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Returnal |OT| Live. Die. Repeat.

MrS

Banned
You sound like as if the game was broken or something
It was missing advertised features at launch i.e. the deceased scouts. Very disappointing to me.
00001.jpg
Game was a huge disappointment to me.
 

JeloSWE

Member
I would say that after the last patch with the game being ultra stable there’s nothing else to patch for some time. Let Krueger enjoy his release for a bit. They did a horror sci-fi masterpiece after all.
Well I just had a bug where in Biome 6 where you go into one of those expanding portals, once I was finished in this enclose room it didn't open again, no mater what I did. It was such a shame, I hade such nice gear and a weapon I like and was going to try it on Ophion. This is my second time the game screws me over in 60+ hours so I'm not mad, I would say it's been very stable for me but this one was a bit painfull after such a long and good run, I mean common, it could have crashed, now I had to suicide LOL.

 
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Con-Z-epT

Live from NeoGAF, it's Friday Night!
Well I just had a bug where in Biome 6 where you go into one of those expanding portals, once I was finished in this enclose room it didn't open again, no mater what I did.
Had that in biome 3 but after fiddling around the portal for some minutes i found a spot where i could teleport although it wouldn't open.

Just in case it happens again.
 

drotahorror

Member
I would say that after the last patch with the game being ultra stable there’s nothing else to patch for some time. Let Krueger enjoy his release for a bit. They did a horror sci-fi masterpiece after all.

I mean, I guess so. I plat'd the game and still put another 30 hours into it. Just to level weapon traits for no real reason.

There's no post game content honestly. It's a roguelike/lite, with little replayability. The gameplay is great and that's the main reason to replay, but lack of modifiers, lack of gamechanging items, lack of developing any sort of meta, lack of infinite loops, 1 challenge map every 24 hours is all the end game is. I can still play Hades or Dead Cells and have tons of shit to do or try to work towards/accomplish.

don't get me wrong, I love Returnal and it's one of the best games I've played in a while. I can't wait for some new content though.
 
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JeloSWE

Member
BTW after a lot of experimenting I really like this button mapping. It allows for continuous camera control without having to lifter thumb over to the buttons too often. It's great for the long jumping with Dash~Melee~Jump cancel trick. Also having the interact button on R3 really helps with fast grapple hooking and item pickup without releasing the analogue stick. Ideally I would put Melee on one of the sticks perhaps but it's tiresome to press it so often when doing DMJ movement.

 
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Personally my controller lasts for like 10-9 hours on Returnal when played it day one before going to the next controller.
I didn't think it could be understood from my comment that I was complaining about controller battery while playing.

I was talking about what happened afterwards while everything was shut down.

I haven't left the controller with a headset plugged in since, and it's been fine... So it seems like a weird bug.

played for about 5 hours or so, almost killed the first boss on my my first attempt., guess I have a bit to learn, before I get that accolade.
 
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JeloSWE

Member
I wonder where the spiders are?

Have you noticed that there are lots of gigant dusty spider webs in many of the stages. :D
 

Dr Bass

Member
So not only did I finish it last night … I started immediately playing again.

And I just beat the entire game without dying once. Not only that I basically massacred everything. I don’t know if that patch made things actually easier or you get to a point where you are just good enough at the game but absolutely nothing felt intimidating. I had a ton of power ups (until you know …) and was wasn’t even getting hit really. Not until later levels but I only got close to dying once or twice but still didn’t get nervous. Really bizarre feeling. I died 47 times finishing it the first time.

I also got five of the six sun faces. Missed the one in the last biome and couldn’t find it, so I just decided to see if I could finish it without dying. I’ll go back and try to find it so I can get the full ending.

I went from thinking the game was near impossible to what I just did. Awesome experience.
 

kyoji

Member
So not only did I finish it last night … I started immediately playing again.

And I just beat the entire game without dying once. Not only that I basically massacred everything. I don’t know if that patch made things actually easier or you get to a point where you are just good enough at the game but absolutely nothing felt intimidating. I had a ton of power ups (until you know …) and was wasn’t even getting hit really. Not until later levels but I only got close to dying once or twice but still didn’t get nervous. Really bizarre feeling. I died 47 times finishing it the first time.

