Returnal, or what if scary Metroid Prime but roguelite bullet-hell third-person shooter

[4-So]

When it was announced, I initially dismissed Returnal because of the goofy name. That's not to say there was anything amiss with the game but that it wasn't on my radar. About two or three weeks ago if popped back up as an imminent PS5 release, so I decided to dig in a little deeper and, based on some initial reactions from people who can get to this kind of content early, I decided to take a chance and pick it up.

It might be a little early too start throwing around "GOTY" but that's a stretch I'm willing to take.

For those who don't know, Returnal is a roguelike - although, I guess the correct term is roguelite, since there are some permanent upgrades - third-person shooter, where you play a space explorer who is attempting to respond to an unknown alien signal, crash lands on a planet, and finds evidence that she's already been there. Without giving away too much, she quickly discovers she's in a kind of nightmarish Groundhog Day, where each death returns her to the crash site to start all over again. Like Hades, although maybe not quite as fleshed out in a sense, each loop re-arranges the map, sometimes providing entire sections that were not there before, while also providing a story-based drive for these conceits. The ultimate goal is to reach the signal and figure out who sent it and why.

I've finally made it to the second biome and I can say confidently that the game feels properly "next-gen" and not just a gussied up version of a PS4 game. Housemarque (of Resogun fame, to name one) has done some incredible things here in terms of lighting effects, ambience, and so on, while maintaining that tried-and-true 'Edge of Tomorrow' live-die-live-again roguelike presentation. The 3D audio is remarkable here; first game I can remember where I not only don't mind keeping my headphones on but I actually prefer to play that way because of how outstanding the audio is. They're also doing some amazing work with the haptics on the DualSense. The opening scene of the game (with the crash landing) combines the 3D audio, haptics, and graphics in a remarkable way and it made me finally go, "Ah ha! Okay, Sony. Now I understand."

Anyone else with a PS5 playing this?

 

[Alixsar]

I'll probably get it when the price drops. I haven't even bought let alone started Nier Reincarnation, I've still got Monster Hunter and FFXIV to keep me busy, and Guilty Gear comes out soon. It's just bad timing, but it does look cool!

Also I want them to patch in the ability to save and quit because that seems like a HUGE oversight (you can put it in Rest Mode as a workaround but otherwise you have to play through each run in it's entirety and they can get to be a few hours long)

 

[chady]

I beat the third boss tonight (favorite boss so far) and entered the 4th biome. I'm enjoying myself quite a bit. Sometimes the game feels like Metroid, and sometimes it feels like what Contra would be like if it were in 3D.

The action is silky smooth. The adaptive left trigger for aim/alt-fire is pretty cool, it feels great to me, though I can see how others would prefer a dedicated button. I can't wait to see how other developers use this feature of the controller. I feel like some of the weapons are kind of crap though, and the RNG can kind of screw you if it keeps giving you stuff you don't like.

There's a few enemy types that give me trouble, especially in the 3rd biome, but so far I haven't found it to be too difficult, though I've also heard it ramps up in the second half of the game. I beat the first boss on the first try, and the second and third bosses took 3 attempts each.

As far as the story goes, I don't see how they're going to wrap it up in a way that makes any sense at all, but I'm enjoying the ride.

 

[dosboot]

The combat mechancis make me think of PN 03 if it was made today.

 

[4-So]

I managed to down the second boss last night and picked up the grapple item. Now have an option to explore all those unreachables in the first two biomes. Game continues to impress, even as I'm starting to think it might be a little too RNG dependent. Guns + Parasites, either immensely powerful or fairly worthless after a while.

 

[chady]

I've been purposefully branching out to different guns ... the rocket launcher actually gets good once you unlock some of the potential perks on it, and I'm wondering the same thing about the Rotgland Lobber. Though the weapon timing/reload is so strange on the lobber, I don't know if I could ever get used to it. I imagine it would be awesome in builds that are heavy on overload.

Parasites, sometimes they're good, sometimes they're just awful, but I usually find at least 1 or 2 worth picking up. And if you don't mind getting rid of them they can be a good source of obolites.

I'm starting to get brave enough to take on some of the optional yellow door rooms/enemies, which either supercharge my run on stop it dead in its tracks.

 

[Exposition Owl]

So, from what I've read, on one hand this game seems like it has some of some of my very favorite game elements (A super-atmospheric sci-fi Metroidvania with a mysterious vibe? Awesome!). On the other hand, though, there are only a couple of roguelikes I've enjoyed, and I find bullet hell games super stressful and unenjoyable. I'm not sure I can know how much the latter will cancel out the former for me short of playing the game.

