Returnal

Release Date: April 30, 2021

Developer: Housemarque

Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Genres: Roguelike, Third-Person Shooter

Platforms: PlayStation 5 Exclusive

My Platform: PlayStation 5

Difficulty Levels: No choice, same for all

My Level: N/A

Game Difficulty: 8/10

Game Rating: 8/10

Time To Beat: 45hrs/51hrs

Time To Platinum: 94hrs

Time To Beat

Before I jump into the game, I will elaborate on my 'Time To Beat' as shown above. Because two different time frames, what is up with that? It's actually quite simple. This game consists of 6 biomes. A biome is the same as a level, so 6 levels. The first 3 biomes, count as act 1. The last 3 biomes count as act 2. When you finish act 2, you will see the credits roll. Most of the time, that means it is the end of the game. But with 'Returnal' there is a secret ending, which counts as act 3. And after you finish that act, you will see the credits yet again. So the first part of my 'Time To Beat', the 45hrs, is for seeing the credits the first time. Then it took me another 6hrs, to get the secret ending. I will go into that ending later on. So, there's the two different time frames explained. Just keep in mind, that these time frames are very personal. The time needed to beat this game, is absolutely skill based. And of course it also depends on if you are going for the secret ending/platinum. If you go for those last two, your completion time will increase massively. Because then it is not only skill dependent, but you will also have to deal with this games RNG. More on that, a little later on as well.

Difficulty/RNG Explained

Next up, the no difficulty option. If you never ever played a roguelike game before, like me. Than your challenge is going to be bigger and harder. Compared to already skilled roguelike players. There is a learning curve in this game. You WILL get better. As long as you are willing to put the time in. And don't mind getting frustrated along the way. When I got stuck in biome 3, I felt like giving up more times than once. But instead of deleting the game and be done with it. I just took a break for about a week. And when I dove back in, I got through that biome on the first go. The reason I went back to the game, is simple. I like a challenge, I like getting better, I don't like giving up. And the satisfaction, the feeling of accomplishment when you finally get somewhere, beat something in this game...is massive!

I said I don't like giving up. As you can see my platinum time confirms that. It took me another 43hrs, postgame, to get that done. And that has everything to do with this games terrible RNG. Which makes the Survey completion grind absolutely horrendous. What is RNG you ask? Here it is:

Random Number Generation

In games, these random numbers are used

to determine random events. Like your chance

of landing a critical hit or picking up a rare item.  

In this game, the item isn't even rare. All the collectibles are in the RNG system. I don't know how Housemarque has programmed it. But you can literally play one biome for 12hrs straight, from start to finish, over and over again. And not find a single thing. Which makes the grind for the platinum an unnecessary tedious job. You really have to want it, to not delete the game beforehand.

Main Game

Now the game itself. You play as Selene. Who is an Astra Scout and crashes on the planet Astropos. You are hunting down a mysterious white signal. Can you break the cycle of chaos on a constant changing alien planet? 

I will keep the spoilers of the main game to a minimum. But I do want to talk about every biome separately. I will leave the boss fight specifics out of it, but I really want to share my experience about them as well. When there are big spoilers coming up, I will let you know in time. So that you don't accidentally read them.

It took a long time for me to decide, if I wanted to buy this game or not. I never played a Housemarque game before. And the footage I had seen before release, was not conclusive for me. The roguelike part was also kind of freaking me out. But I wanted to take on the challenge, and just go for it. And besides, by the time this game was released. There weren't many PlayStation 5 games available yet. So why not?

Time to dive into the game. 

Permanent Equipment

This is where the roguelike part kicks in. During your runs, you will find plenty of stuff to collect; health, weapons, consumables, parasites, artifacts, keys, ether etc. You can have a killer loadout, with stuff you definitely want to keep using. But when you die...you start from scratch. Which is the beauty of this game, but at the same time the frustration factor. 

There are a few things that are permanently in your inventory, once unlocked. Which are the following:

• Ether
• Atropian Sword
• Unlocked weapon traits
• Items
• Suit Augments

The items you keep are certain type of keys, not all of them. And you will unlock the suit augments by defeating a boss. Or you find it in a room, that is unmissable. The story will lead you there, no matter how you play the game.

