Returnal

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United States
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FuriousDemon
Wonder how many of you lucky PS5 owners are playing Returnal?
For the longest time, I didn’t have this game on my radar. I knew it was coming, but it looked somehow not very exciting for me, even though I’m a big sci-fi fan. Due to high praise from the critics and intriguing gameplay footage that was shown just before the launch of the game, I decided to give it a go.

I was a bit worried because I was kind of burned by Demons Souls. I like Demons Souls, but I didn’t love it and the high difficulty is really punishing sometimes, plus the gameplay feels a bit dated, given it’s a remake of an older game that makes sense. Returnal, at first glance, seemed like it could be Demons Souls but in space.

After playing it for a while, there are definitely similarities, like high difficulty for example and cool boss battles, but at the same time it’s a much better game (to me). Maybe it’s the sci-fi, maybe it’s the intriguing story, maybe it’s a much more fast paced gameplay, compared to a slow and methodical gameplay of Souls, maybe it’s excellent visuals, sounds, and Dual Sense implementation. No matter what it is, I’m not regretting getting the game. I just died to the first boss after killing him a few times and seeing multiple forms of it, and I’m excited to get back at it. No idea how exactly I’ll be able to defeat him, but I hope for some good items and just getting better at the game. I did have some good parasites on me this time, like the one that heals you at low integrity and the one that gives you an extra life basically, but it was still not enough. Once the boss starts jumping at you while at the same time using his other skills, things get really tough. Anyway, I’m looking forward to going at him soon.

Highly recommend the game, if you are at all interested it in and haven’t decided yet.
 
I was lucky to get my PS5 a few months ago at Shopper’s (a drug store nobody ever goes looking for consoles at).

Returnal, along with Demon Souls were the first proper PS5 games I bought. I can report after playing it for a bit that Returnal is pretty sick.

It’s got the perfect balance of the exploration and mystery I love from Metroid Prime, it’s got the difficulty and boss fights of the Souls games, it’s got the rogue-like and gun-related gameplay from Enter the Gungeon.

If this is how the PS5 is kicking off for me, this is going to be a good generation.
 
Just beat the first boss! I didn’t even die once during the fight, just used integrity restoring consumable. I had a parasite that revives you just in case, but gladly didn’t need it. It helped to have farmed up a bit before the fight and get a level 4 carbine. Feels like having a higher tier weapon during boss fights is a must, at least for someone like me who isn’t very good. I’m betting highly skilled players can beat the whole game with the basic pistol.
 
I love this game so, so much. The atmosphere, the soundtrack (my god, the soundtrack), the audio design, etc. The game is so heavily inspired by Alien that it makes my head spin. There's some DOOM and Metroid in there too which is also fan-damn-tastic.

I'm on the second area and haven't progressed further because I died and had to start over, and then I died twice more after that and ragequit. :lol: Haven't played it much today – though I will soon – because the second I turn it on...nothing else is being played.
 
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I probably would have bought this game but I am not buying at the current price as whilst it looks lovely I cannot justify the price tag.

I am also off put by the 'no save' and have to start over if you die, I know this comment has been made elsewhere and heard by the developer but not sure if anything will change there but this is one I will pick up in sales at some point.
 
I probably would have bought this game but I am not buying at the current price as whilst it looks lovely I cannot justify the price tag.

I am also off put by the 'no save' and have to start over if you die, I know this comment has been made elsewhere and heard by the developer but not sure if anything will change there but this is one I will pick up in sales at some point.
My thoughts exactly. I think the game looks great and I really wanna play it, but £70 plus I can't guarantee I'll have 4 or 5 hours spare for a decent run puts me off for now.
 
I would say runs are not that long. Rarely it goes longer than 45 minutes per run. Granted, I'm only now getting to second boss, but still, it's not as bad as I initially thought it could be. Probably trying to beat the whole game in one session could be a 4-5 hour run, but by the time I get that good I'm guessing they'll patch a save state in.
 
I just beat the second boss last night. I find personally that runs tend to drag on for a while depending on how quickly the entrances to the other biomes decide to spawn in the overgrown forest. I can have runs that last a few minutes in the citadel to ones that take me half an hour to get there.
 
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I really wanted to get it but having read reviews and player comments about not being able to save in the middle of runs which can last 5-6 hours I immediately decided to never spend a penny on it. People are losing progress because their game updates. That should never happen and they absolutely should have considered this at the game design stage.
 
