"Returnal" definitely requires patience and perseverance, but it never felt like a waste of time. The gameplay is strangely addictive, with fast-paced and incredibly fluid combat, highly responsive controls, and sleek graphics. Even if you lose all your progress every time you get killed, rooms pop out in different orders and with random loot, making each "cycle" a different experience. Luck plays a crucial role, as weapons and artifacts can dramatically change the outcome of a boss fight. Players are also asked to deal with risk management, as buffs can cause "malfunctions" to your equipment. The game is indeed challenging but gets better after some hours of practice. The Citadel got me close to rage quitting, but the path afterward was relatively smooth.
Even though I was attracted by the dark sci-fi atmosphere and the way they turned roguelite gameplay into a plot device, the mystery behind Selene's cycles leaves much room for interpretation. Narrative sequences are cryptic and extremely short, but after entering the house the first couple of times, it was pretty easy to guess where the story was heading. I just wished we would get more details in the end.
Body
tips
Formatting [b]text[/b] - bold [i]text[/i] - italic [s]strikethrough[/s] - strikethrough [tt]text[/tt] - fixed-width type [color red]text[/color] - colored text (full list) [spoiler]text[/spoiler] - Text hidden with spoiler cover [https://www.example.com/page/,Link to another site] - Link to another site
Linking When you mention an album, artist, film, game, label, etc - it's recommended to link to the item the first time you mention it. Doing so will make it easier to search for your post and give it more visibility. To link an item, use the search box above, or find the shortcut that appears on the page that you want to link. You can customize the link name of shortcuts by using the format [Artist12345,Custom Name].
Formatting [b]text[/b] - bold [i]text[/i] - italic [s]strikethrough[/s] - strikethrough [tt]text[/tt] - fixed-width type [color red]text[/color] - colored text (full list) [spoiler]text[/spoiler] - Text hidden with spoiler cover [https://www.example.com/page/,Link to another site] - Link to another site
Linking When you mention an album, artist, film, game, label, etc - it's recommended to link to the item the first time you mention it. Doing so will make it easier to search for your post and give it more visibility. To link an item, use the search box above, or find the shortcut that appears on the page that you want to link. You can customize the link name of shortcuts by using the format [Artist12345,Custom Name].
Yeah played it on PC and it's just OK. Most enemies/bosses feel extremely similar to how you fight them (just strafe left and right lol), not to mention it's piss easy even with a controller (apparently at launch it was harder tho).
Haven't played a roguelite this fast and as quickly in years (40 hours in 2 weeks lol). One of the best roguelites I've ever played and a perfect encapsulation of Housemarque's games up to this point. I also didn't find the difficulty as bad as people said, but I've played a lot of their games and knew what to expect (not to mention this game is insanely generous with checkpoints). Really looking forward to what they put out next.
One of the few big boy budget titles I've loved in some time--it's arcade Silent Hill, of course I love it--but as a bullet hell fan I kind of wish it was more viable to weave through the patterns without dash/i-frames.
- Be respectful! All the community rules apply here.
- Keep your comments focused on the game. Don't post randomness/off-topic comments. Jokes are fine, but don't post tactless/inappropriate ones.
- Don't get in arguments with people here, or start long discussions. Use the boards for extended discussion.
- Don't use this space to complain about the average rating, chart position, genre voting, others' reviews or ratings, or errors on the page.
- Don't comment just to troll/provoke. Likewise, don't respond to trollish comments; just report them and ignore them.
- Any spoilers should be placed in spoiler tags as such: [spoiler](spoiler goes here)[/spoiler]
Note: Unlike reviews, comments are considered temporary and may be deleted/purged without notice.