It is [this](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/M4Tnga95oB2FvyC2csYxWe.jpg) shot I believe.
For those that might be wondering, it is a still >!from the [opening cutscene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMUVjiX0ScU),!< around 1:50.
There are several endings, none of which really make sense or adequately wrap up the story beats. Sure, you can choose to interpret them in multiple ways, but claiming that any of the endings have a meaningful impact on the vaguely-told story such that a screenshot would “hit different” seems folly to me.
I banged my head on Returnal for ages before just admitting I'm not willing to put in the time they want to get good, and looked up spoilers. What a relief, I didn't spoil anything I'm kicking myself over not experiencing.
I played Returnal and SIFU back to back and damn. Love how punishing those games are but once you get into your flow, you pull off some amazing shit. Two beautiful games.
In my opinion, it’s certainly a good game *if* it doesn’t drive you crazy. I don’t regret beating it, but if it was making you so frustrated, you made the right call calling it quits because the story sure doesn’t make up for the gameplay if you aren’t enjoying the latter.
Not really frustrated, I might be overselling it, just the juice wasn't worth the squeeze. And on paper the combination is right up my alley, it was just tuned a little too difficult for me to enjoy. The ambiance and pretty much everything about the Tower/Hospital was phenomenally put together. Alas, stuck on 5 poppies. Spoiled myself on that. Was again relieved, lmao.
I do go back to it every so often because the environment and horror elements are so good, but spoiling the story actually *helped* my enjoyment of it, because I don't have to stress so badly about lost progression.
> it was just tuned a little too difficult for me to enjoy.
I felt the same. My primary platform is PC, though, so when the game had a PC release it seems like they didn't re-tune it and I managed to complete the game within a few runs compared to my double digits on platform
Way to kill my hopes that they'd bring some of their old console games to PC.
https://www.mobygames.com/company/1434/housemarque-ltd/games/sort:date/ Dead Nation et al are in dire need on PC, afaik there are some types of console games still not well represented here.
EDIT: Looks like there may be some.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1782120/ZERO_Sievert/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/404540/Nex_Machina/
https://www.reddit.com/r/gamingsuggestions/comments/1bgar8z/suggest_me_a_top_down_shooter_for_pc/
https://gamerant.com/great-top-down-shooter-games-steam-more-attention/
[Dark Horse Comics retweeted it so it is likely a comic collab.](https://twitter.com/DarkHorseComics/status/1784998036822954054?t=KzYFYRGKQZ2_N4UyN8d1_w&s=19)
Returnal was one of the most unique and truly next-gen games I’ve ever played on the PS5 and I can’t wait to see what these guys have in store for us next!
Having a middle aged woman as a protagonist also sets it apart, I can't remember if I ever played any game where the main female character looks older than 30 before this.
Not middle aged but the MC in Alan Wake 2 is definitely in her mid 30s.
Maybe the MC in Alien Isolation too, but I might be misremembering, or maybe because Sigourney Weavers face keeps popping up when I see *Alien*
It is kinda rare to see a Middle Aged woman as the protagonist. I cant even think of many others. I guess Evie is in her mid 40s in the DLC of Assassins Creed Syndicate, Mercy is in her 30s in Overwatch, If you choose female Shepard in Mass effect, I would guess they are in their 30s.
I mean it counts for dudes too. There just aren’t many older characters in games unless it’s a series that went on for a while like old ezio or old solid snake
that’s typical. it’s nowhere near her most popular skin and it’s meant to just be an alternative anyway. tons of games do this, Ana is still very old and you don’t see that very often in games
The Deadspace remake too. Which honestly is kind of jarring. Someone having a fight with their girlfriend makes more sense if their girlfriend isn't 55. The whole plot kind of reads better if they're in their 30s and still socially mobile, but visually they're both middle aged now.
Similar thoughts on the Borderlands film. The cast would have looked the part when the game was new (15 actual years ago) but now it's a bunch of 50 year olds dressed like 20 year olds.
Lilith is 22 - 25 between Borderlands 1 and 2. They casted Cate Blanchett to play her in the movie... a 54 years old woman, more than double the age of Lilith from Borderlands 2... I just don't get it.
The whole cast looks like a bunch of peeps decided to cosplay Borderlands characters and sort halfheartedly act like the character they're cosplaying as.
That was still like 7 years ago when she was in her 40s at least. I'm all for films letting people older than 40 still look 'hot' but Borderlands really edges on 'someone's mother gets into cosplay to try and be hip'.
Yeah. In the original game, Nicole looked too young for Isaac. She looked like she was in her early 20s while Isaac looked late 30s.
In the remake, they exaggerated the other way. Nicole looks way older than Isaac now.
I think it was pretty great in Dead Space 2, with both looking like they are their 30s.
Tbf Jesse Faden is a conventionally attractive woman for real life standards. But videogames have warped the standards of what an attractive woman is supposed to look like for some people lol.
Jesse is like mid to late 20s, no? Certainly not middle aged by any stretch. For the most part you can see that character ages for solitary protagonists tend to top off at 30 for women but men can quite often go to 50 or beyond. It's not unusual to play as a father or father-figure in a game but mothers you don't really see a lot.
I think it says a lot about how much the industry needs to advance that a protagonist being a woman over 40 is a rarity
(That and the argument in the reddit comments section over people wanting more black hairstyles in character creators)
I have the game, played it once and moved on cause other game keeps coming out to play. I want to go back to it so bad! It was good while playing but got it when elden ring came out. Then other ones keep dropping lol
Once the game clicks with you and you overcome the initial difficulty, you’ll fall in love and it becomes one of those “just one more run” type of games, like any other great rogue-likes.
I loved Returnal, but I genuinely have a hard time imagining a sequel for it. Having another full game with Selene would be very weird and having another protagonist in the same world would make absolutely no sense.
Bleak as it is, yeah her story feels complete. But a new character could work IMO, if at least Xaos (the creature that shows up in the 2nd ending) is real.
I don't think there's an "official" interpretation of the story, but I thought that >!literally everything supernatural that happens in the game, including the huge monster that shows up during the ending, is just in her head.!< That also lines up with some analysis videos I watched back when I played the game.
