This includes the array of weapons, which get increasingly powerful passive benefits like automatic fire and lingering status effects as you progress further and further. Most of the gear Selene finds isn't permanent, and it disappears when a cycle ends. So an early unlock that grants her an alien sword and adds melee attacks to her arsenal also lets her break through previously impassable glowing red barriers. Some of the most important ones even stick with her across cycles once they're unlocked in a nod to classics like Metroid, these persistent upgrades let Selene reach parts of the environment that were once inaccessible. If you're familiar with arcade classics like Galaxian or R-Type - the so-called "shoot 'em up" or "bullet hell" genre of video game - then Returnal's emphasis on reading attack patterns and weaving between hailstorms of enemy fire should feel immediately familiar.įortunately, Selene doesn't want for tools. The smaller, weaker threats can usually be dispatched with a swipe of Selene's blade or a few well-placed bullets, but the larger beasts and slim-but-fearsome lineup of bosses spew out entire constellations of deadly projectiles. The key to success here is mastering enemy attack patterns. They're plenty threatening up close, but almost all of the hostile creatures Selene encounters fire brilliantly colorful arrays of projectiles that you've got to constantly dodge and dash around in order to avoid getting hit. Selene's survival depends on fending off a horde of aggressive alien monstrosities. But digging through all the clues and working through the intricate mystery brings a heady sense of satisfaction.Īs cerebral as Returnal's story ultimately gets, the meat-and-potatoes here is classic video games. Returnal never fully shows its hand, leaving so much open to interpretation. The answers are obscured behind a series of cryptic but increasingly detailed Scout Logs left behind by former versions of Selene, as well as Xenoglyphs (i.e., alien wall writing) that you decipher over time as well as other more mysterious sources. Its frequent appearances fuel a growing sense of dread. Selene is haunted throughout her journey by a figure in an Apollo-era spacesuit. Returnal regularly sets all the action aside at pivotal moments to delve into cutscenes and playable story moments that fill in the details of the central mystery at the margins, in oblique and often surreal ways. Why do some of those corpses transform upon inspection, turning into a deadlier version of the tentacled monstrosities that hunt Selene at every turn? Where is that haunting music coming from? And how in the world did a replica of Selene's childhood home suddenly appear out of the alien woods? What awaits her behind its locked front door?Įach new cycle in Returnal brings the possibility that you'll learn more about this mind-fuck of a story.Īnswers don't come swiftly, and they're rarely explicit. Questions pile ever higher as you explore. It quickly becomes clear this isn't Selene's first time, as she encounters corpses in various states of decomposition that are all wearing her space suit. Selene is just kind of thrown in, seeming to discover this world for the first time right alongside you. Your first disorienting hours on Atropos rely heavily on ambience. The plot is at once the most essential piece of this game and also the hardest thing to talk about with anyone who hasn't played. Not for cool weapons or power-enhancing Artifacts, which all disappear any time you die rather, each new cycle in Returnal brings the possibility that you'll learn more about this mind-fuck of a story. Your return trips into a changed Atropos brim with promise. This "live, die, repeat" framework should be familiar to fans of games like Hades, Mashable's 2020 game of the year. Every time you die - it's an inevitability here, and intrinsic to Returnal's pacing - you're brought back to the site of the crash landing that left Selene stranded on Atropos in the first place. It looks a little different each time, with map layouts constantly changing the hostile aliens and helpful gear you find along the way. Selene, the astronaut "Scout" at the heart of of this story, is caught in an inescapable loop that sees her living and dying again and again as she digs for answers in the hopes of breaking the cycle.ĭuring the 30-odd hours it takes to see this full story unfold you'll make dozens and dozens of repeat trips through the hostile alien world of Atropos. Finding an answer, though, isn't really the point. It's a question that comes up again and again over the course of Returnal, the latest game and first PlayStation 5 exclusive from Housemarque.
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