haarsgard.
In Remnant: From the Ashes, which takes place only a month after Chronos, the player can now see the 'advanced scouting party' of the Root invading Yaesha, which means that there are plenty more of these horrifying creatures on the way. And then, in Remnant 2. Regardless of what procedurally generated version of Yaesha players get, they can immediately tell the Root has already fully invaded. These creatures have caused irreparable harm, there are hardly any Pan left at all, and the Immortal Queen is basically grasping at any threads of power she has left before the Corrupter Ravager ends it all on the eve of one of the world's many Blood Moons.
1 The 'Wanderer' Has Been Gone For 20 Years
And finally, let's talk a bit more about what happened to the Wanderer after Remnant: From the Ashes. Almost all of the NPCs in Ward 13 have something to say about the Wanderer and what they did to stop the Root in the last game, but no one really knows about where they went after. Considering they haven't been seen in 20+ years, and they originally came from across the ocean to find the 'Hero' of their tribe (AKA the protagonist of Chronos), it's likely they sailed back home to report on the bad news and live with their people.
Remnant 2 is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.