 

[4-So]

The bullet hell parts are reasonable I think, and I say this as someone who does not enjoy shumps or bullet-hell games. The biggest hurdle in terms of "bullets" are the bosses. My biggest complaint with the game continues to be the RNG; on some runs the game serves up good weapons, upgrades, and so on, and in other runs you are just trying to scrap by almost from the word "go". I suppose that's the nature of roguelikes but there's a part of me that wishes it were a traditional Metroidvania.

The story elements continue to be mysterious. Based on the few times I've entered the house and the names of certain events/characters it seems to be based on Greek mythology but I don't know yet how that ties into the overall narrative. Is it allegory? Are they saying the Greek gods are aliens? Still trying to make my way through the third biome to see if the game tells me anything good.

 

[YangusKhan]

I watched a 30 minute deep dive with a couple of the developers for this game and am definitely interested in picking it up. Really makes me wonder if "AAA Roguelike" is gonna start to be more of a thing.

 

[YangusKhan]

Double post because: I bought this last night! And also stayed up too late, because it's baffling this game doesn't have a simple Save and Quit feature. Seriously, that's gotta be a deliberate decision not to include it, right? It's the only thing that makes sense to me. Anyway, I closed the game out via the PS5 OS menu, so idk what's gonna happen when I start it up again but hopefully I didn't lose any of my progress. (Rest Mode is a dumb option and they should feel bad they're suggesting that instead of a proper feature)

Speaking of progress, I beat the 1st biome on my second run. It was by the skin of my teeth, and I also used a Large consumable healing item during the boss fight, but that felt pretty good to do on only my second attempt. I stopped at the very start of the 2nd biome because it was so late, so it's kind of a bummer the game doesn't have Save and Quit since I would've liked to see how far I could've made it in that run. I'm anticipating the 2nd biome is gonna be a bit harder than the 1st, so I probably won't be able to repeat this quick success.

I am absolutely loving the atmosphere in this game. I was playing the whole time with headphones, so that combined with the Dual Sense stuff did some wonderful things for bringing me into the world. It's quite an accomplishment too that they've managed to be similar to Metroid Prime, but since it's also Lovecraft and other stuff, it doesn't feel like it's just a Metroid rip-off or something. And the stuff happening the first time I found The House was legit creepy and got me pretty good.

 

[4-So]

Double post because: I bought this last night! And also stayed up too late, because it's baffling this game doesn't have a simple Save and Quit feature. Seriously, that's gotta be a deliberate decision not to include it, right? It's the only thing that makes sense to me. Anyway, I closed the game out via the PS5 OS menu, so idk what's gonna happen when I start it up again but hopefully I didn't lose any of my progress. (Rest Mode is a dumb option and they should feel bad they're suggesting that instead of a proper feature)

I've taken a break on this one to play RE8 but I believe closing the game out sends you back to the beginning but I'm not entirely sure since I always closed the game after a failed cycle or I put the PS5 in rest mode.

 

[dosboot]

I would bet dollars to doughnuts they are going to add the ability to create a suspend save. It might have even been a planned featured that was cut to meet the release date.

 

[Adrenaline]

I can understand the use of "biome" in video games if it's used to describe an environment type for a game that has randomly generated missions. But this game has a linear progression of levels that doesn't change between runs, right (besides the randomization of the levels themselves)? Is there any reason to use the word biome here?

 

[YangusKhan]

I can understand the use of "biome" in video games if it's used to describe an environment type for a game that has randomly generated missions. But this game has a linear progression of levels that doesn't change between runs, right (besides the randomization of the levels themselves)? Is there any reason to use the word biome here?

I went to that term mostly because of how the game treats its world. Wasn't really thinking of the "game" definition for biome, more of the dictionary or "sci-fi" definition. These are places with very distinct environments and creatures living there, and the game is framing them as different locations on the same planet. To compare to Metroid again, I could easily call Brinstar and Norfair "biomes" and it never occurred to me to treat this game any different just because it's a roguelike.

 

[Adrenaline]

I have heard other people use biome for this game and I don't get it.

 

[4-So]

Each area in Returnal represents a different area of the same planet, thus a different biome. They are visually distinct, distinct in terms of flora and fauna, so on. Also, you eventually find shortcuts to other areas, so it's not exactly a linear progression in terms of progress.

The term "biome" is also what has been used officially by Sony/Housemarque and it's what game media continues to use.

