The first six months of the 9th generation of home consoles have given us relatively few truly ‘next-gen’ experiences. Gamers have experienced this before – the feeling that the first round of games for a new system could have been done on their old one. Returnal is not one of those titles – Housemarque have gleefully taken advantage of the new hardware to deliver something that you couldn’t do on any other machine.
As a game, it has its foibles. Mostly stemming from the game’s genre roots and Housemarque’s pedigree in arcade-like games. But between its mastery of Dual-Sense’s haptic feedback and its immersive audio-visual presentation, Returnal is a feast for the senses and the sort of ‘must have’ title that makes you want a console.
Intro to Intrigue
The game begins with a fairly cold opening. Our heroine orbits a stormy planet, her craft crashes to the ground below and we are dropped into the action. This short intro is intriguing and foreshadows how the game informs a players; briefly.
After players emerge from our fallen craft Helios, we hear Selene’s thoughts and the game’s main premise is revealed. As players progress, they will learn more about the game’s many modifiers and upgrade systems. Selene speaks infrequently so when she does speak, it seems important.
She also speaks in a very matter-of-fact tone, like that of a seasoned explorer or soldier. Her professional demeanour is questioned early on and eventually we learn that her quest is more personal. It’s a nice contrast that sets up a few twists. No spoilers.
The first hour mixes practice, plot and tutorial effectively. Returnal seems to be aware that it’s drawing a large crowd that may not have experience in its sub-genres. This gentle exposition and intro is the only compromise the game makes, though. Returnal is a brutal bullet hell that goes all-in on its rebirth theme.
Dungeons and Respawns
Returnal is described as ‘having roguelike elements’. Players will play a new order each time they respawn. There is a small number of preset dungeon shapes and loot/enemy placements that offer great variety while feeding the plot’s intended obscuration.
Selene can unlock certain items or areas and they remain unlocked across her many lives. In this way, she makes the subsequent runs easier. Some items can be kept after death but these are rare. These few concessions are the only permanencies found in the game.
The aim of forcing a player to hone their skills and strategy alone to progress is implemented very well here. There are very few occasions when a player can rely on a certain weapon, move or power-up for more than a short period. You’ll always need to take a new weapon as your proficiency rises. Returnal deserves huge credit for how it maintains its challenge by disallowing repetition and mostly discouraging ‘grind to win’ tactics.
Shoot Your Way Out of the Loop
Returnal‘s action is frenetic and threats come in many varieties. Enemies mix short and long range attacks. Some are tanks, some are flighty but vulnerable. Sometimes they come with a colour-coded shield.
Selene is ultra mobile in bursts with a single use boost on a short timer. Jumps are floaty but Selene the perfect level of aftertouch. Control is exquisite – balancing a player’s manoeuvrability perfectly to the rain of pain that the game will often bring forth. Selene’s fleet-footedness also facilitates some great platforming moments that usually serve to hide some secret goodies.
Perks, Buffs and Systems
The seemingly infinite time loop is supported by a small number of weapons that are doled out to players as they progress. There are ten weapons in total, just enough to carry the game across its six biomes. Once a player has used a weapon once it is added to the potential drop pool.
Each comes with one of dozens of Alt-Fire mode and a passive effect or two from another list of dozens. Alt-Fire cooldowns are short so shieldbreakers or grenades will pepper your gunfights.
Returnal features an ‘overcharge’ reload system, tapping R2 at the right time will both reload your weapon instantly and buff your damage. This gives yet another modifier to spice the basic combat premise up.
Building streaks is also vital. Each kill without taking damage fills your adrenaline meter and each of the five levels offers a fairly powerful perk. Stuff like easier overloads, being able to see your enemies through the terrain, stronger weapons can tilt the game back in your favour.
There are some debuffs thrown into the game’s already-deep perk system. Malignancies are attached to certain items. A player can remove the malignancies with precious ether or chance a Malfunction. Malfunctions can be longer cooldown times, the inability to pick up weapons, weaker melee strikes and anything in between.