I also got five of the six sun faces. Missed the one in the last biome and couldn’t find it, so I just decided to see if I could finish it without dying. I’ll go back and try to find it so I can get the full ending.

I went from thinking the game was near impossible to what I just did. Awesome experience.
experience = get good, same thing happened to me and that was before the patches so no i dont think they made the game easier, you just over came the challenge and rewarded.

I dont think ive ever quite played a game where i was dying and still had as much fun as returnal, not even in the bloodborne/souls games.
 

kyoji

Member
I wonder what Housemarque will do next... there first stab at triple A was a success, i personally cant wait to play whatever they decide to do next (hopefully a sequel?) i feel like theres still so much we dont know or understand in the lore.. even though theres alot of it available to examine.
 

Con-Z-epT

Live from NeoGAF, it's Friday Night!
So not only did I finish it last night … I started immediately playing again.

And I just beat the entire game without dying once. Not only that I basically massacred everything. I don’t know if that patch made things actually easier or you get to a point where you are just good enough at the game but absolutely nothing felt intimidating. I had a ton of power ups (until you know …) and was wasn’t even getting hit really. Not until later levels but I only got close to dying once or twice but still didn’t get nervous. Really bizarre feeling. I died 47 times finishing it the first time.

I also got five of the six sun faces. Missed the one in the last biome and couldn’t find it, so I just decided to see if I could finish it without dying. I’ll go back and try to find it so I can get the full ending.

I went from thinking the game was near impossible to what I just did. Awesome experience.
Exactly the same for me.

The more i played the better i got and the less i died.
After i beat it the first time i instantly replayed the whole game without dying.

Your brain just connected all the links in your head now!

For the last fragment just look a bit off the beaten path.
You need to shoot one of those glowing orbs that will spawn a platform.
A bit tricky to see at first but when you know how it looks you won't miss it.
 

Dr Bass

Member
Exactly the same for me.

The more i played the better i got and the less i died.
After i beat it the first time i instantly replayed the whole game without dying.

Your brain just connected all the links in your head now!

For the last fragment just look a bit off the beaten path.
You need to shoot one of those glowing orbs that will spawn a platform.
A bit tricky to see at first but when you know how it looks you won't miss it.
I found it. Then went back to the house and quickly went to biome 6 where I didn’t get toooo far because the pistol is just tough against some of those enemies.

I have no doubt I can do a quick build then go finish it to get the complete ending.

The story turned out surprisingly dark. I don’t think there is much positive in this game other than how much fun it was to play. 🙂
 

[Sigma]

Member

It happened. Been a fun ride although I had some frustrated moments unrelated to gameplay like scout log 14 taken forever to spawn and scout log 35 not respawning at all. I say this again, at the beginning of Biome 4 in your first playthrough, make sure you pick up that scout log or your basically f'd because this particular scout log occurs in a room that WILL NOT SPAWN AGAIN after you reach a certain point. Meaning, if you miss it, you will have to delete your save and start over to get that survey trophy(for Echoing Ruins) like I did. Or you can wait to see if Housemarque patches it. Probably make another post today again talking about the game specifically, needless to say it's no.1 currently on my game of the year list(although I haven't play much this year up till this point lol).
 
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Used-ID

Member
When this game gives you a good weapon roll, it just becomes a matter of dodging.

In biome 4 I got a lvl 17 hollowseeker with Portal beam, serrated projectiles & phase rounds all at 2nd lvl. I cleared biomes 5 & 6 without breaking a sweat.

So far I've only found 1 sun fragmemt (biome 5's), hopefully with another good weapon roll I'll get them all later today
 

azertydu91

Hard to Kill
Had to take a break, but back in action now. Just died in biome six. Seems doable.
Yeah biome 6 is quite easy just stay as distant as possible and you will mostly be fine (there's one or 2 elite ennemies that are a pain i the ass).
I would also recommend a big magazine or a quick reloading weapon.
 

