Review Copy Provided by PlayStation.
Over the years Finnish developer Housemarque
has become well known for their fast and frantic arcade-style games
like Resogun and Matterfall.
Their newest title, Returnal, retains the intense and addictive gameplay
that the studio is known for,
but goes far beyond any of its predecessors in ambition and scope.
The story revolves around Selene,
a deep space scout who crashes on an alien planet
while tracking a mysterious signal called White Shadow.
Now, stranded and alone on a shape-shifting world,
Selene must unravel the secrets of the planet and herself in order to return home.
The story is mostly laid out in a fractured manner,
through brief flashes of haunting imagery, audio logs,
and segments where you explore a house that dive deeper into Selene's psyche.
It's not the most accessible story, but it's deeply intriguing and easy to get invested in.
At its core, Returnal is a roguelike with many of the elements you'd expect
like running through shifting environments, collecting loot, and repeating the cycle once you die.
There are a total of six different biomes to explore,
which are divided up into two different sequences.
For example, the first always consists of the Overgrown Ruins,
Crimson Wastes, and Derelict Citadel
and always in that order.
However, room layouts, enemy compositions, items, and weapons
change for each run.
Each area is also fairly large and packed with enemies to fight
and loot to find.
It isn't uncommon to spend an hour or more in a single area.
However, out of the six biomes, two of them are very similar to one another.
It makes sense in the context of the story, but
the similarities diminish that refreshing appeal of entering a new area,
especially since the other biomes all have strong, distinct identities.
Returnal is a challenging game.
Encounters are frantic bullet hell spectacles that demand your full attention.
There’s a variety of foes to take on like menacing robots and
hideous tentacle-ridden creatures that feel like something created by Lovecraft,
all willing and waiting to put your skills to the test.
All the biomes also contain their own unique bullet hell-fueled boss fights,
which are a lot of fun and some of the highlights of the game.
And while getting to and beating a boss is challenging on its own,
once you've defeated one,
you're no longer required to fight that boss again on subsequent runs,
alleviating some of the stress and making each boss kill feel like a checkpoint.
It's worth mentioning though that once you die, you always return to the crash site.
So you'll still need to make your way through the first zone and find the entrance to the next.
Combat is fantastic.
Sprinting around at high speeds and dashing through enemy attacks is incredibly satisfying,
and the weaponry at your disposal all feels great.
There's a lot going on with each weapon,
and unlike games like Hades, you don't choose your weapon at the start.
Instead, you always begin with the pistol and pick up more guns along the way.
There's a wide variety to choose from like the carbine rifle, shotgun, and rocket launcher.
Each also comes equipped with a random alt-fire
like a grenade launcher or electrical attack.
There are also additional stats to consider like
increased damage and stability,
as well as traits that give your weapon bonus effects like
a portal that shoots out a laser beam or extra waves of damage.
Plus, using weapons in combat raises weapon proficiency,
which in turn, increases the level of weapons that you can find,
encouraging you to fight instead of running away when you have the chance.
There's a lot of factors to consider when choosing a weapon,
but it never feels too overwhelming or like it's dragging down the pace.
You can easily stick with one or two weapon types you like and progress,
but there's also a lot of room for experimentation as well.
Returnal also pushes you to avoid taking damage, rewarding you with adrenaline levels
that give you buffs like increased weapon proficiency and sword damage.
These perks are great and can give you an edge in combat,
but if you get hit at all, you lose your adrenaline and need to start over.
It's a simple yet rewarding system that feels good to earn and maintain.
Like most roguelikes, Returnal has a sense of progression even in defeat,
although it's not as generous as some other games
since the main thing you retain is ether.
It's a valuable resource, used to help you safely gather items on your runs,
but there are no permanent upgrades to spend it on.
So rather than slowly building up power,
you need to adapt and overcome for each run.
Returnal does have some interesting ways to collect ether too, such as finding the bodies of other players
and avenging them by taking down the foe that killed them.
There is some equipment you can find and keep permanently,
but these items are focused on exploration rather than combat.
There’s a grappling hook and an ability that lets you traverse hazardous surfaces,
allowing you to reach once inaccessible areas.
These upgrades give an almost Metroidvania-style feeling to exploration,
especially when revisiting areas.
It may not seem like a lot at first,
but each new device feels like it unlocks exciting opportunities
to explore in each zone.
During each run, there are numerous items and pieces of equipment to collect.
These include consumables like healing or defensive items;
Silphium Resin which increases your max health;
artifacts that give you passive upgrades;
and parasites that give both buffs and debuffs.
However, many of these items often come with a cost
and have a chance of inflicting malfunctions that range in severity.
Malfunctions can be removed by performing certain actions or using an item,
but if you let them stack up too much, they can really hinder you.
It's a nice touch that just makes every decision feel a little more meaningful.
As a roguelike, Returnal is meant to be replayed several times.
The credits roll once you've completed all six biomes,
but the story doesn't end there.
We've put over 20 hours into the game so far,
but there are still secrets and mysteries taunting us with cryptic hints
that we still haven’t been able to unravel.
Keeping in line with Housemarque's arcadey heritage,
there are daily challenges you can access on your ship,
and you can compete against other players on the leaderboards
to earn yourself some extra ether.
It's not the most ambitious or fancy addition,
but the challenges are generally fun
and add some nice shake-ups to the gameplay with modifiers
to keep you coming back.
From a technical standpoint, our overall experience with the game has been fairly smooth
with only very minor performance drops
a few times during chaotic moments.
However, there is noticeable lag anytime you open and close your map.
It's not a deal-breaker, but it can be jarring, especially during intense battles.
There is a day-one patch planned to address issues like these
so hopefully, they'll be worked out for release.
Visually, it looks great, especially with all of its particle effects going off in combat,
and the audio sounds crisp and clean.
It also makes great use of the DualSense controller, like
holding down the trigger halfway to aim
and all the way to use your alt-fire.
But if you prefer not to use adaptive triggers,
you can easily change the control scheme in the menu.
Returnal is a great debut for Housmarque on the PS5.
The $70 price tag may be off-putting for some,
but it makes a great case for itself thanks to excellent gameplay,
an intriguing narrative, and replayability.
It would be nice if some of the areas felt more distinct from one another
and there are a few tech issues left to iron out.
Regardless, Returnal is a blast to play
and worth going down the rabbit hole in search of its secrets.
Final score: 8.5 out of 10.
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Review Copy Provided by PlayStation.