I just died to 1 stray bullet after an hour+ long run & got sent back to the beginning. I sat there for about 5 minutes before turning it off for the day.
I was transported back to days of my NES with Contra, TMNT & Battletoads. Death after death after death in a seemingly impossible task to beat the game. (Have I ever told you the definition of insanity?)
Major props for anyone out there who has beaten this game and/or platinum'ed it.
Game: Returnal
35 Comments
Returnal is one of those perfect games that once you get it, you get it.
I love that game so much I deleted the trophies and then got the platinum without dying.
Nearly my fave game of all time.
Edit: you can’t delete trophies. I was misremembering here. You can on steam.
Interestingly tho, if you play this game without dying at all it seems to give you the rare rooms more often. Only took me about 15 tries or so to get that trophy.
Every run, you get to keep certain attributes. Each cycle, you learn how to deal with enemies, which guns work for you etc. Eventually, get the right parasites/mods and you’ll breeze through the game. My favourite shooter bar none. Amazing game, can’t wait to see what they deliver next.
The point is not getting the longest most magnificent run, but building up through the story pieces, and understanding what you are facing and the tactics shifts that are required.
idk, i really like bulletstorm stuff. This one felt good to me maybe because I could manage that 3rd person perspective. Like other ones where you are a ship or something, it’s sometimes hard for me to manage the whole screen, where this one I can almost 3d visualize the map.
Not that it doesn’t have faults, and that story … for real, wtf?
Only an hour? There’s certain *soft* checkpoints you get to a little further, sounds like you didn’t reach it. It’s all about trial and error with bullet/enemy patterns. But you also have to enjoy the type of game to keep playing jt
It’ll click eventually, you also unlock permanent upgrades that make subsequent runs easier along with your skills improving. I died so many times in the second area that I almost quit for good but it eventually clicked for me and after I got through it I beat the entire rest of the game fairly easily, only dieing once in the second to last area. You can also get through previous zones very quickly with teleporters after you beat them so it doesn’t take long to get back to where you were. Once you unlock the endless tower you can also play that for a while as a low stakes way to hone your skills and grind out weapon upgrades, also the higher floors of the tower are MUCH harder than anything the main game throws at you so once you are used to that you’ll breeze through the game.
electro pylon driver my beloved.
I love this game but I firmly believe they made it too difficult and frustrating. I wanted to play the whole thing but goddamn I don’t like being reset THAT much.
Youll get there, this is the next learning curve. After this youll be cooking
I love Returnal. I platinumed it and still kept playing.
Honestly, that’s what I loved most about this. It required me to completely change my attitude about gaming. The goal was no longer to avoid dying and be careful, but to be careful enough while boldly moving into the unknown. Knowing that I would die and have to restart eventually but that learning each time was the goal.
This theme coincided with what I was doing in real life of starting grad school and each day was about boldly moving forward, making new mistakes, and learning rather than trying to get it perfect on the first time and do no wrong.
Gotta break you down to rebuild you. You got this dont stress. You will push through. Its all about perseverance
One of those games I’m proud I finished. But there were a few moments where I was so close to giving up. I needed a day away each time to cool off lol.
This was my GOTY when I played it. Would play it every night after work and honestly only stopped when there was nothing left to go. It got easier in time and was trivial by the time I completed it. Hang in there
I got annoyed and quit playing it. The game really lacks that sense of progression that other roguelikes like Hades does that makes me want to come back over and over again no matter how bad I’m getting my ass kicked. It’s frustrating too because it COULD have been an amazing game it just needed some tweaks.
Bro, just keep playing and you’ll see it’ll be okay, I almost gave up on the game too but then I finished it with all the endings and I finished it several more times, definitely My favorite game on ps5
This game is amazing. Enjoy the gameplay and don’t get too upset about dying, it’s an opportunity to learn more about the story. You’ll get into a groove and there is a check point halfway through. I actually found the second part of the game to be relatively easy, first 2 levels the hardest while learning the game and what worked for me. I’m by no means someone who is great at games that require reflexes, if I can do it , so can you.