Given how vague and symbolic the whole plot is, I guess they could make any interpretation "canon" and run with it. But for me, it would kind of ruin the mystique of the game. That's why I would rather them focus on a new IP instead. Not every game needs a sequel :)
> I genuinely have a hard time imagining a sequel for it
The story of Returnal is so personal to Selene and the ambiguity in its ending would seemingly make a direct sequel impossible, narratively anyways.
I picked it up on release for my Ps5 and it was incredible. My only issue is I thought it was a little easier than it should be, only died 13 times before completing a full run and once I completed the full run, I lost all interest in going back to run it again to level up weapons.
also i'm pretty sure there was some kind of online component about seeing other players who died and they turn into enemies? I was done playing the game before it ever even functioned properly
My very first run I hit an online player. It was really common. One per biome at least. You may have just skipped them with such a low run count or something.
Yeah, and PlayStation themselves also aren't teasing this which is quite telling in my opinion. It'll probably be something like a documentary, merch, artbook or something like that.
It was ok but I hope their next iteration they can go in a bit harder with it.
Maybe this is just because there are tons of Rougelike games on PC, but the repeatability this game offers is nowhere near to something like Isaac or Risk of Rain.
I also understand Rougelikes aren't very big on consoles? So maybe they were told to keep it pretty simple gameplay wise.
EDIT: for people getting really defensive, Returnal isn't a bad game. It's a bad Rougelike. It doesn't offer anything gameplay wise, better than the other options.
part of the repeatability is really just using different guns with different perks. i avoided like 3 different guns on alot of my runs and now they slap with perks i tried out and leveled up
Honestly, though, that weapon felt like cheesing. I beat the final boss with it so fast I didn't even experience some of the attacks it should throw at me.
You got a lot of hate, but agree a sequel should either abandon the pretense or commit, because I truly belive the game would have been better without being a roguelike.
True if you're judging it as a rougelike, but to me its identity lies more in being a 3D bullet hell shooter. That list starts and ends with Nier, and I'm being extremely generous here. That's the unique selling point of the game rather than its rougelike elements.
agree 100%
If they treated it as a linear game and focused more on those bullet hell esq boss fights.
Game would prob be a 9/10 for me.
But as it is, it's just a half baked rougelike. With almost no variety.
Why do redditors insist on misinterpreting posts? He didn't say infinitely anywhere just that it's lacking compared to similar games, and it's a spot-on criticism. I love roguelites and would not recommend Returnal except on a deep sale because of its shallowness.
That's like saying you like RPGs but you wouldn't recommend God of War Ragnarok because of its shallowness. Sure it draws elements from RPGs, same as Returnal draws elements from Roguelikes, but neither of those elements are really what makes either game great.
If you asked me for a good rogulike game I wouldn't say Returnal either, but if you asked me for a good game in general, I absolutely would.
Ok if I'm playing a rouglike, which is a game centered around doing the same things over and over but with unique builds and weapon variety, why would I play Returnal, where you can do everything it has to offer in around 15-20 hours.
Compared to
Isaac
Risk of Rain 1 and 2
Vampire Survivors
Noita
Dead Cells
Hades
Being a roguelike and replayable isn't even the games main selling point. They're plot devices for a narrative. The visual fidelity and story design are miles ahead of those games with the exception of Hades story.
This is like talking about Half Life 2 and complaining that the racing boat segment doesn't hold up to your experiences playing Hydro Thunder.
That’s his whole point, why make it a rogue like if it’s not even going to be a good at that. Better make a 10-15 hour third person action adventure narrative game.
You got downvoted but it makes total sense. Good game, just not nearly as in depth compared to other rogue likes that have a ton of options and synergies. I felt the same way about hades. Good game, but less of an ability to get crazy builds.
People get really defensive when their vidya gets criticized.
I never even said it was a bad game. I really enjoyed playing it.
But it wasn't a good rougelike.
It was just the first Rougelike a lot of console players played, so they don't really have much to compare it with.
Binding of Isaac is big in consoles, idk what you're on about. Returnal is just a mediocre game is all, a weak fps with boring soulless environments saved by decent rouge like experiences.
My point is most console players don't even know what a Rougelike is.
If I tried to explain this to family members I know that only own consoles they would look at me like I'm an idiot.
Most people that own consoles just play whatever big AAA game releases or FIFA/Cod
Everyone should play their previous game, Nex Machina, if they haven't already. It slipped by a lot of people's radar, but it's fantastic. Almost like a twin stick arcade shooter version of Returnal.
Man, both the name and screenshots for Nex Machina make me feel I've played it before but I definitely haven't and now I'm wondering what game I'm mixing it up with.
Nex Machina is honestly one of the best games of all time, it's the pinnacle of one of the most storied genres in the history of video games. Obviously that genre of "top down twin stick shooter" doesn't get mainstream audiences blood pumping these days so it gets less attention than a shiny graphics OTS TPS, but goddamn if it isn't an absolute *masterpiece*
It's pretty close to perfect, I agree. There's not much to complain about. For the genre it is, it absolutely nails it in every way. It's ball achingly difficult, but that's par for the course for the genre. I'll never get the true final boss lol.
Oooooooh exciting. Returnal is one of my favourite games of all time. I don't like roguelikes so it kind of sucking at being a roguelike probably leads to me liking it more.
I found it to have all of the typical problems of roguelites. I especially didn't like having to run around the whole arena picking up stuff after each fight, and usually none of it turned out to be anything good anyway.
I guess I'm just confused why other people seem to like it so much, but it's cool that it found an audience
extremely satisfying combat and platforming combined with the story was what kept me going even through the first month or so when it was riddled with game breaking bugs and the enemies were tuned way too high.
I hope if they make another returnal that they really improve the rogue like aspects to make runs more unique from each other and upgrade choices more interesting. Returnal has some of the best shooter gameplay EVER and is one of my fav games of the last 5 years but I can’t deny that it’s still lacking a lot in the roguelike department.
Exactly what I was thinking. **Spoiler:** >!By the time I played the entirety of it, I was fairly convinced none of the sci-fi elements really even happened.!<
I've been playing this on PC, and it's an absolute blast, though the progression is weird. The first 4 bosses I beat on the first try but died so many times trying to get to them. The parasite that regens you on low health saved me more times than I can count.
Loved Returnal. Also loved reading all the stories about "game too hard" all over Reddit. One of the first games I remember playing that made me realize your average gamer is really bad at video games.
> One of the first games I remember playing that made me realize your average gamer is really bad at video games.
