If you have battled your way to the end of Remnant 2’s story, you will be aware that things get more than a little weird. If you were expecting a Hollywood-style ending that was neatly wrapped up, then you may just be left feeling confused.
Needless to say, read on at your own peril because spoilers are everywhere.
The Remnant 2 ending, explained
The first and most important thing to understand about the ending of Remnant 2 is that the multi-world mechanic is canon. Within the Remnant 2 universe, the multiple worlds that you can explore are all real. Essentially, all the different worlds that players will experience exist side by side, slightly different from each other. When you “reroll” your world, you are essentially changing what you can access through the World Stone by switching to slight variations of the worlds on the other side. Things will be roughly the same, but with minor to major differences. Characters and bosses may not exist there, or layouts can be very different.
The only constant is the final boss, Annihilation. It is from this source that all The Root flows, seeping into the multiple worlds that exist and threatening to destroy them all. Where the game strays from the norm is that you will not be able to defeat Annihilation. The Keeper, the giant eye who controls the Labyrinth, appears in its true form and explains that it thought there were two potential paths to saving existence, but there is only one. It wanted to give you a chance to fight and overcome Annihilation, but it now understands this is not possible.
Related: How to get the Void Heart in Remnant 2
You cannot beat Annihilation, and Annihilation cannot be allowed to exist, or it will destroy the universe you are in and all known universes. You cannot kill it, and you cannot stop it, so instead, the only sensible course of action is to reset the universe.
This forces Clementine to use the Index to pull in the entire universe. Everything that exists is turned into a bright white-like, flowing into Clementine until, eventually, the entirety of existence is there, including the player character. By resetting everything, it gives the chance to create a reality where Annihilation no longer exists. So, you will destroy everything before Annihilation can because at least you can bring it back. If Annihilation destroys everything, it will simply leave it destroyed.
People who stick around for the end credits scene will see the Keeper reappear, examine the shard of light that contains the entirety of existence, and then watch it explode. Everything that could ever exist goes tumbling out, and you are once again back at the World Stone.
Now, how you interpret all this is up to you, but it does seem that the story embraces the idea that you both want the boss to die, but you also want to explore the world as it continues to exist without that terrible threat.
The ending also allows for some potential expansions, as we saw with the first game. What kind of new variant worlds might be out there for us to explore in the future? I am certainly looking forward to finding out.