The currency in this game, are obolites. Enemies will drop them when you kill them. But be quick, they only last a few seconds. After that, they disappear. Obolites can also be found in the biomes, in little chunks which you have to melee to release. Be careful though, some chunks are malignant. They can cause your suit to malfunction. You can take the gamble and smash it anyway, or you can cleanse it with ether before you melee the chunk. 

Collectibles

There are not a lot of different type collectibles, but getting them...that is a grind like you never grinded before. At least, if you are going for the platinum. The collectibles are the following:

• Xenoglyph Ciphers
• Xenoglyphs
• Scout Logs
• Xeno-Archives
• Ship Logs

You will unlock the Ship Logs by just playing the game. The rest, you will have to find on your own. I will not tell you what to look for, because when you see it, you will know it. And hey, I need to leave something for you to figure out on your own. 

For the platinum hunters who are reading this, I will give you a huge time saving heads-up. The Xenoglyph Ciphers do NOT spawn inside boss areas, challenge rooms, behind locked doors or the rooms you fall into. Also, the Xenoglyphses do not count for the platinum. For the story I recommend to get them anyway. But they are not necessary for that beautiful price. 

The challenge rooms also have to be done and finished. They count towards your survey completion. Every biome has 1, so there are 6 for you to do.

The game doesn't have the best tracking system for the trophies. Which again, is only relevant if you are going for the 100% completion. But there are some things you can check. You can go into your inventory in-game, select the databank. And you will see everything you have collected so far.

To check the status on your Xenoglyph Ciphers, do the following. 

Go to your inventory → databank → Resources and then go to file AST-AR-017. That shows you exactly how many Ciphers you have/need in what biome.

What the databank doesn't tell you, is what you need to find in what biome. For that the game relies on the activity cards, that is a new function on the PlayStation 5. You can access those cards, by pressing on the PlayStation button on your controller, while you are in the game. The survey cards will tell you how much of what you still need to collect in each biome. If you have completed a biome for the full 100%, that card will not be visible anymore. 

This would be an awesome system, if it actually worked properly. By the time I am writing this, the game is over a month old. And those activity cards are still broken. Sometimes they show the right information, other times they show the wrong completion percentage. I had times, where those cards said 0%, while I had completed the game. Which is impossible. And sometimes the cards don't show up at all, no matter how often you press that button. If the activity cards are still broken by the time you are playing the game. The only way to know if you have completed a biome, is by checking if you have that biome related trophy unlocked. If not, you need to keep grinding.

Act 1; Biome 1, 2 & 3

Biome 1, Overgrown Ruins

This is where your adventure starts. With only a pistol in your hands, it is time to tackle your first biome. You will play this one over and over and over again. Since this is where you start learning, figure things out and try different tactics to get the job done. If you are going for the platinum, I highly recommend to pick up every collectible you see along the way. Because when you die and have to start over. The chances are very high that certain collectible won't be there in your next run. This game is full of rinse and repeat, so time to get comfortable.

I got used to the controls really quickly. One of the best parts of this game, are the mechanics. They are very smooth, perfect response time. And with full use of the DualSense controller abilities, it really is a treat. Visually this game is stunning as well. Another highlight of the game. 

While you are exploring and fighting your way through these Ruins. It's really worth it to go into every room. You might find a better weapon, some silphium which is health, resin which is suit integrity, or a useful parasite. For some doors to open you need a key. So make sure you check all the loot you come across. 

Before you can go to the next biome, you have to deal with Phrike. Which is this biomes boss. The first time a got to fight that thing, I didn't know where to look. If you played 'Housemarque' games before, you are familiar with their style. But for me, it was the first time. It took me three times to take this one down, before I could move on. 

Each boss has three health bars, and you need to deplete them all. And with each round, they will add new moves, more attacks and it gets more difficult. So it is important, to go in prepared. Make sure you have more than enough health, consumables and artifacts to help you out. And of course, don't go in with a gun you don't like or don't know how to handle. The only thing is, every run is different. Which means also different stuff. And you just have to hope you find the things you want.

Biome 2, Crimson Wastes

This is the longest biome of the game. In the sense that there is a hell of a lot of ground to cover, before you are at the boss. This biome is set in the desert. A nice change from the first one, with a whole new set of enemies to discover and defeat.