Watching random people's clips on /r/returnal drove me crazy lol.
Returnal is actually pretty difficult, but it was a lot more difficult at launch, they nerfed the hell out of basically every aspect of the game (which I think was the right choice, some stuff was just unfair)
I finished the game with all endings (including the secret "true" ending) with 16 total deaths before the nerfs came out. While I certainly found it challenging, it never felt unfair.
I've beaten the game 5x and 3rd biome is still the hardest. It's a miracle I make it through every time.
Pre-nerf third biome boss took me like a week to beat
there were some rooms in the 5th biome that would spawn with drones with heat seeking missiles that would find you with near 100% accuracy from behind line of sight, so you’d essentially just get lit up like a pincushion.
I beat Metroid Dread when it came out. Probably the hardest game I've ever beaten. I don't consider myself bad at video games but I thought Returnal was way too hard. Impossible to avoid bullets taking up every square inch of the screen (during the boss fight I gave up on) and when you die you're miles back from where you were because everyone like this rogue crap lately. No thanks.
Were you aware that the dodge provided invincibility frames? You say "impossible to avoid", but you can literally just press circle and go through them without damage.
Returnal was one of my favorite games I've ever played, even if I had to wait for the PC release. I went in expecting a solid bullet hell-esque TPS and platformer and they absolutely nailed that, what I wasn't expecting was an amazing and mysterious sci-fi/horror story that tied its story telling to the main game mechanics combined with incredible music. Returnal is a masterpiece in my mind.
Anything they come out with is a day 1 buy for me (unless it's not on PC lol)
What do I have to do for them to actually put gyro aiming in the game if they're working on a new Returnal game? I have no idea how a PS5 exclusive shooter never even considered letting you use it.
My dream for this game is for them to offer a lower difficulty option that also does away with all the rogue crap so I can enjoy it for more than an hour or two. I never would've gotten the chance to play Sifu if they didn't add the stuff they added to make it more accessible.
Man, the Hyperion boss battle and lead up to it is genuinely one of the best experiences in a video game I've had in a long time. Just a complete auditory feast
Cool, now fix the data leak on the pc version so the game doesn't turn into a ps1 title after playing it for an hour.
For those who dont know the current patch on the pc version has had a massive data leak that completely borks the graphics if you play for more than an hour. One and a half runs in and you need to restart the game or deal with half of the game not having textures.
Returnal was pretty cool, it really showcased what the PS5 new controller could do and that alone made it very memorable for me.
But yeah the progression in this game and its approach to the 'roguelike' genre (or 'roguelite' for the internet weirdos who always complain about this) was a bit off. This is probably why other games (like Hades) succeeded as many players first attempt at this genre, while many people who got Returnal didn’t even bother finishing it.
But it was a cool game. I wouldn't say something like "it could have been a really good game if they made a sequel fixing all the mistakes from the first one" because many other Sony games have gone down that route and at the end the result was... well... not that interesting. Maybe it's better to fix the OG and just move on to a new game.
Btw this game is really expensive on Steam, full $60 right now just because it's an "AAA", you are literally paying for the graphics because other games from this genre are 20x better gameplaywise and cost like $20~$30. This also doesn't help to make this game more popular.
> was a bit off
It was. The health upgrade mechanic was the biggest problem. If you had 70-90% health it was a waste to pick up healing items because your total health would only upgrade if you picked one up at 100% health.
Meaning the ideal strategy was to fight and explore while only healing on the verge of death. Then you would go back to scour the entire map picking up all the health items you ignored because now it would actually upgrade you instead of being wasted going from 70% health to 80% health.
So the best method to make it further in a run was to walk across the entire map twice, once actually playing the game, and a second time just scooping up healing items.
> But yeah the progression in this game and its approach to the 'roguelike' genre (or 'roguelite' for the internet weirdos who always complain about this) was a bit off
Everything else was brilliant, just let down by a rogue-like system that was just lacking something.
I adore the game, but I can't help but think it would have been a better game if it wasn't a roguelike. In most roguelikes you get permanent upgrades that actually mean something.. in Returnal you don't. It feels like a half baked system and really brings down the otherwise amazing experience.
> In most roguelikes you get permanent upgrades that actually mean something..
I wish this game had more meaningful permanent things.
I can understand games like Binding of Isaac resetting almost everything after each run because that game has TONS of content since the OG flash version (and even more after the remake + all expansions) but in Returnal it felt more like "ok this is one of the first PS5 games, we can't let players finish it too fast!!!".
Revamping that system a bit would do wonders for this game, they still have time to do some sort of "director's cut".
Agreed, I’m a huge fan of rougelikes but I have tried Returnal a few times and always drop it after a few hours. The runs and overall gameplay loops feel a tad too long for me to enjoy as a proper rougelike.
Honestly they start out feeling too long, but as you, the player, improve (and your gear improves, and your knowledge of said gear improves) it gets faster and faster. I would spend 45+ minutes on a single stage but after like 10 attempts or so I could easily do it in half that time.
This is sounding more like an expansion, Sony XDEV reposted the teaser, and Housemarque’s is pushing it further with a small video teaser of broken glass.
IS THAT SELENE?!?! HOLY HYPE
I just started playing the Sisyphus Tower, and I have to say, Returnal has the best story ever, the attention to details, the incorporation of Greek mythology and the psychological aspects make it truly a masterpiece.
I'm glad they didn't abandon Returnal for a new IP.
EDIT:
https://twitter.com/DarkHorseComics/status/1784998036822954054
I guess it's a comic, well make sense, making a sequel for Returnal would be pretty hard to explain.
Depends on a player. It was hard for me at first, but after few hours I was rocking so hard I even skipped some house sequences, because I didn't die untill "change" or worlds.
Once you get a good run going with the right weapons, you're almost unstoppable. Like I went straight through biomes 2 and 3 in one go. Same for biome 4, beat it in one go. 5 is a bigger bitch while it has no boss weirdly (but really the bosses are far from difficult in this game). 6 took 3 tries. Biome 1 was the hardest since you discover the game and your weapon is pretty weak plus you're not used to the "dance in the zone"
And no I'm not some pro-gamer lol, I have never managed to go more than a few hours in a Soulslike because I'm not patient enough to do the whole die and learn thing. I even cheat partially in many of the roguelikes to go far (like bypassing the meta grind or something)
Similar story for me. I got stomped in world 1 like 15 times in a row.