2AdEPT

Member
Do you guys have theories on
Ophion showing a human face on its last phase? Is that Selene’s face or her son?
I realize I still havent beat Ophion yet (finally got a good character ready for the plunge in B5 waiting in rest mode as we speak) but I spoiled myself on the first (but not secret) ending as I kinda had a theory what was going on and couldnt wait to find out. Yup, I was pretty close to correct. I mean the house scenes and the logs, if you read them, and listening to the soliloquays from selene at each biome....leads you to suspect some things about the nature of reality on Atropos where, "Your nightmares become reality." There are all kinds of theories about what you put under spoilers tags above still, and the developers clearly are trying to pull a Souls story ending where the person themselves can come up with a minmally satisfying conclusion without the developers actually having a specific ending in mind. Just my opinion lol.

What I found excessively interesting was the location mentioned in the game, from mostly FInnish delvelopers no less, is the Wenatchee Okanagan region...LOL I was supposed to go on a field trip at the start of themonth rigth in the heart of those parts with the infamous Randall Carlson (Joe Rogan says he is one of his favorite guests of all time) before covid wrecked my border crossing abilities. I took my mind off missig the trip with famous people by playing this game instead LOL. Its in a relatively remote part of Washington state and definitely Bigfoot country. It is of note to geologists as there is eveidence of 400 foot high Tsunami type floods coming right downthe valley from when the ice caps melted. Randall feels there is evidence that there had to be some grand heat entropy to create enough water to make such markings in t he earth (anyone with half a brain can see the evidence themselves and that he is likely right, despite that there isonly prelimnary evidence for comet strikes into the ice caps) Fits into the cosmic asteroid impact theories for what killed the Clovis people and megafana in north america and what submerged atlantis 12000 years ago....which is pretty "deep down" if it exists LOL. There are mountains and dangerous passes for vehicles, and the Okanagan region extends into Canada where I'm from but geez........ FOund it really obscure that they used this location for where Selene is from, or at least where she had an accident. I guess white fog is common here but still, the connections to ancient floods and the sinking of atlantis, and perhaps a plethora of what at the time was 95% of the developed world along the coastllines, AND THAT I WAS SUPPOSED OT GO THERE AND YET PLAYED THIS GAME INSTEAD is a mind blowing coincidence! I have actually had a few traumatic flashbacks good ole night mare style during the day of this game...its affected me.....its that good.
 
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Dr Bass

Member
Yeah biome 6 is quite easy just stay as distant as possible and you will mostly be fine (there's one or 2 elite ennemies that are a pain i the ass).
I would also recommend a big magazine or a quick reloading weapon.
Biome 6 can be difficult in certain situations. There are a few places where you are put into rooms with some powerful enemies. Having a high weapon you connect with is important.

For me it’s the electropylon driver. It allows you to play very defensively while racking up damage. You can literally place your pylons and run, or focus on dodging. Why mix it up with enemies that can kill you quite quickly if you don’t have to?

The game is difficult but absolutely doable. I don’t like telling people something is “easy” when they are having trouble with it especially when there was a point it was hard for me as well. And if it was never hard for you, congrats, you are good at this game. But there is absolutely a learning curve for most.

So yeah plenty of difficulty in Biome 6. It took me a good number of attempts before it “clicked” for the last area and I beat it. Maybe died 5-6 times there.
 

azertydu91

Hard to Kill
Biome 6 can be difficult in certain situations. There are a few places where you are put into rooms with some powerful enemies. Having a high weapon you connect with is important.

For me it’s the electropylon driver. It allows you to play very defensively while racking up damage. You can literally place your pylons and run, or focus on dodging. Why mix it up with enemies that can kill you quite quickly if you don’t have to?

The game is difficult but absolutely doable. I don’t like telling people something is “easy” when they are having trouble with it especially when there was a point it was hard for me as well. And if it was never hard for you, congrats, you are good at this game. But there is absolutely a learning curve for most.