Everything you need to know about PS5 sci-fi shooter Returnal - This Month on PlayStation | PlayStation

Fight to break the cycle of chaos on a hostile, alien planet.

www.playstation.com

Distinct biomes​

Arid deserts, frozen wastes, exotic cave systems and more await on the mysterious planet of Atropos. Move through each as the story progresses, encountering unique hazards and challenges as well as entirely new species of flora and fauna.

 

[Adrenaline]

I understand what the word means but the use of it here seems buzzwordy to me

 

[YangusKhan]

I understand what the word means but the use of it here seems buzzwordy to me

I mean, yeah, they're trying to make it sound more evocative than "level" or "stage" or what-have-you. It's part of the marketing, but like I said, it makes sense in the sci-fi sense of the word, because it's a sci-fi game.

 

[YangusKhan]

I've got 1 game mechanic question I haven't been able to figure out: are higher proficiency weapons innately stronger because of their proficiency number or does it only matter how many extra points they have in power? Like, the starting pistol vs. a 5* pistol that doesn't have any extra mods in damage power?

 

[4-So]

The proficiency level roughly matches the "level" of the enemies you'll be fighting in the immediate area. It also affects traits. So a 5-star weapon should have more in traits - that section below the gun graphic, usually has three traits listed - than a 2-star weapon. A 9-star weapon will have more than a 5-star, etc. Generally speaking, you want to pick up the weapons with higher proficiency. Not a hard and fast rule though. If you roll a great selection of traits, and the spread is good, you may find a "less" proficient weapon is better.

 

[YangusKhan]

The 3rd biome seems to be kicking my ass. I made it to its boss yesterday but haven't been able to get back to it after 2 runs. There's just a lot of deadly enemy types there that I still don't know how to deal with in groups. Like the flying rocket shooter things. I think one of them killed me by falling on top of me after I destroyed it?? It was hard to tell what was happening. I have a hard enough time dodging their rockets when it's just a single one, how am I supposed to do it when there's like four at once?

Also, the lack of a suspend save is affecting how I approach a new playthrough and I don't like that. I don't wanna spend too much time in earlier biomes, because my time in one play session is limited, but scrounging around in them for good artifacts, health upgrades, and stat augments would increase my chances of getting through the 3rd biome. It's hard to figure out the tradeoff for skipping strait to later biomes ASAP anyway...

 

[YangusKhan]

Double post: I beat the 3rd boss. It is so cool. Love what happens in the story afterwards too. This game's sci-fi is my exact taste of trippy sci-fi bullshit and I am loving it.

Also made it to the 4th boss, and I think I could've won on my first try if I had a better weapon choice, but also I think my weapon bugged out a little bit? I was using the rocket launcher, and I had a 0% locked trait on it with Full Auto. However, when I started the boss, the rockets were definitely not shooting like I expected. It took me most of the fight to realize that this shooting mode must be what Full Auto is like (shooting a single rocket at a time rather than a whole bunch and reloading after 3 volleys). The problem was that I didn't actually have the Full Auto trait unlocked, so I couldn't hold the fire button down to continously shoot, even though it was only shooting 1 rocket at a time. Very weird!

 

[YangusKhan]

Well I'm watching some credits now, but there's no way that was the full ending. This game is really great. All I want to say right now about the story is I hope at least some amount of this situation is actually happening. I think there's too much alien shit for it to be some fucked up mind-trauma thing Selene is going through, but man is the narrative trying to straddle the line between some objective reality and everything being in Selene's head or whatever.

I also did some light Wikipedia reading on Greek Mythology, but so far nothing is really resonating much beyond surface-level similarities.

 

[4-So]

Started playing this again tonight and made it to the third boss for the first time. Didn't kill him but he seems easier than the second one. I then spent another hour just trying to get back to the boss, include one seemingly excellent run - good loadouts, good map - that got destroyed by the flying bastards in that third biome. Again, it feels like the game is a little too RNG dependent. Never made it back to the boss.

I have a friend who made it past the third biome and she wants to talk story developments so she's waiting patiently for me to catch up. Maybe tomorrow.

 

[YangusKhan]

There was a patch yesterday for this that was bug fixes. Nothing huge but hopefully that means it's more stable for others -- I never really had anything too huge happen to me, but I've seen videos of game-locking bugs.

