Returnal Review – Groundhog Day on Another Planet

Returnal

With Returnal, Sony has one of the first real exclusives for the PlayStation 5 console, but the game is not suitable for everyone. He challenges players to get better and get to know the world better, leading to numerous failed attempts and frustration. That is part of the game and is not bad in itself. It is unfortunate that a successful run can take a long time and there is no way to save your progress, other than by pausing the game and / or putting the PlayStation 5 in rest mode. That is of course not convenient. Other than that, Returnal is well put together. The ever-changing worlds keep the game fun and surprising, while the action is fast and smooth, with all kinds of beautiful, colorful effects. Returnal contains some nice surprises and opportunities to further explore the story, especially after the credits have rolled across the screen. All in all, it is a game where quite a few comments can be made, but which is still very fun to play. For gamers who like a challenge, this could be one of the best PS5 games this year.

–

–

–
–

Schedules do not always cooperate. The disadvantage of the versatile way in which we discuss a wide range of product categories at Tweakers is that choices have to be made. Returnal, the game that appeared for the PlayStation 5 at the end of last month and was carried by a lot of hype, was originally not our schedule. However, every reviewer is primarily a curious gamer and sometimes the blood creeps where it can’t go according to schedule. So we decided to cram Returnal into our schedule. That means other games, such as an undisclosed multiplatform horror game, will have to wait a little longer. For fans of that game, however, there is also good news: the extra time allows us to record and compare images from all versions, as we did with the performances of Cyberpunk 2077 and Outriders.

Housemarque is a name that may not immediately mean something if you don’t leave the world of big ‘AAA games’ every now and then. The studio has titles such as Resogun, Alienation and Nex Machina to its name and the chance that you really know those games is not particularly great. Yet Housemarque has been around for quite some time. It is Finland’s oldest development studio, where it was created in 1995 from a merger of Bloodhouse and Terramarque. At the PlayStation Event in June 2020, it was announced that the company is working on its first so-called ‘AAA’ game, called Returnal.

Returnal is a roguelike-style, futuristic third-person shooter revolving around Selene Vassos, an astronaut who crashes into a mysterious planet. Although the planet is off limits, Selene searches for the source of an equally mysterious message she received with her spaceship. That turns out not to be easy. The world soon turns into a true maze and all kinds of dangerous creatures appear to be present. Sooner or later the inevitable happens: Selene is defeated by one of the monsters, turrets or robots she encounters and she dies… until she wakes up again. The player and Selene seem to have ended up in an ‘infinite loop’. Every time she dies, Selene returns to the starting point: the spot where her ship crashed. The player loses all weapons and other items collected during the ‘run’ and can start over. Frustrating? Certainly sometimes, yes. But it is an essential part of Returnal.

Every time you return as a player, the world changes, meaning no two attempts are the same. You will encounter other pieces of known worlds, discover new places and learn more about the world and the civilized-looking creatures that must have lived there. In addition, you will learn more about the problem that Selene is facing. Selene comes across the bodies of deceased astronauts in various places, or rather: the same astronaut, namely herself. With those bodies you will always find voice logs in which an earlier version of Selene explains something about the world or, for example, shares a theory about why they are in a loop sits. This part is strongly written. The player hears how Selene slowly but surely becomes less sure of her case, has striking theories and actually becomes more and more insane. The living Selene responds to that too, with comments like “I hope I don’t become like her”. Interesting, because she has been like this before, until she died and was reset again. If you like these kinds of thoughts, Returnal has more such surprises in store later in the game.

–