So yeah plenty of difficulty in Biome 6. It took me a good number of attempts before it “clicked” for the last area and I beat it. Maybe died 5-6 times there.
Well you are probably talking about the elite ennemy I'm mentionning in my parenthesis, for the rest of your post I think that the hardest biomes are personnal too just like weapons.
I, for example, am not a fan of the electropylon, I really like carbine and the hollowseeker, so to me the hardest biomes were 3rd and 5th biomes the rest was quite easy I think I died once on the first 2 bosses then finished the games on a long continuous run.
So I didn't find the game that hard but I feel that it depends a lot on your capacity to keep your calm, the sheer numbers of colored bullets on the screen are a distraction and used to overwhelm you but if you don't let yourself overwhelm by their presence it become easy.
But that being said I played a lot bullet hell when I was younger and that might've helped a lot that and some sort of OCD that I have where I sort of always keep a timer in my head that help me knowing when ennemies will shoot.Which is probably why I consider TBOI and gungeon more like rythm games, keep a tick in your head every half second (it's around the natural central inner clock that is always in your head and why when you try to count natural you usually add a digit every half a second).You will see keep that timer in mind and most timing based games become easier.
 

Dr Bass

Member
Well you are probably talking about the elite ennemy I'm mentionning in my parenthesis, for the rest of your post I think that the hardest biomes are personnal too just like weapons.
I, for example, am not a fan of the electropylon, I really like carbine and the hollowseeker, so to me the hardest biomes were 3rd and 5th biomes the rest was quite easy I think I died once on the first 2 bosses then finished the games on a long continuous run.
So I didn't find the game that hard but I feel that it depends a lot on your capacity to keep your calm, the sheer numbers of colored bullets on the screen are a distraction and used to overwhelm you but if you don't let yourself overwhelm by their presence it become easy.
But that being said I played a lot bullet hell when I was younger and that might've helped a lot that and some sort of OCD that I have where I sort of always keep a timer in my head that help me knowing when ennemies will shoot.Which is probably why I consider TBOI and gungeon more like rythm games, keep a tick in your head every half second (it's around the natural central inner clock that is always in your head and why when you try to count natural you usually add a digit every half a second).You will see keep that timer in mind and most timing based games become easier.
Totally agree on what you’re saying. Very personal which is another reason I like games where it’s up to how the player likes to play. This was probably my first real “bullet hell” game so definitely agree on your points about keeping calm. It’s funny how different the first area “feels” compared to when I first started.
 

azertydu91

Hard to Kill
Totally agree on what you’re saying. Very personal which is another reason I like games where it’s up to how the player likes to play. This was probably my first real “bullet hell” game so definitely agree on your points about keeping calm. It’s funny how different the first area “feels” compared to when I first started.
Yep having heard how tough the game was, I was progressing very carefully when I started the game ... which is exactly what you should not do in this game.Now I run everywhere gunning all the ammos I have.Zigzagging between bullets or dashing through them.The game feels so good when you play it like that.
Except when you're not careful enough and you don't understand why don't dash as easily as before and it was because of a malfunction and now you feel dumb ....I'm not alone there .... Right? ....Guys ? ......guys please....
 

Dr Bass

Member
Also quick comment on the story, even though I don't think any of it is "definite" in a sense that "this happened, then this happened," necessarily

It seems that perhaps the game is basically Selene's "personal hell" so to speak, a twisted version of her dream to be an astronaut and see the stars (much like her mother's dream, which was ruined by her injury/accident). Selene wasn't accepted into the program as noted in the story and she basically had an abusive mother she had to care for, one she resented ("why did you seem so frightening, when you were so much less). Once you get the last sun face and see the last house cutscene, the next time you start you get a new scout log. She clearly says "As I lay dying on the side of the road staring at the stars., I realized this is where I will stay, and so will you." or something to that effect. So she clearly died in a car crash, and so did her son who she left in the car and was not able to save. She also states she "cannot atone" for what she did. I think a lot of this game is just trying to get across themes and ideas as opposed to laying out a specific plot with clear events. Almost a story of the dark side of life and humanity, and even tying those themes into how the same thing could exist in alien civilizations (the severed, madness, casting people out etc). So everything you see in the game is an alien embodiment of Selene's life, her personal tragedies, and the fact she is stuck there forever in a twisted afterlife that plays on her hopes and dreams by never letting her forget her worst memories.

