We climb, higher and higher, reaching new heights and new obstacles. In the moment, all we can think about is the immediate threat, the immediate foe, and how we must dispatch it in order to continue our ascent. It is a struggle for the vain hope that one day, we will reach the top.
But something happens. Maybe we fail to make a jump and plummet to our death. Maybe a stray bullet catches us for that last, fatal blow. Or maybe, just maybe, we fall to our knees and surrender, no longer able to carry on.
Whatever the case, like the tower’s namesake, we fall, back to the beginning, to begin the ascent once more.
Welcome to the Tower of Sisyphus.
So far, I’m happy with this new mode for Returnal, because it doubles down on some of the better aspects of the game’s design. The arenas are big enough to maneuver in without being so big that getting to the next enemy becomes a slog and the rate at which weapons upgrade makes us feel that sense of progression more acutely than we did back in the base game.
I’m also a fan of the scoring system, and how it rewards and incentivizes players to move and fight quickly, taking more risks in the pursuit of higher scores. It’s not just about the climb, it’s about your performance along the way.
This, along with the recently added suspend feature, might just be what the game needed to go from good to great. I can only hope it’s not too little, too late.
Leave a Reply