I really wanted to get it but having read reviews and player comments about not being able to save in the middle of runs which can last 5-6 hours I immediately decided to never spend a penny on it. People are losing progress because their game updates. That should never happen and they absolutely should have considered this at the game design stage.
The 5-6 hour run thing is definitely a bummer but in my experience, the average run lasts about 50 minutes and there are "soft" save points in the game. For example, when you get items that you need to progress to the next biome, or a boss you've beaten remains beaten. Then at the halfway point there's a real save point too.

Personally I'm more than happy with the current system but can see why people would be frustrated.
 
To stay fully in the theme, I think it's fitting to resurrect this thread now that the PC version is out. :D

Haven't played a whole lot yet, but looks and plays fantastic so far. Audio is the best I've heard in a game since ages. I do feel I need to treat this game differently from other shooters/game, as in it doesn't really have a beginning or an ending and playing a few minutes, suspending or dying is a perfectly valid way to play this game. No need to rush anything, you'll be back eventually.
 
I love this game. Got it on PS5 maybe a month ago, though I haven't been able to beat the game yet. Excellent music, atmosphere, plot and the gameplay is just addicting no matter how bad I am at the game.

You will learn things as you go, of course, but I have been telling my brother (who got it on PC just today) that patience is key. Do not get frustrated when you die during a long cycle, just learn and keep at it. Despite being designed to replay over and over, it doesn't feel super repetitive to me at least. Cool to see that it came out on PC, think it deserves more attention.
 
I'd love to pick it up but I've heard it doesn't perform well on the Steam Deck and that's my only option. Maybe if it releases on GeForce Now it'll tempt me to sign up for that, or maybe Valve will work their magic again as they did with Elden Ring, but I've heard performance can vary quite significantly depending on how the proc gen shakes out.

For now it's on my "games I'll play in a few years when the next Deck is out" list, as I'm sure most 3D games released from today onwards will be, but I mean I waited until 2020 to play Dishonoured so I'm a patient guy.
 
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Yeah, I wouldn't pick this up for Steam Deck either. Barely 30FPS and looks like crap.
 
I love this game. Got it on PS5 maybe a month ago, though I haven't been able to beat the game yet. Excellent music, atmosphere, plot and the gameplay is just addicting no matter how bad I am at the game.

You will learn things as you go, of course, but I have been telling my brother (who got it on PC just today) that patience is key. Do not get frustrated when you die during a long cycle, just learn and keep at it. Despite being designed to replay over and over, it doesn't feel super repetitive to me at least. Cool to see that it came out on PC, think it deserves more attention.
That is where I failed, the frustration got bigger the further I got into completing a level and died.

A good game but definately not one for me, I said the the same thing about demons souls.
 
That is where I failed, the frustration got bigger the further I got into completing a level and died.

A good game but definately not one for me, I said the the same thing about demons souls.
For sure, if it's not for you it's not for you. While I never felt frustrated with the dying I would admit the difficulty of the game might be a tad too steep. You do almost need to play perfectly without getting hit by enemies to make it through a cycle. Despite that, the game was fun enough for that not to bother me, at least.

Demons Souls is a different story for me. It wasn't a fun game to play so I was not into it.
 
If you approach this game like the typical shooter campaign then you'll likely end up being frustrated. But if you treat dying as an integral part of the experience and think of it being more about the journey than the destination it makes much more sense. I had a similar feeling with Deathloop.
 
Got past the first boss. Really liking this game so far. It's hard, but not so hard that you think it's impossible. Whenever I die I always feel like I could make an improvement or change rather than blaming the game or giving up. It helps a lot if the RNG is in your favor though: I got +10% damage, +10% protection and Adrenaline Leech and the Astronaut figurine during the run where I was able to finish the first boss. The Astronaut saved my butt there in the third phase; didn't realise it spawns you right back in where you died, I assumed it would reset the boss, but it didn't. :) I'm by no means a perfect player and definitely don't have the reflexes I had as a kid, so the game permitting errors is nice, I assumed it was more brutal. 👍

Did notice some difference in unlocks between my game and what's mentioned on wiki's etc. E.g. I got the House Key before killing the first boss. Cthonos also, though not on first death.
 
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