Of course, I could be completely wrong, but that is my take on it after going through the various endings and logs. They get pretty explicit with the story in some of those logs towards the end. The story presentation reminds me a lot of Silent Hill 2 in a way, which I've always thought was one of the best video game stories I've experienced with its character based development and psychological themes.

While some might not like the idea of the alien worlds either being in her head, or "not being real" I think it is real in the sense that it is her punishment. I think there might be some disappointment that there isn't some kind of grand mystery about the alien civilization that's revealed, but I really like the idea of a small personal story that plays out this way. It's smarter than the usual fare, and it doesn't take away anything from the settings IMO.
 
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2AdEPT

Member
Also quick comment on the story, even though I don't think any of it is "definite" in a sense that "this happened, then this happened," necessarily

[SPOILER
YEs, I cant even recall exactly when I heard the statement, "Atropos is where nightmares become reality" but you have to go with the idea that this is in fact not a dream in and of itself but an afterlife of sorts. Yes it was a key revelation when the letter said, "
sorry you didnt make it
" so we are left wondering if she even ever was an
astronaut
herself..unlikely at best.
 

FrankWza

Member
Also quick comment on the story, even though I don't think any of it is "definite" in a sense that "this happened, then this happened," necessarily
The thing that changes the overall perception is
The mother is pregnant or was during the crash. The crash could have been the mother the first time and Selene the second. The child in the backseat could have been Selene and or Selenes brother or son. Or, the son could have been unborn and is the reason she blames Selene for calling out the light. There’s a continuing story happening to this family. Like a loop. So the astronaut was Selene sent back by the mom and the first half is Selenes mom. The second half from biome 4-6 is Selene after the planets had changed years later. The mom or first half Selene(mom)appears on the bridge to cause young Selene the daughter to crash or send Selene back to cause the crash.
otherwise, what’s the point of the “mother” being pregnant. The only other explanation for that is that she was pulled there by the sea creature and “birthed “ the (severed?) I think they’re called.
 
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Entroyp

Member
So I keep hearing recore is similar to Returnal. Since Returnal has been an extraordinary experience to me, can anyone share thoughts on recore? My gamepass subscription expired so I would need to buy the game to try it and I don’t necessarily trust MS first party games.
 
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Dr Bass

Member
So I keep hearing recore is similar to Returnal. Since Returnal has been an extraordinary experience to me, can anyone share thoughts on recore? My gamepass subscription expired so I would need to buy the game to try it and I don’t necessarily trust MS first party games.
I've never played Recore but when it came out I remember being really interested in trying it and being immediately turned off by the reviews. So I would guess it's not similar at all.
 

2AdEPT

Member
OK, finally done Act 2. I got a crazy integrity build going and even with a malfunction nerf at the end I was still at 276 integrity or something. I also had 3 heals but only used one as there were those two in the room. Got the two way radio late in area 6 but because either the game doesnt let you telelport around in biome 6 on your return visit or my game was bugged...had to go straight to the boss...would have bought at least one more heal if I thought I couldnt come back. ALthough I like EPD I went with Hollowseeker with phasing rounds to get throgh the level and portal beam for Ophion. I put my spoilery comments about the ending in the video along with finishing stats.

Excited to get on with act 3. Although I finally recorded the video in 4k I couldnt get it to you like Bo. My USB apparently doesnt like files larger than 4GB. EVen with the 216o I still couldnt get you tube to do any better than 1080 60fps regardless. Any advice is appreciated:

 
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skit_data

Member
So I made it through Biome 4 today after pausing my progress. No crashes, everything feels great. This is how the game is supposed to be! Love the deceased scouts, too bad it was added post launch, real Dark Souls vibe now.

Is there any write up on how the deceased scouts work? Does it benefit the deceased player when someone avenges him/her?