I understood this basically late as hell into the game but yknow those alien looking big pods u can into? Those save ur progress for that specific Biome so lets say its a fantastic run and ur into Biome 3 already it cost like 5 Ether and when u die it wont be fully reset.
If you get half way through (beat 3 biomes), you restart there instead of going back to the beginning.
Once you know that, keep at it & you’ll eventually beat it. Fantastic game & main reason I’m happy I bought a PS5 last black Friday for $400.
I loved this game too but my skills were not up to beating it and eventually dying doesn’t help your character get stronger like in most rogue likes. Fortunately I found the folder that keeps the save game file and would just make a backup of that file every little while and restore it if I died. Great game, and after beating it the first time, you have to start all over to continue developing the story. Noped right out of that second run and went to YouTube.
Great screenshot
Thought I was looking at a doom dark ages post for a second lol
Yeah, this game rules because of that.
It’s all about leveling up the right attributes on the right weapons and the right set of shop upgrades that let you buff certain things for a whole run. The game is beatable on any build but there are certain ones that can trivialize most battles in the game. For me it was the hollow seeker with portal beams, the rotgland lobber with the caustic and explosive rot leveled up, the carbine with high caliber and leech rounds and the frankly game breaking Electroplyon Driver with any attribute leveled up (using this feels like cheating tbh). Farm oblates and ether to ensure you get the astronaut every run plus use the reanimator to give yourself two extra lives and buy the shop buff that gives you health steal at higher adrenaline. The game also moves ahead after the 3rd biome so you won’t be starting from the beginning.
I loved Returnal but got stuck in the 3rd biome. I could never get to the boss with a good enough gun and ended up dropping it.
I’m jealous op. This game is addictive af don’t give up
PARRY IT!
Some games are built specifically on the steep difficulty and the resulting replay cycle… and that doesn’t jive with a lot of players who don’t specifically know what they’re getting into. Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter bummed a lot of people out in the same way and got a real bad rap far before the roguelite genre eventually became quite popular. Deaths are expected and the game design intends you to learn, experience the story *intentionally repeating*, and growing your character/arsenal and long-term strategy each attempt.
I was ok with the grind while making progress. Once I stalled out (couldn’t beat the boss, no new story cut scenes, “upgrades” were just new types of mods that could be found) for several hours, that was it for me.
Returnal just clicked for me, after I think it was 5 deaths sort of getting to grips with the controls and gameplay, I then first tried every area and boss except the first one, but only just. The difficulty was perfect for me: I was never safe, I was often perched precariously on the border between life and death, so many boss fights came down to the last hit or two, and so many of them were so hype too. Amazing shooter game.
Electropylon driver was my beloved.
I’ve played quite a lot of games with similar mechanics though, Gungeon for example I played to death, Furi, Nier, so many rougelites, loads of soulslikes, plenty arena shooters and such, all of these were a piece of the puzzle that fitted together to make me juuust good enough and no more.
Touhou players – First time?
This game is like crack, I don’t even like bullet hells/roguelikes that much.
If you dash you are immortal for a second – did you know that?
Also considering where you are I assume you beat the first boss who was in my opinion hardest part so far so don’t give up.
I am in under water world now which is 5th biome I suppose? And 4th biome was also pretty hard – no boss but hard af enemies and environment.
Think I will grab this game in the next sale, some really convincing comments in the thread
Core gameplay, visuals and atmosphere were great.
Unfortunately the rogue lite elements didn’t mesh with me at all.
Would have loved this game as a normal single.player game like Metroid prime.
RNG plays a pretty big factor in my opinion. The carbine with leech rounds (like 5-10% chance you get a small heal for every round fired) is how I beat the game the first time. Get the carbine with high rate of fire (vs the lower rate of fire…I forget what it’s called) and leech rounds and it will carry you through most if not all of the game.