Arcade games are dead. That might sound like an empty claim, but when it’s coming from a studio like Housemarque, it’s saying something. After all, the Finnish team grew up with effect orgies like Resogun or Nex Machina! Because such games are no longer financially worthwhile for the developer, Housemarque officially announced a change of course four years ago: They now want to concentrate primarily on large AAA productions. A clear announcement that is now being followed by action: Housemarque’s first major project is the eagerly awaited Returnal. In the test, the PS5 exclusive title turns out to be a high-quality action ride that interlocks a dark sci-fi story with effect-packed third-person combat, crazy bullet-hell inserts and robust rouge-like mechanics. The result: An atmospheric, often captivating action highlight that you have to get involved with – because Returnal also has a few avoidable weaknesses that depress the rating.
Returnal doesn’t need any explanations, there isn’t even a real start screen. Instead, the adventure starts right away: as soon as you start the game, you experience how the astronaut Selene crash-lands on the distant planet Atropos. Who is this woman, what is she looking for – and why is she all alone in this hostile world? Housemarque deliberately raises one question after the next, you have to work out the answers: Returnal only delivers its story in tiny bits and pieces, which only gradually come together like a dark puzzle.
And the alien greets you every day
Atropos literally turns out to be a death trap. As Selene trudges through overgrown ruins, she discovers ancient machines and mysterious artifacts, among them the countless remnants of an alien civilization Selene calls “the Sentients”. Even more terrifying: Selene also comes across a human corpse – her own. Before she can think about it (panic might be the better reaction), she meets a vicious species that looks like a cross between a dog and an octopus. After a few minutes, the inevitable happens: Selene dies. And that’s fine too, because in Returnal you’re caught in a kind of time sleep, here every death stands for a new beginning: Selene then wakes up again at the crash site and just gets up again, with all her memories, but without their collected gear. The majority of our loot is lost with every death, which should already make it clear what a notch Returnal hits: Housemarque’s new work is neither Metroidvania nor a simple action platformer, but a genuine roguelike.
Explore at random
As is typical of the genre, the game world is reassembled from prefabricated rooms with each new attempt, and the game also randomly distributes opponents and loot. Returnal consists of a total of six levels, of which you only play two or three at a time, at the latest then the cycle is over. But because the locations are very extensive, a successful run can take quite a lot of time. If you want to explore and collect a lot, you can easily plan two hours per round.
All six locations basically consist of ruins embedded in different settings. Sometimes you are in a city-like citadel, sometimes in an overgrown swamp, sometimes in a picturesque desert. Some of the levels are beautifully designed, but basically they are completely empty: Apart from enemies and deadly traps, you don’t meet a single soul, there are no dialogues and the developers have also dispensed with side tasks. After all, Selene regularly finds glyphs and records of the ancient alien civilization, and she keeps coming across more corpses of herself on which she finds disturbing audio messages. Together with the extremely successful sound effects and the atmospheric optics, a dense, oppressive atmosphere quickly develops that runs through the entire game.
Housemarque outdoes itself
Fluid, precise 2D action has been developers’ bread-and-butter business for years. For Returnal, the Finns are staging a spectacle in the third-person view for the first time, an experiment that they have definitely succeeded in: after just a few seconds, Selene is being shooed through the levels wonderfully smoothly, whether it’s running, jumping, dodging or shooting, the grippy one Action is great. An intelligent camera also ensures that you can keep an eye on the action as well as possible, even in narrow sections of the level. Housemarque knows his craft!
As a PS5 exclusive, Returnal also makes extensive use of the Dualsense controller, so you can feel every hit, every jump, every fall. Even raindrops make the gamepad vibrate slightly in your hand. Unusual: With the left trigger you can not only zoom, but also use a secondary fire mode by pressing the button even further. A cool effect in theory, but quite impractical in practice because it leads to incorrect entries. Fortunately, you can change the key assignment in the options menu.
Another highlight is the atmospheric enemy design: in addition to a wide variety of tentacled creatures, you also have to deal with deadly drones, robots, turrets, flying swamp monsters, mutated poison launchers, giant octopuses and much more. Not only do the enemies look great, they also pose a real threat right from the start: many enemies have multiple attack patterns, are nicely mobile and put a lot of pressure on Selene. You have to jump, flee, seek cover and, above all, dodge with lightning speed. If you stop, you can pack up. A nice detail: Successful kills increase Selene’s adrenaline level, which gives her useful buffs, which she also loses with every hit she takes. This causes a lot of stress, but in a good way.