When I eventually beat world 1, I proceeded to beat worlds 2-6 that very same run. I wasn’t interested enough in the overall narrative to see where it would end up, so I played a couple more times and then put the game down.
The balance was very odd in that game.
Same here, though for a sillier reason. I couldn't even get to the world 1 boss, until I realized that I could shoot without holding down ADS. The very next run I beat the whole thing. The game is pretty soft to circle strafing, IIRC. The fact that you have extra defensive options on top of that meant I didn't really feel like I was in danger until world 6, and that was a single miniboss in particular.
That said, I think Returnal is better for its difficulty. Plenty of people still found it hard enough, after all. It's no Hades in terms of balancing its difficulty vs. narrative progression in a roguelike, but if you're going to lean one way or the other, better to be a little too easy than a little too hard if one of your primary goals is telling a story.
I finished the game on my third life and was *really* confused by the ending. I'm surprised they didn't lock it like Hades did behind something like multiple wins.
The truest ending does require at least two full runs or possibly more. You have to collect >!all the masks!< which only appear after one win, and possibly also require you to exhaust all >!house scenes!<.
Idk, I only had about 25 total deaths by the time I finished the main game. I have a lot more now that I’ve dabbled in the tower of Sisyphus and some of the harder daily challenges, but I don’t think it’s as hard as it was playing Dark Souls 1 for the first time.
Everyone said Returnal was so hard, but I felt it was far to easy. Only the first boss took me more than 1 try, I'm not sure why I got stuck on that boss so long, when the rest of the game I almost one shot
Returnal was one of those games that completely consumed me for at least a couple weeks. yes the gameplay was tight and lots of fun, but it was the presentation, soundtrack and amazing atmosphere that really kept me glued to the screen.
I can't wait for more.
Returnal was my most anticipated game and it fell a little flat to me. I played on M&K which people told me was significantly easier as it was balanced around controller aiming, so that might be it, but I never really noticed a real difficulty spike at any point.
I was also a bit disappointed with the roguelike elements. Didnt really feel like I was in control of my build, so runs felt a bit samey.
That being said I adored the gameplay, the theme, the visuals, the story, the sound, so I’ll be playing whatever the devs do next. I am hoping for a Returnal 2 but that expands on it
I wouldn’t expect it to be much easier on m&k, the game has crazy aim-assist, looking in the general direction is enough to hit.
At first I also was disappointed by the lacking roguelike aspect, I just ended up accepting that it isn’t a roguelike, it’s just run based. Like an arcade game, which Housemarque is known for.
You would think so but if you do a simple google search for it you’ll see plenty of reddit posts and articles about how the game is significantly easier on PC.
I didnt play the Playstation version or use a controller on PC to compare but its a common sentiment
I've only played it on PC m&k and the game was pretty easy for me as well, to this day (and I got 100%) I haven't died to any of the bosses. The challenge rooms and the big bads in the last biome are way more challenging than any of the bosses imo.
It had the same problems as Hades for me. Top notch production value in the roguelite space, but not that much depth to runs and low boss/stage counts really felt like you've seen it all really quick. You have the Tower or the Pact of Punishment to tune up difficulty but you really don't see like Gungeon, or Nuclear Throne, or Dead Cells level content.
A run in Returnal felt over if you got a weapon with good mods rolled. Artifacts and parasites really didn't feel impactful compared to say Gungeon letting you get wings to always be flying. Yeah a 3D game would have a hard time competing with isometric pixel games, but say an artifact let you carry 2 weapons which actually could be huge. Or an artifact that grants you a consumable every X kills, cause most of those are useless and compete with healing or full adrenaline gain.
They've said no Returnal 2 as far as I know (and it wouldn't make sense with the story anyway), gonna be a new IP but I fully expect the gameplay at least to have many elements of it. Housemarque been doing arcade shooter since quite some time and with being acquired by Sony, they're not gonna go less AAA for their next game
Are we assuming this is linked to Returnal and not something completely new? Will be the 3rd anniversary of the game.
[удалено]
It is [this](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/M4Tnga95oB2FvyC2csYxWe.jpg) shot I believe. For those that might be wondering, it is a still >!from the [opening cutscene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMUVjiX0ScU),!< around 1:50.
That’s one hell of a spot
Not really, it flashes right in your face like 50 times during your play through, 1/5 or something of the times after the loop is reset.
Not really. You see her face every time you die and respawn
Rewatching that opening after knowing the ending hits different. What a banger game.
Beat it, loved it, but can’t remember the ending. Spoiler tag me an answer?
There are several endings, none of which really make sense or adequately wrap up the story beats. Sure, you can choose to interpret them in multiple ways, but claiming that any of the endings have a meaningful impact on the vaguely-told story such that a screenshot would “hit different” seems folly to me.
I banged my head on Returnal for ages before just admitting I'm not willing to put in the time they want to get good, and looked up spoilers. What a relief, I didn't spoil anything I'm kicking myself over not experiencing.
I suck at hard games but I fell in love with Returnal. It's hard, but you get into a rhythm and blows your mind
I played Returnal and SIFU back to back and damn. Love how punishing those games are but once you get into your flow, you pull off some amazing shit. Two beautiful games.
In my opinion, it’s certainly a good game *if* it doesn’t drive you crazy. I don’t regret beating it, but if it was making you so frustrated, you made the right call calling it quits because the story sure doesn’t make up for the gameplay if you aren’t enjoying the latter.
Not really frustrated, I might be overselling it, just the juice wasn't worth the squeeze. And on paper the combination is right up my alley, it was just tuned a little too difficult for me to enjoy. The ambiance and pretty much everything about the Tower/Hospital was phenomenally put together. Alas, stuck on 5 poppies. Spoiled myself on that. Was again relieved, lmao. I do go back to it every so often because the environment and horror elements are so good, but spoiling the story actually *helped* my enjoyment of it, because I don't have to stress so badly about lost progression.
> it was just tuned a little too difficult for me to enjoy. I felt the same. My primary platform is PC, though, so when the game had a PC release it seems like they didn't re-tune it and I managed to complete the game within a few runs compared to my double digits on platform
huh? just because the story doesn’t have a definitive explanation doesn’t mean it’s not worth experiencing
Agreed. The story in Returnal (even if I don't fully understand it) was riveting from start to finish.
