Returnal - Review

The developers Housemarque are known for their fun and great staged acarde shooters. Resogun and Nex Machina were already good games that convinced with their great playability. Now, on a higher budget, the developers are trying for the first time a Triple-A roguelike action game made exclusively for PlaySation 5. In this review, I'll tell you whether this worked or not.

Break The Cycle:

Break the cycle are the keywords that fit perfectly with the Returnal experience. You play a female main character named Selene, who landed on the alien planet Atropos and is following a mysterious signal. The story and the game mechanics are told via a timeloop. Again and again you will die, begin again and also experience new things.

The interesting aspects of the story that are conveyed over and over again through world-building and audologs are just extremely interesting. You feel lonely and left behind. Everything seems strange. The area invites you to explore, you always want to know what's behind the next door and in the next area. Everything is gloomy, unfamiliar and reminiscent of Prometheus. If you're into a dark sci-fi experience, this game is for you.

Exploration:

Exploration is a big part of the gaming experience. You collect upgrades for your weapons, special abilities and also new suit items that let you explore new sections. The feeling can be compared very well with a Metroid game from Nintendo. Exploration is rewarded and I just enjoyed regularly exploring new, never-before-seen areas.

In Returnal you will "hopefully", but more on this later, explore many different areas, all of which differ in terms of architecture. Sometimes you visit the ruins of a long-dead civilization, sometimes you have been traveling in desert-like areas. The later sections in particular are well staged and often amazed me.

Hard But Rewarding:

Yes, the game is difficult. In some sections it is even very, very difficult. But I never felt any frustration. The game world pulled me into such an enormous loop that I had to think about the game at night while I was sleeping and wanted to play a round again straight away.

As already mentioned, Returnal is a real roguelike action game. If you die, you start all over again from the very beginning. Defeated boss opponents serve as checkpoints, which unlock shortcuts and thus save the progress for the next run. I was always surprised how the developers managed to build the worlds in such a way that you don't have to go all over again.

I have rarely felt such a joy of victory with boss opponents. You won't cheer just once. Similar to the challenges in the From Software games, the same applies to Returnal, you have to earn the victories. The effects Housemarque conjures up on the screen here, especially with the boss fights, is really impressive. In the middle of the adventure you fight a boss who is one of my absolute highlights of the last few years. The soundtrack, the visual experience and the mechanics just won me over. Pure goosebumps!

You have to take your time for Returnal. It is not a game that you play easily in one evening. You just have to get involved. A good run can last several hours. And now we come to a sticking point that many players will see as a clear point of criticism. There are no intermediate save points. If you have an appointment or need to do something else at short notice, you have no choice but to put the PlayStation 5 into sleep mode.

This also means that new system updates or game updates will restart the game and you can start all over again. I have to admit that this point did not bother me personally. But it is also understandable that this is a major point of criticism for many people out there.

Performance:

Returnal is simply excellent in the area of ​​performance. Everything runs smoothly with 60FPS. I only rarely noticed small stutters. The controls are also very good. However, I recommend placing the Dash button in the options on an easily accessible button (Square button).

When we deal with the control unit, we of course also have to deal with the DualSense controller. And my goodness this worked well here. The intro alone blew me away. You will feel lightning and collisions. Raindrops roll on your hands one at a time. In addition to Astro's Playroom, the best use of the new controller is here. Fire modes are also used separately, depending on how hard you press a trigger. Just great and a real next-gen (current gen ;)) moment.

Loading times are practically non-existent thanks to the PlayStation 5's SSD. Here, fast travel becomes a pleasure, and not just because of the visual effect, and enriches the gaming experience enormously.

I heard from other players that they had various bugs in the game. Doors could not be opened here and there were also some game crashes. For my part, however, I have been spared and cannot confirm this. Housemarque has been very busy in the last few days / weeks and update the game regularly. They are already concerned about the point of criticism of the intermediate save points. However, there is no concrete information right now.

The Story:

As already described, the story is told through the world itself, written tablets and audiologs. Another big aspect are the so-called house sections, in which you experience mysterious and well-made horror  from the ego perspective. In terms of structure and visuals, these are strongly reminiscent of the cult classic P.T. made by Hideo Kojima. I have always looked forward to these sections. Another clear highlight in the game.

The story is mysterious and slowly builds up to the final showdown. However, you shouldn't expect simple food here. Thinking and speculating is the order of the day. After seeing the end, I immediately wanted to know how other players interpreted the story and watched various lore videos. I liked it very much and also left satisfied in the end.

My first playthrough lasted for 20 hours. There are still various things to do after the credits, which I don't want to reveal. Now I've played around 50 hours and still want more. I always find new things and the pure gameplay feeling is just very, very good. However, if you just want to win a easy platinum trophy, you will find yourself grappling with this game. Collectibles have different spawn points, so you can plan on 70 hours upwards.

You can gain rewards via daily challenges and immortalize yourself in the leaderboards. Another point that contributes positively to the replay value.

For me personally, I would have loved a photo mode. The world really offers itself to take perfect pictures. Maybe we'll get something here with an update. Myself and many other players would be happy.

Verdict:

Returnal is a real showcase game for the current generation of consoles and impresses with its dark sci-fi setting and a great risk and reward system. A reason to buy the PlayStation 5 and a hot contender for Game of the Year 2021.

9/10

Code provided by PlayStation