I didn't finish Remnant 2 and didn't buy it all the way. But three evenings of co-op with friends proved a solid experience.

It's a dark shooter with souls in its DNA: worlds jump around, builds are strange, bosses teach you not to be greedy. Three people live better together than alone. One carries the brunt of close combat, another wastes ammo, a third suddenly finds a gun that makes everyone scream. Random worlds and dungeons give you the feeling that "that one" build and "that one" biome are just around the corner. Sometimes, the truth is revealed.

Something else caught me. Between the action-packed battles, there's a lot of running around, the tone is sometimes thick, sometimes simply formal, and you want to love progression more with your head than you actually do. My friends were already discussing the next worlds, and I caught myself thinking that it's beautiful, evil, and generous—and still not my thing. The potential is immediately apparent: the enemies have character, the guns are interesting, and the co-op isn't duct-taped together.

For a group, it's a good excuse to break away for a couple of nights. For me personally, it's a game I respect for its scope but fall short of loving. If your friends are already in, it's worth checking out. I wouldn't try to finish it off alone.