We have played a number of roguelikes and run-based games around here, so I’m always on the lookout for new ones. And now that I have a PS5, I have the chance to give the newest member of the genre a try.
So let us play… Returnal.
The problem I had playing Returnal was that it, in many ways, made me miss a lot of the features that Supergiant’s Hades brought to the genre. I started to miss how I was able to choose a weapon type from the start that I wanted to use without having to sift through drops I otherwise don’t care about. I started to miss having the choice between several buffs rather than choosing to take one or decline it. And most importantly, I started to miss how Hades made me look forward to dying with promises of new conversations to have with its insanely attractive cast of characters. None of these are deal-breakers, but together they do begin to collectively drag down the full experience.
That said, there’s a lot that Returnal does bring to the table. What we sacrifice in terms of tasks to do between runs, we make up for in the complete lack of downtime. When we die, we go right into the next run with almost no loading time whatsoever. That’s just something PS4/XB1 games would not be capable of due to the hardware they were developed on. I also think the Adrenaline concept, where players get bonuses for consecutive kills without taking damage, is a powerful way to enforce the importance of avoiding enemy shots, especially since Selene will take a serious beating after a couple of well-placed hits.
There’s also the fascinating malfunction mechanic. In most roguelikes, the risk of a debuff would be a significant downside, but here it’s not too bad. We know that just by completing tasks that we were likely already going to do anyway, like killing enemies and opening chests, to clear it. No matter how bad it is, it shouldn’t permanently derail our run. Even the moment-to-moment gameplay is extremely satisfying, dodging enemy attack patterns while making sure we bump out as many bullets as possible.
And yet, I cannot in good faith recommend this game at the $70 asking price, especially with the fact that runs can take over 3 hours and unless they’re finished in a single sitting, there’s always the chance an update will cause them to get erased. It’s a damn shame.
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