Anyway, I'm at the stage of the game where I'm figuring out how to get the "last" ending and I believe I get the idea. It's nothing terribly obtuse but I'll spoiler it anyway:

Spoiler

I'm assuming you have to find all the Xenoglyph cyphers in every area, which will then translate the final Xenoglyphs which you find in a few new places after beating the last boss. I think there's at least 1 or 2 more House scenarios for me to go through too, so perhaps that will open up after getting all the cyphers too.

 

[4-So]

I think the patch wasn't just bug fixes. I now find dead astronauts occasionally, in the vein of watching someone else die in a Souls, with the option to avenge them or salvage their goods for ether.

I've decided to stop playing the game. Forward momentum has stopped dead. It's entirely demoralizing to spend a good two hours and get to the third boss maybe a half dozen times only to die each time and have to start all over. There's a reason I don't play shumps and the like; the game demands too much of my reflexes and awareness. Assuming the rest of the game ratchets up the difficulty, I'd just as soon as stop now and count my losses. It's a shame because what the game does well it does very well, but I'm not in the market for getting my balls stomped on repeatedly.

 

[YangusKhan]

It's entirely demoralizing to spend a good two hours and get to the third boss maybe a half dozen times only to die each time and have to start all over.

For what it's worth, the shortcuts you unlock can make this go a lot faster. The tradeoff is you're not gonna have a lot of augments and artifacts when you go straight to a boss. For the third boss specifically, I'd guess it's about 30-45 minutes to go straight there. Which is still relatively a lot of time, I suppose.

 

[4-So]

I've been taking the shortcuts all along. The game is just not really respectful of my time is all and it's only a minor consolation that a lot of people agree there. I've reached the third boss with a decent amount of integrity and some nice items, just can't get it done. And, yeah, after a 30 to 45 minute jaunt, which varies wildly in difficulty depending on map layout and enemy spawns, to die again on the second phase is to take the wind out of the sails and just smash it to nothing. I am not a patient person on the best of days. The game was great when it felt like each run was presenting a least something new, some forward momentum, but now it's like bashing my head against a brick wall and expecting the brick wall to yield eventually.

So, yeah, I'm going to take a break for an unspecific amount of time and play something less frustrating. Come back to it when amnesia has kicked in and I forget how much of a bastard it is.

 

[chady]

I haven't played in almost a week because I'm away visiting family, but I'm very excited to get back to this. When I left I was on the 5th biome, and the return of the missile launcher drones was super annoying to me ... I've seen people complain about the bats, but those drones are by far the hardest enemy.

I'm excited to get back to it because I guess I enjoy the moment-to-moment gameplay in a way that I usually don't in most "difficult" games. For example, I think the combat in Dark Souls kind of sucks. It's annoying being stuck in that series because the runback to the boss is often annoying and repetitive, and to do that and get stomped each time is just ... ugh. But this, I don't know what I'm getting each run, the combat is fast paced, and I guess I just have a feel for it in a way that I enjoy. It's fun to play through an action game that I know is difficult — but I also know I have a handle on it and there's a chance I could somewhat master it. That's a rare combo for me.

Each run is a perfect amount of time for a single session. Unless I die super early, or in a very dumb way, I only ever play one run at a time, and if I die I just put it down and come back to it on a different day.

And, if you're worried about if you're ever going to make it through the game, and it just seems too hard ... here's a spoiler that you shouldn't read unless you really aren't sure if you can do it: Once you get to the 4th biome, your runs restart there, and not back at the 1st biome, for story reasons. Like, really crazy awesome, jaw dropping story reasons. Though I've read that you can eventually go back and start at the 1st biome again, for additional story reasons. I think the later biomes aren't that much harder than biome 3, but they are more rewarding and more generous with ether and items. But maybe 6 has something wild in store for me.

 

[lincolnic]

I just got this and man, it's tough, but I'm having a great time. I had a bunch of rough runs but I managed to beat the boss of the first biome on my second attempt. Died pretty early into the second biome, when I picked up a teleportation sphere and it sent me straight into a miniboss room I'd never seen before. A+, would roguelike again. They really nailed the "one more run" feeling.

So far I've been taking my time and going through every room of the first biome, but it does get a little tedious. It's hard to ignore the side paths, though!

When do you start seeing more weapons? I've put about five hours into the game so far but I've only seen the starting sidearm, the carbine, and the Spitmaw Blaster. Of those three, the carbine seems head and shoulders better than the others, but that's primarily because I prefer to do my shooting from as far away as the game will let me.

Also, is there a reason I can't go back in the house after the first time? I still have the key but the game says it's inaccessible when I walk up to the door.