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

[YangusKhan]

When do you start seeing more weapons?

You find them in fixed locations. I don't think any of them are missable, but you just gotta keep getting further and getting more of the permanent progression items.

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.

It's related to the story. There's some kind of specific triggers to seeing more scenes happen, but that's all it is. If you tend to make rapid enough progress without dying too often, it's a good idea to explore enough of the 1st biome every run to see if it's open.

 

[lincolnic]

Thanks for the info. Given that I've played for five hours and only made it to the first boss twice...it will likely be a while before the game lets me in there again. Hopefully what I learned yesterday will be an exponential improvement going forwards.

 

[lincolnic]

Made it to the second boss with a great weapon/artifacts, good amount of health, and a resurrection point locked in. Still ate it, the first time because he landed somewhere I couldn't see and a red laser ring killed me from off camera, second time because I was not prepared for the melee attacks in the third phase. I know this is what I signed up for but give me the damn grappling hook already, come on.

At least you don't have to go through the entire first biome again if you don't want to, that was a pleasant surprise.

 

[lincolnic]

Grappling hook acquired and it's very satisfying to finally be able to reach all those platforms in the first biome that were kept from me for so long.

 

[lincolnic]

Alright, I've been brick walled at the third boss for three days now and it's really starting to get aggravating. Not only does it take forever just to get there (including runs that fail before you do), but you have to slog through an extremely difficult room full of a bunch of powerful enemies right before the boss. And then the boss itself is a giant damage sponge if you weren't lucky enough to pick up a strong weapon before you went in. Today I made it to the third phase twice and died almost instantly both times because I couldn't read the attacks that were coming at me. Also I'm out of Ether so I can't use the reconstruction chambers anymore. Doing the same thing without any progress for three days is really sapping all the good will the game built up beforehand.

 

[4-So]

That's where I stopped playing. The parts that the game does well, it does really well. But it's a little too RNG dependent. Every time I play I end up wishing it was more of a proper Metroid-like, e.g. give me some save stations, please. I understand that the loops are part of the narrative but still.

 

[lincolnic]

So, in true TT fashion, I went back for another run tonight after complaining about it here, and the stars aligned. Got a fantastic weapon with Trackerswarm, went in near full health with a Silphium vial and the astronaut figurine, and while I had to use the vial, I never had to use the figurine. I kept my calm in the third phase (which honestly wasn't as bad as I originally thought) and closed it out without too much trouble. And just like that, I'm excited to keep playing again! This is how you keep players happy in your roguelike: give them some forward progress.

 

[lincolnic]

I was at my girlfriend's for the past week, away from the PS5, but I booted up Returnal again tonight and cleared the fifth biome thanks to a pretty strong Electropylon Driver. (Is this the best gun? Feels like the best gun.) Finally, finally I can swim! I called it a night before getting too far into the sixth biome, but it looks like it's gonna be tough. Luckily I still have a reconstruction banked from when I used it before the final part of the fifth, so hopefully that'll carry over.

I've been feeling like there's going to be some kind of double jump ability coming up soon, because I've been seeing a lot of items that I otherwise have no idea how to reach, as well as a tantalizingly inaccessible platform in the room with your house. I don't know how close I am to the truth there (I'm not looking up any spoilers), but I hope I'm right because every game is better when you can double jump.

 

[YangusKhan]

thanks to a pretty strong Electropylon Driver. (Is this the best gun? Feels like the best gun.)

It probably is. I beat the "final" boss with it on my first try because all I had to do was concentrate on dodging and only occasionally shoot my gun.

 

[lincolnic]

Lost three runs in a row to the same friggin' room in the sixth biome: the one where you have to fight like three of those sphere robots that shit out a ton of projectiles and laser rings, while also fighting two or three of the tentacle-y monsters that spawn the smaller octopi until they're dead. I just can't dodge that much shit, especially when I'm getting sniped from off-screen by laser rings or kamikaze calimari I didn't even know were there.

I'd really like to wrap this up soon, but it's becoming an extremely uphill battle. The sixth biome is such a massive difficulty spike.

 

[YangusKhan]

The only tip I can offer for when you get to rooms like that full of stuff, just try to be super aggressive and take as much out as you can before they all "come online" and start overwhelming you.

 

[lincolnic]

Once again, all I needed to do was complain in this thread, and then I went and rolled credits on my very next run. Just like last time, I was given a very strong Electropylon Driver, and that made the last boss an absolute joke. I had used a reconstructor before going in but I wasn't even close to needing it.

I'll go for the secret ending since it doesn't seem too onerous to unlock, but after that I think I'll be ready to put this one down for a while. Overall I really enjoyed my time with the game but I don't feel like it'll have too much to show me after that.

The only tip I can offer for when you get to rooms like that full of stuff, just try to be super aggressive and take as much out as you can before they all "come online" and start overwhelming you.

Ironically, I was actually making this room much harder for myself -- I hadn't realized that the sphere bots only shoot laser rings at you when you hit them. It never occurred to me that I could just stop shooting and let some of that stuff dissipate, since so much of fighting big enemies like those is just "unload as much ammo as you can, as fast as you can". Once I realized I could approach them differently, it really helped.

 

[lincolnic]

Secret ending is done, and so is this game. In the end I was able to collect everything I needed in one sitting (admittedly, longer than usual), and then it was just a matter of finding another Electropylon Driver. I unlocked some very cool weapon traits along the way, and I'm a little disappointed I wasn't able to get more use out of them, but I'm ready to put Returnal down for a while.