Tricky, but mostly fair
There is only one level of difficulty, which is high, but mostly fair: In the test, for example, we grabbed every boss on the first try, we saw the credits for the first time after 15 to 20 hours. Occasionally, however, the enemies spawn a little too close to our heroine, and these are moments when the balancing sometimes falters. We found the most difficult room in the sixth level, in which several elite opponents spawn at once – we had to give up several times there. Of course, the chance of survival also depends on the equipment you have collected: As in every roguelike, you can simply be unlucky, for example with the choice of opponent, the level structure or the random loot – so you should bring a bit of frustration resistance with you. Since you don’t unlock any permanent status improvements like in Hades or Rogue Legacy, Strictly speaking, Returnal doesn’t go through as a roguelite either. But if you’re careful and perfect your dodges, you should be fine most of the time. Returnal is miles away from the claim of a Dark Souls.
Fantastic hail of bullets
Housemarque’s unmistakable handwriting shines through again and again in the fights: As soon as the enemies throw beautiful patterns of deadly energy waves and glowing balls at you, quick reactions are required. Anyone who likes bullet hell games and feels comfortable even in the heaviest hail of bullets will quickly fall in love with Returnal. This is especially true for the smartly staged boss fights that await you at the end of (almost) every level: Insane amounts of projectiles fly towards you here, a tidal wave of bright colors and shapes that pours out spectacularly over you. Ironically, some of the game’s most spectacular bosses are surprisingly easy to master once you get the hang of it. That’s also why we would have liked a little more variety in the bosses, but still: most of the big chunks can be easily avoided in later runs.
What the gun cabinet has to offer
Selene collects ten different weapons over time, including a pistol, shotgun, machine gun, grenade launcher, and so on. At first glance, the offer seems a bit ordinary. At least there are a few crazy guns, such as the electropylon driver, which shoots arrows into the environment, from which a deadly energy network is then spanned. This is not always practical, but at least it looks great. Each weapon also has a random special attack that needs to charge up before it packs a punch. There are, for example, mines, homing projectiles, a slingshot or an energy ball that grills nearby enemies with lightning. (The BFG-9000 says hello.)
The special thing about the weapon system is not the guns themselves, but their bonus properties, which you gradually unlock. A weapon can have up to four passive effects at the same time, which have a strong impact on the way you play. For example, the rocket launcher then fires fully automatic salvos, the rifle subtracts life points from opponents or the pistol fires homing projectiles. This brings variety to the action and increases the replay value, if only because it takes quite a while to level up a weapon effect like this.
Can you play Returnal with two people?
The PS5 roguelike Returnal (Opens in a new tab) will receive a free expansion on March 22nd, adding two-player co-op to the slow-motion sci-fi shooter.
How long does Returnal take?
That’s because Returnal isn’t your classic story-driven AAA game. Rather, it is a so-called roguelite. With this you go on a kind of “run” and do everything you can to get as far as possible.
How hard is Returnal?
Returnal is the next PS5 exclusive and at least as difficult as the Demon’s Souls remake.
How to play Returnal?
Integrity is rewarded in Returnal. The more enemies you kill while remaining unharmed, the higher Selene’s adrenaline levels will rise. This gradually unlocks various buffs that make you stronger.
How many bosses are there in Returnal?
There are a total of 5 boss fights in Returnal. This Returnal Boss guide will walk you through the best strategies to defeat every boss in the game. It is important to know that if you die during a fight, you spawn at the beginning of the act.
How many biomes are there in Returnal?
In total you fight your way through 6 biomes. You have successfully completed most biomes as soon as the boss there is defeated.
What happens when you die in Returnal?
Returnal is a so-called rogue-like: The game world is generated randomly with each attempt, and there is no save option. If you die, you start all over again. The aim is to stay alive for as long as possible and to make it as far as possible.
Does Returnal have an end?
However, the game is far from over after defeating the last boss and the credits. There is one additional act where you can unlock a secret ending in Returnal. To achieve this, you need two full passes.