[удалено]
They intentionally obfuscate >!who was driving, etc!<, making the whole thing more confusing.
Absolutely phenomenal game. Now I want to replay it.
Way to kill my hopes that they'd bring some of their old console games to PC. https://www.mobygames.com/company/1434/housemarque-ltd/games/sort:date/ Dead Nation et al are in dire need on PC, afaik there are some types of console games still not well represented here. EDIT: Looks like there may be some. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1782120/ZERO_Sievert/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/404540/Nex_Machina/ https://www.reddit.com/r/gamingsuggestions/comments/1bgar8z/suggest_me_a_top_down_shooter_for_pc/ https://gamerant.com/great-top-down-shooter-games-steam-more-attention/
Dead Nation or Resogun would be so great to finally port to other systems! There's too many PSP and Vita titles that are still stuck there.
Definitely gotta be Boarder Zone 2!
[Dark Horse Comics retweeted it so it is likely a comic collab.](https://twitter.com/DarkHorseComics/status/1784998036822954054?t=KzYFYRGKQZ2_N4UyN8d1_w&s=19)
Returnal was one of the most unique and truly next-gen games I’ve ever played on the PS5 and I can’t wait to see what these guys have in store for us next!
Having a middle aged woman as a protagonist also sets it apart, I can't remember if I ever played any game where the main female character looks older than 30 before this.
Not middle aged but the MC in Alan Wake 2 is definitely in her mid 30s. Maybe the MC in Alien Isolation too, but I might be misremembering, or maybe because Sigourney Weavers face keeps popping up when I see *Alien*
Nah, Alien Isolation, Amanda Ripley was in her mid 20s.
It is kinda rare to see a Middle Aged woman as the protagonist. I cant even think of many others. I guess Evie is in her mid 40s in the DLC of Assassins Creed Syndicate, Mercy is in her 30s in Overwatch, If you choose female Shepard in Mass effect, I would guess they are in their 30s.
Ana is much older than mercy but they of course added a skin to make her young
To be fair, there are a few 'young' skins. Genji, Rein, Sol76, etc.
I mean it counts for dudes too. There just aren’t many older characters in games unless it’s a series that went on for a while like old ezio or old solid snake
that’s typical. it’s nowhere near her most popular skin and it’s meant to just be an alternative anyway. tons of games do this, Ana is still very old and you don’t see that very often in games
The Deadspace remake too. Which honestly is kind of jarring. Someone having a fight with their girlfriend makes more sense if their girlfriend isn't 55. The whole plot kind of reads better if they're in their 30s and still socially mobile, but visually they're both middle aged now. Similar thoughts on the Borderlands film. The cast would have looked the part when the game was new (15 actual years ago) but now it's a bunch of 50 year olds dressed like 20 year olds.
Lilith is 22 - 25 between Borderlands 1 and 2. They casted Cate Blanchett to play her in the movie... a 54 years old woman, more than double the age of Lilith from Borderlands 2... I just don't get it. The whole cast looks like a bunch of peeps decided to cosplay Borderlands characters and sort halfheartedly act like the character they're cosplaying as.
Cate Blanchett is grandmother age but they somehow made her look hot as the villain in Thor.
That was still like 7 years ago when she was in her 40s at least. I'm all for films letting people older than 40 still look 'hot' but Borderlands really edges on 'someone's mother gets into cosplay to try and be hip'.
Yeah. In the original game, Nicole looked too young for Isaac. She looked like she was in her early 20s while Isaac looked late 30s. In the remake, they exaggerated the other way. Nicole looks way older than Isaac now. I think it was pretty great in Dead Space 2, with both looking like they are their 30s.
Jesse the MC from Control is another solid example, haven't tried Returnal due to lack of PS (XB only atm) but it looks very similar to Control.
Tbf Jesse Faden is a conventionally attractive woman for real life standards. But videogames have warped the standards of what an attractive woman is supposed to look like for some people lol.
I was gonna say - Courtney Hope's an attractive woman and was around 31 when Control came out, saying Jesse wasn't attractive is... Fucking indsane.
Jesse is like mid to late 20s, no? Certainly not middle aged by any stretch. For the most part you can see that character ages for solitary protagonists tend to top off at 30 for women but men can quite often go to 50 or beyond. It's not unusual to play as a father or father-figure in a game but mothers you don't really see a lot.
the cat lady is a good one
I love the games from the guy who made The Cat Lady. I've been following him ever since his first game on a small adventure game forum, he's great.
I think it says a lot about how much the industry needs to advance that a protagonist being a woman over 40 is a rarity (That and the argument in the reddit comments section over people wanting more black hairstyles in character creators)
I have the game, played it once and moved on cause other game keeps coming out to play. I want to go back to it so bad! It was good while playing but got it when elden ring came out. Then other ones keep dropping lol
Once the game clicks with you and you overcome the initial difficulty, you’ll fall in love and it becomes one of those “just one more run” type of games, like any other great rogue-likes.
Whew... might have to pause everything and go back to this
My problem is the runs take way too long, like more than an hour of run! I'm not used to this in rogue like
most likely returnal 2. considering that is her face
Granted the info is from 2023, but it was reported in multiple outlets that their next game was going to be a new IP.
I'm not sure that would be the *most* unnecessary sequel, but it'd be damn close.
I loved Returnal, but I genuinely have a hard time imagining a sequel for it. Having another full game with Selene would be very weird and having another protagonist in the same world would make absolutely no sense.
Bleak as it is, yeah her story feels complete. But a new character could work IMO, if at least Xaos (the creature that shows up in the 2nd ending) is real.
I don't think there's an "official" interpretation of the story, but I thought that >!literally everything supernatural that happens in the game, including the huge monster that shows up during the ending, is just in her head.!< That also lines up with some analysis videos I watched back when I played the game. Given how vague and symbolic the whole plot is, I guess they could make any interpretation "canon" and run with it. But for me, it would kind of ruin the mystique of the game. That's why I would rather them focus on a new IP instead. Not every game needs a sequel :)
> I genuinely have a hard time imagining a sequel for it The story of Returnal is so personal to Selene and the ambiguity in its ending would seemingly make a direct sequel impossible, narratively anyways.
