Housemarque took advantage of this Wednesday’s State of Play (09) to announce Returnal: Ascension. The free update for the Selene saga will be available on March 22, 2022. In addition to a co-op campaign, a survival mode will be part of the package.
The update will add a new area in Atropos, where players will have to advance level after level in the Tower of Sisyphus — unavailable for co-op mode. As they progress, the challenge will get even more dangerous with stronger enemies on each floor.
Check out the trailer for Returnal: Ascension below:
To explore Atropos and its biomes accompanied by another astronaut, players will have to access the Cronose portal, near the ship’s collision site. It will be possible to join a public session or invite a friend to help you – and so you will have two Selenes in the same place.
A Housemarque (via PS-Blog) explained how co-op will work:
- Players will not be able to be too far apart from each other, the game will try to bring them together again;
- Should one of the Selenes be shot down, it will be possible to revive her – but it will take a little time;
- Story advancements will be tied to the host, but “helpers” will keep some of the progress with xenoglyphs and records collected in their account;
Sisyphus Tower will be Returnal’s “Infinite Mode”
Housemarque cited its arcade roots when introducing Returnal’s Tower of Sisyphus. There, it will be an “infinite world” because the challenge will have no end. According to the developer, the intention is to know how far players will be able to get before succumbing:
True to our arcade roots, the Tower of Sisyphus is, in short, our Infinite mode. Players will strive to climb the Tower as high as they can. However, just like the tragic story of Sisyphus, there is no end to the rise, and players are tragically doomed to meet their end as the mode gets harder and harder. The question is, how far can you get before you succumb?
The mode will not support cooperation between players, but a leaderboard to dispute who has gone the furthest in the rise of the Tower will be made available. To improve, in addition to bosses, new narrative content awaits the brave. Will you face it?
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