By now I was very excited about the game. I kept getting better and smarter about my gameplay. Of course I still kept dying and having to start from scratch. But I was definitely getting the hang of it. The roguelike factor also gave me extra nerves. It kept me on my toes much more than other games. Because one mistake, and you are done. And when you are having a good run, you want to make it to the end. No matter what. 

By now the story is still pretty vague. You definitely need to keep collecting the ciphers/glypses, to get more info. And a better understanding of what is going on. 

This boss, Ixion, also took me a few tries to take down. These fights can be really frustrating. Because you can have an awesome run, where you do everything right. And then again, one mistake, and you can start over. I know that is what makes this game what it is. And without that factor, it would actually be a short and boring game. But man oh man, does it add to the tension. During every boss fight, my adrenaline went through the roof. To the point that my hands were shaking so badly, that I had to grip my controller extra hard. For it not to fall out of my hands. 

One tip I can give you, that goes for every boss fight, never turn your back to the boss! Keep your eyes on them at all times. They throw so much stuff at you, if you don't see where it's going, you will definitely get hit and loose a chunk of health. I made that mistake with this boss, and it cost me big time. But I eventually defeated this one and it was time to move on to the next area.

Biome 3, Derelict Citadel

This biome was my Mount Everest, my nemesis. Which is fitting, because that is the name of this area's boss. This biome drove me insane. To the point I was about to give up and be done with the game. Instead of rage quitting and deleting it. It was time for a much needed break. Up until now, I was grinding the game every single day and night. So, I took a break for about a week, before I touched it again. And when I did, I completed this biome, on the first go! Yes, I was very surprised at that as well.

For me this biome felt out of balance, compared to the others I already played. Of course, getting to a boss, fighting through a level, should never be easy. But the Derelict Citadel is totally messed up. Because the boss fight wasn't the hardest part. It was actually a good challenge. But getting there...that's a whole different story. The enemies are ruthless, the damage they deal is immense, and they travel in packs. Big packs. The worst ones, the drones. They shoot missiles at you and when you destroy them, as a last attempt, they will go kamikaze on you. And they never hunt alone.

The challenge room in this biome, is insane. A very small room, with so many enemies at once. I made the mistake of skipping this room, during my normal playthrough. I left it for the cleanup, after finishing act 1, 2 and 3. I highly recommend NOT doing that. Complete this room, as soon as you can. I can not say with certainty that the challenge is harder, after you finished all the acts. But I checked some video's on YouTube. Because I wanted to see how other people did it. And in every single video, they have much less enemies in numbers and brutality. Not a single video I watched showed the drones. Every time I tried to tackle that room. I had about 10 of them at the same time, in every wave. And of course those are not the only enemies in that wave.

As I mentioned earlier, the boss in this biome is Nemesis. Another enemy with a whole new arsenal of attacks. You actually have to multitask during this fight, like never before. Of course you always have to be on the move, in every fight. But here, 'Housemarque' has brought it to another level. Again it took me a few tries, but compared to the rest of this biome, the boss is very doable. And let me tell you this. It takes a whole lot to get my tears going. But when the boss went down and I knew I had finally finished biome 3. I cried. The tears rolled down my face. It was just such a relief, to be done in this biome. Especially after almost giving up. 

Completing this biome took me the longest, by far. This one is at the bottom of my list. I don't like it, the balance is not there and it just feels insane. The tactic here, try to find the weapon you handle best, have your suit integrity as high as you can, consumables, artifacts and parasites. Collect them all and as many as you can. And then fingers crossed you have a good run, you can push through in one go. And move on to the next. 

When you finish this biome, you have reached the and of act 1. From now on your starting point will be biome 4. You will not be able to go back to biome 1, 2 or 3. Until you have seen the credits for the first time. Don't worry, after that you can keep traveling back and forth between biome 1 and 4. And keep playing every single area over and over again.

Act 2; Biome 4, 5 & 6

Biome 4, Echoing Ruins

Compared to the last biome, this one was a breeze. I had such a good flow. Maybe because I was finally moving on and not in that damn Citadel anymore. But this one was by far the easiest biome for me. I even completed it, in little over 1hr. And that is with the boss fight included. Of course, all these experiences are very personal. And will be different for everyone. But, that's the case with almost every game. 