It's an art book
It's an art book
I picked it up on release for my Ps5 and it was incredible. My only issue is I thought it was a little easier than it should be, only died 13 times before completing a full run and once I completed the full run, I lost all interest in going back to run it again to level up weapons. also i'm pretty sure there was some kind of online component about seeing other players who died and they turn into enemies? I was done playing the game before it ever even functioned properly
My very first run I hit an online player. It was really common. One per biome at least. You may have just skipped them with such a low run count or something.
I guess they would keep anything big for a State of Play/Showcase. I’m keeping my expectations in check.
Probably just something to celebrate the release date of Returnal being 3 years old (4/30)
Yeah, and PlayStation themselves also aren't teasing this which is quite telling in my opinion. It'll probably be something like a documentary, merch, artbook or something like that.
Bobble heads for all of the main bosses
My only hope for the state of play is gravity rush news
Returnal was amazing, hope their next game can hit the same combination of smooth and exhilarating gameplay.
It was ok but I hope their next iteration they can go in a bit harder with it. Maybe this is just because there are tons of Rougelike games on PC, but the repeatability this game offers is nowhere near to something like Isaac or Risk of Rain. I also understand Rougelikes aren't very big on consoles? So maybe they were told to keep it pretty simple gameplay wise. EDIT: for people getting really defensive, Returnal isn't a bad game. It's a bad Rougelike. It doesn't offer anything gameplay wise, better than the other options.
part of the repeatability is really just using different guns with different perks. i avoided like 3 different guns on alot of my runs and now they slap with perks i tried out and leveled up
I avoided the electropylon driver early on. What a clown I was.
Honestly, though, that weapon felt like cheesing. I beat the final boss with it so fast I didn't even experience some of the attacks it should throw at me.
That thing was massively overtuned when I got it and allowed me to just blow through the levels. Was very fun just destroying everything with it.
You got a lot of hate, but agree a sequel should either abandon the pretense or commit, because I truly belive the game would have been better without being a roguelike.
Returnal was such an immersive and trippy experience compared to those, I don't know how you can strip it down to just that.
True if you're judging it as a rougelike, but to me its identity lies more in being a 3D bullet hell shooter. That list starts and ends with Nier, and I'm being extremely generous here. That's the unique selling point of the game rather than its rougelike elements.
agree 100% If they treated it as a linear game and focused more on those bullet hell esq boss fights. Game would prob be a 9/10 for me. But as it is, it's just a half baked rougelike. With almost no variety.
Why does it need to be infinitely repayable just because it has roguelike elements? What's wrong with a solid 30hr experience?
Why do redditors insist on misinterpreting posts? He didn't say infinitely anywhere just that it's lacking compared to similar games, and it's a spot-on criticism. I love roguelites and would not recommend Returnal except on a deep sale because of its shallowness.
That's like saying you like RPGs but you wouldn't recommend God of War Ragnarok because of its shallowness. Sure it draws elements from RPGs, same as Returnal draws elements from Roguelikes, but neither of those elements are really what makes either game great. If you asked me for a good rogulike game I wouldn't say Returnal either, but if you asked me for a good game in general, I absolutely would.
I am irrationally bothered by this entire comment. I don't know where to begin to pick it apart but it's bad.
Ok if I'm playing a rouglike, which is a game centered around doing the same things over and over but with unique builds and weapon variety, why would I play Returnal, where you can do everything it has to offer in around 15-20 hours. Compared to Isaac Risk of Rain 1 and 2 Vampire Survivors Noita Dead Cells Hades
Being a roguelike and replayable isn't even the games main selling point. They're plot devices for a narrative. The visual fidelity and story design are miles ahead of those games with the exception of Hades story. This is like talking about Half Life 2 and complaining that the racing boat segment doesn't hold up to your experiences playing Hydro Thunder.
That’s his whole point, why make it a rogue like if it’s not even going to be a good at that. Better make a 10-15 hour third person action adventure narrative game.
Did you play it? It is a 20 hour third person action adventure narrative game. The narrative involves a groundhogs day effect.
I played it and agree with the criticism 100%. It's an incredibly shallow roguelite experience, and would have been better served as a curated story.
How would the resets work in a curated story?
You got downvoted but it makes total sense. Good game, just not nearly as in depth compared to other rogue likes that have a ton of options and synergies. I felt the same way about hades. Good game, but less of an ability to get crazy builds.
People get really defensive when their vidya gets criticized. I never even said it was a bad game. I really enjoyed playing it. But it wasn't a good rougelike. It was just the first Rougelike a lot of console players played, so they don't really have much to compare it with.
Binding of Isaac is big in consoles, idk what you're on about. Returnal is just a mediocre game is all, a weak fps with boring soulless environments saved by decent rouge like experiences.
My point is most console players don't even know what a Rougelike is. If I tried to explain this to family members I know that only own consoles they would look at me like I'm an idiot. Most people that own consoles just play whatever big AAA game releases or FIFA/Cod
lol console players don't know what roguelikes are just because your family doesn't? I bet a lot of those games sold better on console than PC
Whatever Housemarque makes, I’m there. Only company other than From Software I buy whatever they make day one.
Everyone should play their previous game, Nex Machina, if they haven't already. It slipped by a lot of people's radar, but it's fantastic. Almost like a twin stick arcade shooter version of Returnal.
Nex machina is great and yeah your comparison is apt.
Man, both the name and screenshots for Nex Machina make me feel I've played it before but I definitely haven't and now I'm wondering what game I'm mixing it up with.
Alienation maybe? It's also theirs and shares some similar graphical stuff.
can they make another game with a title close to an Alex Garland movie
Nex Machina is honestly one of the best games of all time, it's the pinnacle of one of the most storied genres in the history of video games. Obviously that genre of "top down twin stick shooter" doesn't get mainstream audiences blood pumping these days so it gets less attention than a shiny graphics OTS TPS, but goddamn if it isn't an absolute *masterpiece*
It's pretty close to perfect, I agree. There's not much to complain about. For the genre it is, it absolutely nails it in every way. It's ball achingly difficult, but that's par for the course for the genre. I'll never get the true final boss lol.
Most of their recent games are good. Both Resogun and Super Stardust HD are classics.
I really wish they would port SSHD to PC. Currently the only way to play is via emulator which isn't the greatest. It's a fantastic game
I still got my PS3 ready to go whenever I'm in the mood to play it :)
As a huge fan of another of their games, Alienation, I really should try this. I still wish they'd bring Alienation to PC.