This game is at its best when it's constantly feeding you little bits of progress, which really speaks to my disappointment about not getting to use said weapon traits. Apparently there are two guns that I just somehow never even found, even though I was a pretty thorough explorer. Maybe they were hidden behind Blade Balancer barriers, I never really bought that upgrade.

Also, I'm gonna...I'm gonna need some time to think about these endings.

 

[YangusKhan]

I never actually got the last ending. I also seem to be missing a gun, but I've made it a point to open the Blade Balancer doors and I don't think there's been a new gun behind any of them.

 

[lincolnic]

Weird! I don't particularly feel like I'm missing out on anything, just feels strange.

As for the ending, you'd probably fine to just look it up on Youtube (as well as the final house sequence, if you never saw that, since it's almost a prelude to the secret ending). They're both fairly short scenes if you don't feel like doing a bunch of gameplay to unlock them.

 

[Alixsar]

I had the best run of this I'd ever had last night after work; I had a massive health bar, TWO items that would revive me when I died (well, one item and a parasite), a great gun, tons of damage reduction...but I had just worked 12 hours and was falling asleep while playing it (maybe that was the secret?), so I hit a good stopping point and put the PS5 in rest mode, and sat down just now to keep going.

Here's what you missed! Your PS5 was updated!

FUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

I'm not even mad I'm just like really. Really. Y'all can't patch in a save feature? Come onnnnnnn

 

[YangusKhan]

I'm not even mad I'm just like really. Really. Y'all can't patch in a save feature? Come onnnnnnn

I've seen an article from somewhere that somehow found evidence of the Returnal devs testing out a new beta build of the game and it also said it was a "fairly large" update. I have no idea how true this is and I never thought to follow up search about it, but with how many people have complained about this, I really really hope they add a saving feature. It honestly doesn't even make sense, and the Internet People who defend it as some Artistic Vision are like... I dunno man, that's pretty stupid. Even Dark Souls lets you save and quit, you know?

 

[R.R. Bigman]

Can you really not save your progress in this game? What if the power goes out or you need to, you know, do something?

 

[Alixsar]

You lose your run. That's it. It's really cool otherwise!

 

[jpfriction]

Same thing happened to me for the same update, Alixsar. I think that’s twice now, plus one instance of my ps5 just locking up in the middle of a run. I keep playing it every night so I’m clearly not that bothered by it, but I can see it being a dealbreaker.

Credits rolled and I’m well into, I guess you’d call it the postgame or act III or something. Mechanical spoiler: It’s a metroid prime style key hunt across the full game. I have 5 out of 6 of them.. Selene was completely kitted out with a giant life bar and a hollowseeker with bleed and portal beam on it and an artifact that really boosted my staggering so I was ripping through the hardest enemies in the game like they were butter. But…I could not find the last damn thingamjig I needed anywhere so it either didn’t spawn or was stuck behind a locked door I didn’t have a key for so I had to give up.

Roguelikes!

I wish any other gun were as useful as a beefed up hollowseeker, especially in the last biome.

 

[lincolnic]

I wish any other gun were as useful as a beefed up hollowseeker, especially in the last biome.

Have you heard the good news about the Electropylon Driver?

It's not apparent if you've never tried it in combat, but the thing that makes this gun so powerful is that you can shoot it directly into an enemy and they'll just keep taking damage without you having to shoot them again. It absolutely trivializes just about every enemy in the game, including the final boss. Easily my choice for best gun in the game, highly recommended.

 

[YangusKhan]

Have you heard the good news about the Electropylon Driver?

+1

 

[jpfriction]

It’s my second favorite but in the last biome when you are getting swarmed by those exploding fuckers, I find the chamber size is lacking.

Really good for filling a big guy full of things and wandering off to eat a sandwich while it whittles him down though.

 

[Kirin]

Here's what you missed! Your PS5 was updated!

Wait, so, I get that Returnal doesn't let you save at all mid-run and that's kinda stupid, but is it also that you can't set the PS5 to *not* update without asking permission while things are running? 'Cause that's *also* pretty damn obnoxious. (I don't have a PS5 yet.)

 

[4-So]

Wait, so, I get that Returnal doesn't let you save at all mid-run and that's kinda stupid, but is it also that you can't set the PS5 to *not* update without asking permission while things are running? 'Cause that's *also* pretty damn obnoxious. (I don't have a PS5 yet.)

Most people allow the PS5 to download and update in rest mode, which will cause the device or application to restart, depending on what was updated. You can totally tell the PS5 not to download and/or update automatically. Most games allow you to save progress or they auto-save, so it's a bit irritating to have to change those settings just to account for this particular game.

 

[Kirin]

Ah, yeah okay, that makes sense.

 

[lincolnic]

It’s my second favorite but in the last biome when you are getting swarmed by those exploding fuckers, I find the chamber size is lacking.

Really good for filling a big guy full of things and wandering off to eat a sandwich while it whittles him down though.

For those rooms I'd just stand near the entrance where I came in and pick off the explode-y squids one at a time as they came to me. The Electropylon Driver pops them in a single shot so chamber size wasn't really an issue. Soon enough I'd take enough of them out that you could freely navigate to the big fucker that spawns them and take it out too.

Hollowseeker is definitely my #2 favorite gun, though, so if it works for you, right on.

 

[jpfriction]

Finally found my last Macguffin and beat if for realz. Selene has some shit to work through.

 

[StriderDL]

EVERYONE YOU CAN SUSPEND A RUN NOW.

And take pictures. That's cool I guess.

 

[4-So]

EVERYONE YOU CAN SUSPEND A RUN NOW.

And take pictures. That's cool I guess.

Well that's some news. I may actually have to take this back up again.