Parasites grant the players a hefty buff, often unavailable via other means, in exchange for a debuff of varying severity. Both are usually tempting – Housemarque made an effort to balance out the rewards so players would accept penalties for pay off.
Returnal‘s depth and scope across it range of modifiers, options and levellers make it hard to play the same game twice. The combat and character growth systems help keep the game fresh and exciting, enhancing its replayability.
Next-Gen Presentation
Much has been made of Returnal‘s 3D audio, groundbreaking force feedback and eye-pleasing lightscape. Despite the game playing perfectly in its niche arcade genre, the package is polished to meet its pricetag. The game moves at a near-constant 60 frames per second, the arenas are alive with weather effects and plants.The contrast of Returnal‘s darkest areas with the sparks, flames and beams of combat is thrilling and awe-inspiring.
Similarly, the sound is superb. Housemarque ask players to don their headphones to truly enjoy Returnal‘s audio immersion. Should you follow their advice, the game will swallow you whole. The ambience weather, the whistling of the wind, the rumble of impending doom all seem to live around the player. The game will often send shivers down your spine to bolster the game’s psychological horror themes. In combat, audio cues are vital and the directionality of the game’s audio is often a lifesaver. Returnal‘s audio is an artistic and mechanical marvel – adding so much to so many aspects of the game.
Returnal also features laudable implementation of force feedback. The jolt and jerks of crashing to Atropos followed by the gentle patter of rain as we tentatively explore our desert island are a perfect intro to how much the game will communicate with players through touch. The feeling of momentum, the heft of a powerful attack or the hurt of failure are just some of the game’s handfelt vocabulary. The range of haptic-fed moments and how effectively the tech is utilised is astonishing.
Rules and Procedures
How the game constructs your playthrough is another mystery that slowly reveals itself to players. Once a players is familiar with a certain biome, certain sections become known and certain rules and patterns seem to emerge. Even though you don’t know what to expect as you reach further into the game, as you visit certain biomes on enough occasions you will become familiar with your surroundings.
That first biome will have to be traipsed through many, many times. Its limited selection of enemies will have to be dispatched many times. The game seems to be aware of this possibility and adds sections to the Overgrown Ruins as your absolute progress proceeds. Other sections in the Overgrown Ruins open up as you gain new powers – the grappling hook, especially, opens shortcuts and aids a player in building their character up more quickly. These can only do some much to stave off Ruins fatigue though.
That limited selection of enemies also becomes a problem. The game has particular enemies tied to its biome and to areas within that biome. Most of the biomes end up with only small few enemies and they can wear themselves out quickly, especially when you’ve hit a wall.
Each creature in a biome’s roster seems to have common traits that suit their home, something to tie them together, like related species – this is a nice touch but it eventually backfires by hurting the overall visual variety. You’ll see so many tentacles and hails of damaging orbs that enemies sometimes start to merge.
We Need to Talk About Savin’
Returnal is not a short game despite being a six biome roguelite. Runs can quickly build up to well over an hour and the only solution to life pulling you away from Atropos is to leave your PS5 in Rest Mode. Should you need to play something else, your particularly sick Selene is gone.
Housemarque are clearly aware that a portion of their potentially huge audience may find this arrangement to be inconvenient as they explain Returnal‘s save system (or lack thereof) before we start the game.
Worth the Entrance Fee
Despite some limits to enemy variety and issues with dungeon fatigue, it offers enough polished content and enough replayability to warrant its AAA pricetag. Dungeon-crawling bullet hell roguelites are usually known for their mainstream appeal but Returnal deserves the wide audience it is about to welcome.
Returnal is a balanced and unique title that lives up to its billing – an indie PS5 experience ready for the front page of PlayStation Store.
Review copy provided by publisher; Returnal launches 30th April 2021 with pre-load available now