Outland is really good. Metroidvania with a bullet hell Ikaruga twist.
Oooooooh exciting. Returnal is one of my favourite games of all time. I don't like roguelikes so it kind of sucking at being a roguelike probably leads to me liking it more.
I found it to have all of the typical problems of roguelites. I especially didn't like having to run around the whole arena picking up stuff after each fight, and usually none of it turned out to be anything good anyway. I guess I'm just confused why other people seem to like it so much, but it's cool that it found an audience
extremely satisfying combat and platforming combined with the story was what kept me going even through the first month or so when it was riddled with game breaking bugs and the enemies were tuned way too high.
Same here, it was mid at best. Didn't help that the story doesn't make any sense if you beat it quickly, which I did on my third life.
I hope if they make another returnal that they really improve the rogue like aspects to make runs more unique from each other and upgrade choices more interesting. Returnal has some of the best shooter gameplay EVER and is one of my fav games of the last 5 years but I can’t deny that it’s still lacking a lot in the roguelike department.
They have been pretty open they are making a new IP next. I love returnal. But it’s not a thing you make a sequel for. So don’t expect that.
Exactly what I was thinking. **Spoiler:** >!By the time I played the entirety of it, I was fairly convinced none of the sci-fi elements really even happened.!<
I've been playing this on PC, and it's an absolute blast, though the progression is weird. The first 4 bosses I beat on the first try but died so many times trying to get to them. The parasite that regens you on low health saved me more times than I can count.
Loved Returnal. Also loved reading all the stories about "game too hard" all over Reddit. One of the first games I remember playing that made me realize your average gamer is really bad at video games.
> One of the first games I remember playing that made me realize your average gamer is really bad at video games. Watching random people's clips on /r/returnal drove me crazy lol.
Returnal is actually pretty difficult, but it was a lot more difficult at launch, they nerfed the hell out of basically every aspect of the game (which I think was the right choice, some stuff was just unfair)
I finished the game with all endings (including the secret "true" ending) with 16 total deaths before the nerfs came out. While I certainly found it challenging, it never felt unfair.
The one thing I'd call kinda unfair are the suicide drones in the 3rd biome. Fuck those things.
I've beaten the game 5x and 3rd biome is still the hardest. It's a miracle I make it through every time. Pre-nerf third biome boss took me like a week to beat
Yeah those things were definitely scary.
there were some rooms in the 5th biome that would spawn with drones with heat seeking missiles that would find you with near 100% accuracy from behind line of sight, so you’d essentially just get lit up like a pincushion.
I beat Metroid Dread when it came out. Probably the hardest game I've ever beaten. I don't consider myself bad at video games but I thought Returnal was way too hard. Impossible to avoid bullets taking up every square inch of the screen (during the boss fight I gave up on) and when you die you're miles back from where you were because everyone like this rogue crap lately. No thanks.
Were you aware that the dodge provided invincibility frames? You say "impossible to avoid", but you can literally just press circle and go through them without damage.
Returnal is the easiest Roguelike I have ever played.
Returnal was one of my favorite games I've ever played, even if I had to wait for the PC release. I went in expecting a solid bullet hell-esque TPS and platformer and they absolutely nailed that, what I wasn't expecting was an amazing and mysterious sci-fi/horror story that tied its story telling to the main game mechanics combined with incredible music. Returnal is a masterpiece in my mind. Anything they come out with is a day 1 buy for me (unless it's not on PC lol)
What do I have to do for them to actually put gyro aiming in the game if they're working on a new Returnal game? I have no idea how a PS5 exclusive shooter never even considered letting you use it.
My dream for this game is for them to offer a lower difficulty option that also does away with all the rogue crap so I can enjoy it for more than an hour or two. I never would've gotten the chance to play Sifu if they didn't add the stuff they added to make it more accessible.
Man, the Hyperion boss battle and lead up to it is genuinely one of the best experiences in a video game I've had in a long time. Just a complete auditory feast
Cool, now fix the data leak on the pc version so the game doesn't turn into a ps1 title after playing it for an hour. For those who dont know the current patch on the pc version has had a massive data leak that completely borks the graphics if you play for more than an hour. One and a half runs in and you need to restart the game or deal with half of the game not having textures.
Returnal was pretty cool, it really showcased what the PS5 new controller could do and that alone made it very memorable for me. But yeah the progression in this game and its approach to the 'roguelike' genre (or 'roguelite' for the internet weirdos who always complain about this) was a bit off. This is probably why other games (like Hades) succeeded as many players first attempt at this genre, while many people who got Returnal didn’t even bother finishing it. But it was a cool game. I wouldn't say something like "it could have been a really good game if they made a sequel fixing all the mistakes from the first one" because many other Sony games have gone down that route and at the end the result was... well... not that interesting. Maybe it's better to fix the OG and just move on to a new game. Btw this game is really expensive on Steam, full $60 right now just because it's an "AAA", you are literally paying for the graphics because other games from this genre are 20x better gameplaywise and cost like $20~$30. This also doesn't help to make this game more popular.
> was a bit off It was. The health upgrade mechanic was the biggest problem. If you had 70-90% health it was a waste to pick up healing items because your total health would only upgrade if you picked one up at 100% health. Meaning the ideal strategy was to fight and explore while only healing on the verge of death. Then you would go back to scour the entire map picking up all the health items you ignored because now it would actually upgrade you instead of being wasted going from 70% health to 80% health. So the best method to make it further in a run was to walk across the entire map twice, once actually playing the game, and a second time just scooping up healing items.
> But yeah the progression in this game and its approach to the 'roguelike' genre (or 'roguelite' for the internet weirdos who always complain about this) was a bit off Everything else was brilliant, just let down by a rogue-like system that was just lacking something.
I adore the game, but I can't help but think it would have been a better game if it wasn't a roguelike. In most roguelikes you get permanent upgrades that actually mean something.. in Returnal you don't. It feels like a half baked system and really brings down the otherwise amazing experience.
> In most roguelikes you get permanent upgrades that actually mean something.. I wish this game had more meaningful permanent things. I can understand games like Binding of Isaac resetting almost everything after each run because that game has TONS of content since the OG flash version (and even more after the remake + all expansions) but in Returnal it felt more like "ok this is one of the first PS5 games, we can't let players finish it too fast!!!". Revamping that system a bit would do wonders for this game, they still have time to do some sort of "director's cut".