I don't have all that much to say about this biome. Your objective is to follow the music. And you will encounter new type of enemies. Every room has their own challenges. It is pretty much the same road as in the other biomes. Story wise you definitely have more information by now. But it is still pretty vague and you need to keep playing to get a better picture.

The boss in this biome is called Hyperion. There is not a lot of room to move here, and the attacks are just as vicious as with the other bosses. But by now you should definitely be able to take bosses down pretty quickly, with not a lot of hassle. 

Biome 5, Fractured Wastes

This biome is a bit different than the once before. There is no boss to defeat, before being able to move on. Let me rephrase that, there is not one boss to defeat. In this biome your main objective is to collect three keys, so you can open the vault. Sounds easy enough. But you are playing 'Returnal', nothing is easy in this game. There are 3 doors you need to go through. And they all lead to a key...eventually. You will enter room after room. Where you have to fight many, difficult enemies. The damage they do, is massive and they are never alone. In this biome you really have to be prepared for the toughest battles. Not particularly because of the type of enemies. But you have to have a long breath here. Because this is still a roguelike game. Lets say, you have fought with blood, sweat and tears to obtain 2 keys. You are ready to get that final one. And then you die...Your key count goes back to 0, and you can go at it again.

The first time I was in this biome. I was convinced I would never get past this point. But it went surprisingly well. It only took me 3 visits to this place, to get all the keys. And yes, the relief and joy when I picked up that 3rd key...massive! Now I just had to get to the vault, without dying. I went about that very carefully, but it was a smooth ride.

Biome 6, Abyssal Scar

We have arrived in the last biome of the game! The final stretch. Something different about this one as well. This whole area is underwater. Which makes your movement different as well. It's actually kind of fun. You can make massive jumps which make you feel weightless. Even though you are in water, that definitely doesn't slow down the pace of the game. 

In this biome you will again encounter some new enemies. This area is considered to be the toughest of them all. Which makes sense, it's the last level of the game. You can't expect it to be easy. But I got to say, I did not have too much trouble with it. By this time I have spend over 40hrs in-game. So I knew my way around. It was just a matter of getting to know the biome and its enemies. And get to that final boss.

It didn't take me too long to get to the final boss, Ophion. I expected the worst of the worst. But I guess I kind of got good in the game. Because no matter what the boss threw at me, I was dashing, jumping and shooting my way to the end. I finished the boss, on the first go!

I was absolutely gobsmacked when the credits started rolling. Again, tears started to roll down my face. I seriously never expected to be able to finish this game. The satisfaction of actually getting it done, was so overwhelming. 

Act 3; Secret Ending

And then you think you are done. But there is more to this story. The only reason I knew about a secret ending, was because of the trophies. I saw that there was one for act 3. But when the credits rolled, I didn't have that trophy yet. So I knew there was more, but I had no clue what. I Googled what act 3 was and what needed to be done. And I am glad I did, because I would never have figured that out on my own. 

When the credits have rolled at the end of act 2. And you are back in the game, act 3 has started. 

During the game you come across a house in some of the biomes. When the porch light is on, you can enter it. To get a better sense of the story, I highly recommend doing so. I will not go in to detail about what happens in the house. That is something you have to discover yourself. But you have to enter the house 5 times. After the last time Selene will say something about Sunface Fragments. That is your cue to get the grind started. Your mission is to find 6 Sunface Fragments in total. And yes, that means there will be 1 in each biome. But the exact locations of these Fragments...that is the grind. Because you never know in what run they spawn. 

So there I went, starting in biome 1 and working my way through ever single biome, again. I got to admit, I got VERY lucky with finding all Fragments. It only took me 6hrs to do so! That may sound long. But I read stories of people who had been grinding this part of the game for days!

The Sunface Fragments show up in your inventory, so you can keep track of the ones you got and the ones you still need. And luckily they are permanent. As soon as you pick one up, even if you die right after that. You have it forever. 

When you have all 6 fragments, it is time to go back to the house, one last time. After that last scene, you end up with a key. If you have payed attention to the game. You know what that key is for and you know what to do next. I am not going to say what it is. But once you use that key, congratulations, you have the secret ending unlocked, finished act 3 and completed the game!