I just got a notification on the PS-Mobile App that another player found my body (Yeah, encountered an Elite severed in Biome 5, died a stupid death that way).
Is this benificiary in any way? Is it anything more than a cool feature? Has some knowledge to catch up with since I haven’t played in almost 1,5 week
 

JeloSWE

Member
So I made it through Biome 4 today after pausing my progress. No crashes, everything feels great. This is how the game is supposed to be! Love the deceased scouts, too bad it was added post launch, real Dark Souls vibe now.

Is there any write up on how the deceased scouts work? Does it benefit the deceased player when someone avenges him/her?

I just got a notification on the PS-Mobile App that another player found my body (Yeah, encountered an Elite severed in Biome 5, died a stupid death that way).
Is this benificiary in any way? Is it anything more than a cool feature? Has some knowledge to catch up with since I haven’t played in almost 1,5 week
I haven't noticed any benefits to being avenged. It's just a nice touch.
 

Used-ID

Member
I thought I saw a message about getting a "reward" when someone avenged one of my corpses. Now I don't know if I lost an item to that player or gained an item....

And I also think I remember the game saying something about the main character's eyes changing color "after an accident" early on. (I'm collecting sun fragments now). Anything about that in the final ending?
 

[Sigma]

Member
I feel like i'm suffering from withdrawal couple of days after the Platinum even tho i've played more than 120 hours according to my PS5. I haven't even played another game since. I thought about playing Astro's Playroom for the first time but instead i've got the urge in me some to still play this.
 

LectureMaster

Gold Member
God damn, as much as I enjoy the gameplay, the technical issue is just crazy.

Constant crash, unable to close the game and having to hard shut down the console.

I was on a godly run last night, having adrenaline leach, wound seeker and a bunch of great artifacts with 260% integrity. I tried to stop and put the console into rest mode, as Housemarque suggested. Guess what, the PS5 was stuck at "turning your console into rest mode" screen forever, there was no way to recover but force shunt down it. When I rebooted PS5, it says my returnal save data was compromised, luckily I had the cloud save, but I lost about 5 hours progress anyway, including the two sunface fragments I found.

I am just so pissed, Sony, if you decided to charge the game for 70 bucks, at least do the QA and make sure it's not constantly forcing player to shunt down your console.
 

Con-Z-epT

Live from NeoGAF, it's Friday Night!
God damn, as much as I enjoy the gameplay, the technical issue is just crazy.

Constant crash, unable to close the game and having to hard shut down the console.

I was on a godly run last night, having adrenaline leach, wound seeker and a bunch of great artifacts with 260% integrity. I tried to stop and put the console into rest mode, as Housemarque suggested. Guess what, the PS5 was stuck at "turning your console into rest mode" screen forever, there was no way to recover but force shunt down it. When I rebooted PS5, it says my returnal save data was compromised, luckily I had the cloud save, but I lost about 5 hours progress anyway, including the two sunface fragments I found.

I am just so pissed, Sony, if you decided to charge the game for 70 bucks, at least do the QA and make sure it's not constantly forcing player to shunt down your console.
Are you running the newest version?

I had some minor issues with the first version but never since. Maybe it is the console? I'm just guessing.
Do you run secondary apps? Spotify for example. That caused Spider-Man for me to crash.
 
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Dr Bass

Member
I feel like i'm suffering from withdrawal couple of days after the Platinum even tho i've played more than 120 hours according to my PS5. I haven't even played another game since. I thought about playing Astro's Playroom for the first time but instead i've got the urge in me some to still play this.
Yeah man, I've done the first run and the second run with the sun faces and I could still play through this game and have a ton of fun. It's so well done.
 

LectureMaster

Gold Member
Are you running the newest version?

I had some minor issues with the first version but never since. Maybe it is the console? I'm just guessing.
Do you run secondary apps? Spotify for example. That caused Spider-Man for me to crash.
Yes I am running the latest version, ironically I didn't have any problems before updates. Not running any background app and believe my console is perfectly fine too. I guess it's just a hit or miss.
 

RNG

Member
Just finished the game right now, I’m in the 17.6% club! Took me 3 tries to beat the last boss but I did it. Personally, I would have preferred a Metroid-vania type game with this style.
 
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