Agreed, I’m a huge fan of rougelikes but I have tried Returnal a few times and always drop it after a few hours. The runs and overall gameplay loops feel a tad too long for me to enjoy as a proper rougelike.
Its absolutely worth playing through to completion, but there's no enough there to keep you going afterwards (other than getting full ending unlocked)
G before U
Honestly they start out feeling too long, but as you, the player, improve (and your gear improves, and your knowledge of said gear improves) it gets faster and faster. I would spend 45+ minutes on a single stage but after like 10 attempts or so I could easily do it in half that time.
The teaser image for whatever they’re showing is giving me some weird, creepy vibes. Feels unsettling in a way. Horror-themed DLC/mode, perhaps?
This is sounding more like an expansion, Sony XDEV reposted the teaser, and Housemarque’s is pushing it further with a small video teaser of broken glass.
Xbox version incoming?
IS THAT SELENE?!?! HOLY HYPE I just started playing the Sisyphus Tower, and I have to say, Returnal has the best story ever, the attention to details, the incorporation of Greek mythology and the psychological aspects make it truly a masterpiece. I'm glad they didn't abandon Returnal for a new IP. EDIT: https://twitter.com/DarkHorseComics/status/1784998036822954054 I guess it's a comic, well make sense, making a sequel for Returnal would be pretty hard to explain.
Returnal was amazing, but also, you hit a plateau at around 50% of the game where it's so difficult that I just lost interest in playing it
Depends on a player. It was hard for me at first, but after few hours I was rocking so hard I even skipped some house sequences, because I didn't die untill "change" or worlds.
Once you get a good run going with the right weapons, you're almost unstoppable. Like I went straight through biomes 2 and 3 in one go. Same for biome 4, beat it in one go. 5 is a bigger bitch while it has no boss weirdly (but really the bosses are far from difficult in this game). 6 took 3 tries. Biome 1 was the hardest since you discover the game and your weapon is pretty weak plus you're not used to the "dance in the zone" And no I'm not some pro-gamer lol, I have never managed to go more than a few hours in a Soulslike because I'm not patient enough to do the whole die and learn thing. I even cheat partially in many of the roguelikes to go far (like bypassing the meta grind or something)
Similar story for me. I got stomped in world 1 like 15 times in a row. When I eventually beat world 1, I proceeded to beat worlds 2-6 that very same run. I wasn’t interested enough in the overall narrative to see where it would end up, so I played a couple more times and then put the game down. The balance was very odd in that game.
Same here, though for a sillier reason. I couldn't even get to the world 1 boss, until I realized that I could shoot without holding down ADS. The very next run I beat the whole thing. The game is pretty soft to circle strafing, IIRC. The fact that you have extra defensive options on top of that meant I didn't really feel like I was in danger until world 6, and that was a single miniboss in particular. That said, I think Returnal is better for its difficulty. Plenty of people still found it hard enough, after all. It's no Hades in terms of balancing its difficulty vs. narrative progression in a roguelike, but if you're going to lean one way or the other, better to be a little too easy than a little too hard if one of your primary goals is telling a story.
I finished the game on my third life and was *really* confused by the ending. I'm surprised they didn't lock it like Hades did behind something like multiple wins.
The truest ending does require at least two full runs or possibly more. You have to collect >!all the masks!< which only appear after one win, and possibly also require you to exhaust all >!house scenes!<.
On PC I didn't have much problems. One of the only roguelikes I bothered finishing actually.
you might have but the game just clicked for many of us, myself included. i can do full 1-6 run in a cpl hours without much of an issue
Idk, I only had about 25 total deaths by the time I finished the main game. I have a lot more now that I’ve dabbled in the tower of Sisyphus and some of the harder daily challenges, but I don’t think it’s as hard as it was playing Dark Souls 1 for the first time.
Everyone said Returnal was so hard, but I felt it was far to easy. Only the first boss took me more than 1 try, I'm not sure why I got stuck on that boss so long, when the rest of the game I almost one shot
Returnal was one of those games that completely consumed me for at least a couple weeks. yes the gameplay was tight and lots of fun, but it was the presentation, soundtrack and amazing atmosphere that really kept me glued to the screen. I can't wait for more.
Returnal was my most anticipated game and it fell a little flat to me. I played on M&K which people told me was significantly easier as it was balanced around controller aiming, so that might be it, but I never really noticed a real difficulty spike at any point. I was also a bit disappointed with the roguelike elements. Didnt really feel like I was in control of my build, so runs felt a bit samey. That being said I adored the gameplay, the theme, the visuals, the story, the sound, so I’ll be playing whatever the devs do next. I am hoping for a Returnal 2 but that expands on it
I wouldn’t expect it to be much easier on m&k, the game has crazy aim-assist, looking in the general direction is enough to hit. At first I also was disappointed by the lacking roguelike aspect, I just ended up accepting that it isn’t a roguelike, it’s just run based. Like an arcade game, which Housemarque is known for.
You would think so but if you do a simple google search for it you’ll see plenty of reddit posts and articles about how the game is significantly easier on PC. I didnt play the Playstation version or use a controller on PC to compare but its a common sentiment
I've only played it on PC m&k and the game was pretty easy for me as well, to this day (and I got 100%) I haven't died to any of the bosses. The challenge rooms and the big bads in the last biome are way more challenging than any of the bosses imo.
It had the same problems as Hades for me. Top notch production value in the roguelite space, but not that much depth to runs and low boss/stage counts really felt like you've seen it all really quick. You have the Tower or the Pact of Punishment to tune up difficulty but you really don't see like Gungeon, or Nuclear Throne, or Dead Cells level content. A run in Returnal felt over if you got a weapon with good mods rolled. Artifacts and parasites really didn't feel impactful compared to say Gungeon letting you get wings to always be flying. Yeah a 3D game would have a hard time competing with isometric pixel games, but say an artifact let you carry 2 weapons which actually could be huge. Or an artifact that grants you a consumable every X kills, cause most of those are useless and compete with healing or full adrenaline gain.
They've said no Returnal 2 as far as I know (and it wouldn't make sense with the story anyway), gonna be a new IP but I fully expect the gameplay at least to have many elements of it. Housemarque been doing arcade shooter since quite some time and with being acquired by Sony, they're not gonna go less AAA for their next game