Set in the future, a female pilot named, Selene Vassos crash lands on an alien planet to look for a mysterious signal. While investigating the broadcast, Selene encounters a horde of hostiles. After they defeat her, she wakes up from where she crash landed. Turns out to be some sort of time loop like “Groundhog Day” and “Edge of Tomorrow.” Selene must adapt to her survival instincts if she wants to make it out alive, find the broadcast and undo the time loop.
“Returnal” was officially released in 2021 (same year Squid Game became popular) on PlayStation 5, it received praise from critics and gamers alike. Housemarque’s latest game, “Saros” is out in both physical and digital format. It has similar gameplay aspects and concept like Returnal. Anyway, it’s Halloween Month. The reason why I picked Returnal as a thematic choice for the spooky season? It has elements of psychological horror and creepy sci-fi atmosphere.
Today’s review contains no SPOILERS.
Light & Dark Aspects
Light: Jane Perry did a superb job for her performance as Selene.
Graphics are Class A gorgeous showing what the PS5’s hardware can do.
Bobby Krlic (Beau Is Afraid, Midsommar, Beef) orchestrated the soundtrack.
Gameplay/Mechanics
- Presented as a rougelike bullet hell third-person shooter, you play as Selene fighting her way through a horde of enemies in an attempt to undo a time loop. If you die, you’ll be sent back to the crashed ship.
- Combat’s all about shooting foes, dodging via dash and sometimes a one hit melee kill on certain targets.
- Weapons are unique. Various ones have an alternate fire mode. Defeating enemies unlocks a permanent perk.
- Consumables such as a health kit, shield, energy barrier and a projectile portal are useful.
- If you die, you’ll lose all your precious gear. Resetting your stats and carrying a sidearm.
- Adrenaline Meter increases every time you kill an enemy, you get a suit enhancement maximize to five. If you get hit or caught in a hazard, it resets back to zero.
- Scan items, new weapons, artifacts and glyphs.
- Malignant items like keys and chests are scattered in various areas. Most of them contain a negative effect. If you pick an unpolished one, you’ll get a malfunction.
- Keys can unlock loot or a new area randomize with enemies or a fabrication shop.
- Malfunctions act a penalty debuffing a random stat. For example, you won’t help able to pick up new weapons. In order to remove the negative effect, you must complete a task like killing a number of enemies.
- Equip a parasite. A random one has a positive perk, but can also have a negative upon attachment.
- Obsolites and Ether are currencies. The former’s dropped by enemies and found as a yellow solid rock. Buy upgrades and consumables. The latter can be used to unlock permanent items at a monolith near your crashed ship. Ether can also be spent cleansing malignant items preventing you from having a malfunction. Save enough for a checkpoint that prevents you from going back to the ship.
- Collect audio logs recorded by Selene as she share her thoughts on enduring her encounters:
- Enemy Variety featuring organic and robotic creatures from different locations. They’re tough as nails.
- Defeating a boss unlocks a house segment. Giving it a psychological horror vibe. It gave me the creeps. Good thing a single Jump Scare wasn’t present.
- Boss Battles are super hard. It’ll take a few days to familiarize a boss’s attack pattern. If you time its attacks by dashing a laser/energy ball, you won’t lose a portion of your health. Like “Elden Ring,” defeating a boss gives a you a sense of accomplishment. A euphoric feeling.
- “Tower of Sisyphus” serves as an endless arcade mode. You battle a wave of enemies in twenty rooms climbing your way to the top of each phase. A boss battle pays off in the final room. Some rooms will even give you items and upgrades. Be careful, some also contain hazards.
- Photo Mode’s included. Pause the game and take an awesome snapshot. I love it when Photo Mode’s in a game.
Given this is a rougelike game, it’s gonna grind your gears. Me personally, the subgenre’s intended to let you adjust how you know your way around enemies, hazards and boss battles. Trial and error.
It took me 48 hours to unlock the true ending. I tried out Tower of Sisyphus. It took me 3 hours to gather a few audio logs, glyphs and five white flowers. The latter’s needed to complete a story arc regarding Selene. I spent a total of 51 hours. Not too shabby.
If you’re not used to rougelike games, it might take you a while. I looked up a YouTube video of a gamer who completed Acts 1-2 in less than an hour. Not kidding, it’s a speedrun video.
Random Thoughts
- I wouldn’t last a few minutes if somebody challenge me to do a speedrun involving a rougelike game.
- First time I heard about Returnal, was from Angry Joe/Joe Vargas. He posted his “Top 10 Best Games of 2021.” Joe ranked it Number 6.
Dark: I couldn’t find nothing wrong. I’m giving Housemarque an Extra Point for making a flawless game as possible.
Final Verdict: A, FOR APEX!
Returnal’s probably my favorite game of 2021. I had a blast spending 51 hours studying an enemy and boss’ attack patterns, getting to know Selene and audio recordings. If you’re into rougelike games or seeking a challenge, buy this game. Definitely worth your spare time.
