Returnal

A super fun rougelike game that is polished, enjoyable, and sometimes absolutely grueling.

Demetrius Atkins

May.11.2021

You crash on a strange planet. You can't reach anybody to help you. You start exploring to find out where you are and possibly a way home, then the mysteries start unfolding. You come across a body and you realize it's you. But how could that be possible? As you explore more and more you learn little bits and pieces as you progress. Then you make a small mistake, you just weren't fast enough and an enemy got the better of you. But you find yourself crash landing on the planet again only to repeat the same loop. It becomes clear now, you've done this before and who knows how many times you'll do it in the future.

That's the basic storyline to explain the gameplay loop in Returnal. You'll start at the same point every time you die and start your journey anew with everything reset. You can carry a couple of things forward if you happen upon them but for the most part you start blank. It will remind you of some games like Enter the Gungeon and Binding of Isaac, fight your way through as far as you can and start back at the beginning if you die.

This is a third-person shooter with some extremely smooth gameplay. There aren't too many different weapons to collect and use but the way you interact with them and how they interact with enemies offers up some variation. The controls are fairly simple with the ability to sprint, jump, dash, and melee; these are what you'll use the most. Using the weapons has a novel feel with the PS5 controller; holding L2 until you feel resistance will let you aim down sight (ADS), but pulling the trigger the whole way will let you use an alternate attack with your weapon. It's an interesting way to use some of the new features of the controller and while it took a bit to get used to, I enjoyed it.

While the world you crash land on does feel a bit drab in the color department this feels like one of the first games that took advantage of the PS5. The environments are detailed with flora and weather effects are welcome. This is only helped out by the terrific audio and feel of the game with the haptic feedback in the controller. Standing in the rain you will feel the pitter-patter of rain drops across the controller. All of this helps as you venture away from your ship and deeper into the levels. Everything designed and added into the world is interesting and helps build out the world around you. You'll be able to collect the things you would expect like new weapons, health, and items, but it's the really interesting additions like parasites that help and hurt, or choosing to open malignant keys and chests, gambling on the consequences of possibly having your suit malfunction from them. The malfunctions can hinder your abilities until you clear them, or stack too many and have it break an artifact you've picked up. In general after a bit of playing I just chose not to mess with the malfunctions unless I had a clear and easy way of fixing them.

The storyline is an interesting one as you progress through the game. It veers into creepy and maybe a little bit horror, but I found it interesting enough to continue through it. Because of the way the game plays with you returning back to the start every time you die it can be a bummer to start to become interested in Selene's story only to die and be sent back. In the first area you're in that's not too bad but it can be borderline heart breaking the farther you progress. You'll learn things about her past, where she came from, and who she was, and you'll want to learn more. Ultimately those interesting bits are locked behind the gameplay loop and I have to wonder if that was the best choice. It begs you to finish the game but for some people that might not even be possible given how difficult the game can be at times. I found if I started to get farther into the game I started playing overly careful because I knew what would happen if I messed up even in the slightest.

This leads into one of the biggest downfalls of the game. I enjoy this game very much and love playing it. The difficulty is high but it feels worth it and makes you want to try again, but the runs can take upwards of hours at a time and can be extremely draining. There's no save function which I can understand for a game like this but when you're three hours into a run and want to take a break your options are limited. You can put your PS5 into rest mode and it's what is actually suggested but sometimes I like to take a break with a different game to wind down before continuing. That's not possible with rest mode. So I have to make the decision to possibly have a long run take up my PS5 for an extended period of time without any option but to soldier on.

This leads to instances where I'm not sure if I even want to start a run because I never know how they will turn out. Sometimes the short runs where I die early are the most fun because I can give it another go quickly. Housemarque has said that they're listening to people's concerns and are looking into it but there's no telling if anything will come of it. I hope that something is implemented so I can start a run knowing I can stop in the middle if I need or want to.

Another aspect that hurts this type of game or any game like it are bugs. I haven't had hardly any while playing Returnal but the couple that I have had were disheartening. My first time going into the boss fight in the second area my game froze and I couldn't do anything about it. I had to quit my run which led me to crash landing on the same planet which was upsetting because I did nothing to cause that. Without any save system hours of hard work went down the drain because of a bug. There aren't many but they hurt when they happen.

Returnal is a fantastic game and a lot of fun but it's definitely not for everybody. While I would review it highly because I think the game itself is great it can be brutal. Small mistakes can lead to deaths which send you back to the beginning. Hours of hard work wiped out because you weren't looking and an enemy came up behind you. When you get past an area or boss you'll feel rewarded because you undoubtedly put a lot of work in getting to that point, but it will in fact be a lot of work. For some people that type of brutal gameplay isn't for them and I would say this game isn't for them. But for anybody like me who can get through it I enjoy sitting down to take a run or two to see where I can get.