!WARNING MASSIVE SPOILERS IN THE FIRST PARAGRAPH!

IF YOU WANT TO SKIP THOSE, JUMP TO THE *SECOND ONE

Final Thoughts

The story itself is pretty mysterious. Even after finishing all acts in the game and getting most of the collectibles. There is a lot of room left for speculation and interpretation. How I see it? I think Selene is stuck in a massive trauma. In the secret ending you see her mother, Theia. She is in a wheelchair and pregnant. It's clear the Selene and her mother don't get along. Combined with the first ending, I came to the following conclusion. I think Theia always wanted to be an astronaut. But she had a some kind of disease, which made it impossible for her to follow through with that. Also she had a kid, Selene, which held her back as well. I think Theia always resented Selene for that. Because she also kept her out of space. Despite everything Selene had also a big affinity with space. But she also inherited her mothers disease. That's why you see Selene with the same colored eyes, when she is driving the car. But in the game she has two different colored eyes. And she keeps seeing the astronaut. What I think is a signal of her brain, about the dream she could never make true. And also the dream of her mother, that in her eyes Selene crushed. So greave.

While Selene is driving the car her son, Helios, is in the backseat. At some point he says: "Do you see the white shadow?" I think he means the moon. And that makes clear Helios also has this disease. Which made her look up and see the astronaut. Selene wants to avoid a crash, turns her wheel on drives off the bridge. She tries to save her son...but fails. Which is of course a massive trauma. 

I also think, Selene is the astronaut on the bridge. The perspective of how she wanted her life to be.

During the whole game you see bits and pieces of this angle in the environment. And I think the cycles are a way of Selene's brain to relive the trauma over and over again. Which forces her to face her choices, faults, and losses. With accepting those, she can break the cycle, and deal with the trauma.

It's all so mysterious and open for interpretation. I can easily be off base and dead wrong. That is the beauty of the story, but also the downside. There is not one simple conclusion. Not an answer to clear it all up. But I guess that is a perfect metaphor for the questions of life. Especially when we are talking about trauma.

*I like the way the story is mysterious and open for interpretation. 'Returnal' is an interesting game. It is definitely not perfect. I mentioned it before, but the imbalance of the game is a downer. I think they should have switched biome 3 and 6. Not story or environmental wise, but I am talking about the difficulty. 

The level design feels a bit cheap at times. Multiple rooms are just a copy/paste job, only with a different cover. If you are in biome 2, you get the desert look. When you are in biome 5 you get the same layout of a room, but then covered in snow. In my eyes it's a shortcut from the developers. An easy way to fill up your game. 

The last negative point for me is the platinum grind. I would definitely give this game a higher rating, if that task wasn't such a nightmare. But if you put trophies in your game, you are also going to be judged on them. The grind for the platinum took me almost as long as finishing the game and see the credit roll for the first time. And to know I only needed 15 more collectibles to get the job done. That ratio is completely off. This definitely took away from my overall game experience. 

Let me end on a positive note! The mechanics and the visuals are absolutely awesome. This game takes full advantage of the capabilities of the DualSense controller. Little side track, that controller has set the bar for future controllers very high. The DualSense has to be the standard now. The sound is also very well developed. It brings an extra layer to the game. And in combination with the Pulse headset, you are going to freak out at times with the 3D sound. 

'Returnal' has pushed my limits as a gamer. Which is a good thing! Never thought I would be able to finish this game. Let alone get the platinum for it. I wanted to give up so many times. But the game just kept pulling me back in. Only the great ones can do that. So that is a big complement!

This is Housemarque's first AAA game. And some technical faults aside, like the broken activity cards. Overall, they did a pretty great job. Will I buy one of their future games? That is not a definitive yes or no. It really all depends on what way they are going. Will they follow the road they took with this game or are they going back to their previous type of games? It will definitely take a few years, before they have something new. So, time will tell. For now, the book on 'Returnal' is closed.

Thank you so much for reading my blog! I know this is a long one, but I hope you liked it. I definitely enjoyed writing this all down. You are more than welcome to leave a comment and let me know what you think. You can also subscribe to my blog, totally for free! Just click on the sidebar on the top left and you will get notified when I drop a new one.

Game on and I'll catch you on the flipside!