Remnant 2 is the sequel to the game of the same title, which follows the story of the denizens of Ward 13 a couple of decades into the future. Although the gate that directly leads to Earth was destroyed in the previous game, this only gave the survivors time to prepare for the imminent invasion of the Root as they relentlessly found a way to get back to the planet.
Read ahead as we talk about the conclusion of Remnant 2‘s story and how this could pave the way to another sequel for the franchise.
A brief summary of Remnant 2’s story
Picking up a couple of decades from when Remnant: From the Ashes ended, the story follows one of two outsiders surviving out in the harsh lands of Earth which has been overrun by whatever was left of the Root invasion. After getting into a fatal encounter with the Root creatures while in search of the “fabled” Ward 13, they get rescued by Clementine, one of the surviving Dreamers who came back to protect Earth, and her friend Bo.
The outsiders then get taken into Ward 13, humanity’s final surviving civilization. Here, the protagonist meets all sorts of NPCs, including Founder Ford who has now grown old after giving up his immortality. He then leads the protagonist into the depths of Ward 13 where a shard of the World Stone lies dormant. Upon reawakening the stone, Ford got transported into an unknown world.
Clementine sees this and gets close to the World Stone, but rather than just getting transported, she gets taken by an entity from the stone. In order to save her, the protagonist also touches the stone and gets transported some place else.
The protagonist then goes through different worlds, most of which are either overrun by the Root, or in some sort of turmoil. Eventually, they get to reach The Labyrinth, a dimension connecting to all possible worlds. Here, they get reunited with Clementine who has made a connection with The Keeper, the guardian of The Labyrinth.
In need of help in keeping the Root from conquering all of reality, The Keeper enlists the help of the protagonist to look for the segments of The Index, a powerful key that enables the wielder to open a path directly to any world they choose.
Remnant 2 Ending Explained
Upon obtaining all shards of The Index, The Keeper then uses it to open a portal that leads directly to the source of the Root. Here, the protagonist makes their final stand as they fight against the Annihilation which is basically the Root hivemind incarnate. During the fight, the Annihilation is already showing signs that they are getting stronger as they are now able to warp reality, bringing the fight simultaneously to different dimensions, one appearing to be in a simulated reality.
After seemingly taking down Annihilation, it starts regenerating for another round. Clementine and The Keeper catches up with the protagonist and are also in a state of disbelief that Annihilation cannot be eliminated. All that is left is the imminent consumption of the Root of every known thing, or they could choose to reset everything and go back to a clean slate, which would get rid of the Root’s corruption.
Clementine thinks of another possible solution, but without going into details with it, she grabs The Index from The Keeper’s hand and uses it upon herself. This causes everyone and everything to turn into what appears to be data or energy which then gather into Clementine’s body. After everything as been consumed, all that is left is The Index in the vast darkness of the void as the credits roll.
The Index stays in shot all throughout the credits until it ends. It is then revealed that The Keeper was not consumed into The Index and is shown approaching the artifact. Just as The Keeper turns its back, The Index flickers back and spits reality back out into existence. The final scene shows the protagonist waking back up in a field of grass.
What happened to Clementine?
Clementine’s decision appears to be a reset and it may appear conflicting at first especially that she appeared to be against the idea in the first place when The Keeper talked about their only two outcomes. However, her action could be interpreted as her own way of becoming some sort of a “bookmark” within the book of reality, so that what happened wasn’t a complete reboot.
In the player’s perspective, this event basically is what’s known as a re-roll of the game, akin to a new game plus, but instead, players get to relive the reality in a different way than before as story order, enemies, and quests will be different from the previous iteration. The only difference is that the player’s progress is persistent.
As to why Clementine thought this would work and why she decided to do so, we can all chalk it up to hopefulness for now unless a DLC for the game comes out and gives some sort of a different outcome. We can just surmise that Clementine is hopeful that they will eventually find a way to get a different outcome through a different iteration. And also, it is just a neat in-game way to show that the game loops and that players can still play the game without going for a new character.
Was the Root fully vanquished?
Apparently not since players are just sent back to the time or reality when the Root has already ravaged the Earth and taken over many other worlds, hence why players can still play the game even after completing the main campaign. The re-roll just rewinds time back, which means the Root still exists. The only possible outcome that may eliminate the Root once and for all is by a full reset, and even with that, it’s not shown whether or not The Keeper’s words would hold true.
Would there be another sequel?
As for the possibility of another Remnant sequel or a DLC, we could expect that this could be the final game in the franchise as we could just embrace the nihilistic view of a never-ending cycle of conflict against the Root. If there ever would be another game that would tie to the continuity, it could focus on finding a way to break the loop and possibly find an absolute ending to the story.