Playstation Returnal

[Iceman]

Reviews look good. I’m not into this rogue-lite style of game at all so will watch a playthrough.

 

[psylockolussus]

I watched a walkthrough and I'm kinda pleased that my ps5 waitlist didn't get longer. Game looks hard, the environment is dark like I don't have the best eyes, its just hard to see and this game would give me an eye strain as i would need to look closer to see the smaller details (the game also requires a long playthrough as there's no manual save). Plus it has horror vibes. Its like Alien meets Control, and I just know this isn't the type of game for me.

Then when I watched the walkthrough. literally no saves. If I'm not mistaken, you have to finish the entire chapter of a biome, if you don't, you will go back to the starting point of that biome everytime you open the game, and the skills/weapons you've acquired are the only ones saved. So you can't play this for only thirty minutes if you don't want to lose progress in the biome you are currently in. And the enemies respawn in different areas. Then once you cleared a biome and you entered the next biome, that's the only time your game actually progresses and you'd get a different starting point? Idk. It looks confusing to me.

Imagine the first section of RE2 being the police station and the starting point everytime you die and you open the game will always be the hallway. When you have completed that entire Police station, that would be the only time you'd get a different starting point. So you have to go through the same areas/directions again and again if you are always killed or if you can't play for hours in 1 sitting. While the story is confusing and not really clear. I watched the cutscenes and they aren't rewarding. Imo, its not really worth $70. The game forces players to keep going and going so they won't lose their progress, then punishes players to go back to the starting point, if they aren't good enough to defeat the enemies. I feel like this game would appeal more to hardcore gamers like the ones that play every FromSoftware game. And from what I've seen, I don't think there's any npc eXcept for the enemies that you will encounter.

I'd be surprised if this sells well in the long run.

 

[Teelie]

Fallen Order?

There's a difficulty option and plenty of save points in the game. Just no fast travel.

That is it. It may have a more forgiving save system but it still has all those other elements like enemies you defeated respawning in areas you pass through again and the other limitations imposed on you. That is why it is more a rogue-lite than a full on Souls type game. It still has more difficulties and artificial constraints than I care for.

 

[Marvolo]

I've put about 5 hours into this thing. My review so far.

I'm surprised to say its so far not nearly as difficult as some reviewers are making it out to be. I've only died 4 or 5 times.

The shooting is decent.

Enemies are pretty to look at.

Frame rate is pretty good.

Graphics are good.

At first the world Atropos is cool. Problem is you will quickly realize that this game, at least the 5 hours I've played, is nothing but a straightforward path through one dark moonlit stone room after another filled with the same handful of assets rearranged. Ive had the same objective since it started "Find the beacon." Its truly nothing but a roguelite 2.5D game made 3D. Instead of traveling left to right from one nondescript room to the next you travel forward from one room to the next. Each room acts as a kind of arena. You step in, handful of enemies are in the room, you shoot enemies while dodging a bit, enemies die then you collect the same 5 resources, then you walk to the next room. Occasionally an arena will have a side door that takes you to a room with a few chests. And also some arenas have a section of collapsible floor that takes you too a small room where you collect resources then are transported back to the main map. You know in Mario how you'd go down some pipes into a small room that would be filled with coins? Exact same thing in Returnal. This is the extent of the game loop so far. For 5 hours straight.

The story is a "piece it together" type so far. Bits are coming together through decrypted logs and audio recordings, but these are few and far between. So far the story and plot development is an after thought. I'm 5 hours in and have no idea where the devs are going with story or if its even really begun. Imagine in Last of Us if the prologue scene had been 5 hours long and just Joel running around the town, down one street after another, killing zombies, and collecting mundane everyday supplies and weapons, and the story being delivered by Joel hearing occasional news broadcasts and newspapers laying around.

The protagonist is supposed to be a scout that goes to planets and, well, scouts. She can scan and study things she finds on the planets. But so far she seems very ho-hum about everything. To give you an example. At one point I entered a room and in the middle of the room was a giant floating ball of gyrating black goo. It deforms when shot, but quickly reforms. It completely defies gravity. Selene pays it no attention. Doesn't say anything about it, scan it, or react at all. It might as well be a light fixture. Selene gives no forks about this gigantic bizarre unknown alien thing. This is her's and the game's attitude 90% of the time that I've played.

The score seems to be one moody atmospheric piece playing non stop regardless of which room you're in or what you're doing. I liked it for the first 30 minutes, but after 5 hours I'm desperate for the composer to play the next forking song. I assume this is meant to add to the loop sensation, but regardless of the composer's intentions its grating after a while.



So far this hasn't earned its $70 price tag. This cool concept and the world seem to be wasted by Housemarque. I can see why this would appeal to the current generation of gamers many of whom spend a lot of time playing repetitive battle royale online shooters. Like I said earlier this could have easily been an EA live service online shooter. It has the hallmarks of one. The only thing its missing is online multi-player and microtransactions.

Ill continue to post my thoughts as I progress.

 

[psylockolussus]

Housemarque Comments on Returnal Difficulty and Save Issue

 

[Teelie]

Lot of speaking around the issue of actually making it more accessible because they want some of that Souls prestige of being completely inaccessible to anyone who is not "gud enuf" or has the time to master their overly difficult game.

So they basically told everyone who doesn't like hard games for the sake of hard games to go elsewhere. Easy enough to do. I don't need easy games but I am not looking for either.

 

[Iceman]

Lot of speaking around the issue of actually making it more accessible because they want some of that Souls prestige of being completely inaccessible to anyone who is not "gud enuf" or has the time to master their overly difficult game.

So they basically told everyone who doesn't like hard games for the sake of hard games to go elsewhere. Easy enough to do. I don't need easy games but I am not looking for either.

I don’t know why they can’t get that prestige while
also having an easier mode for people who aren’t interested in that but otherwise like the look of the game and are willing to spend their money.

 

[Teelie]

That is at least in part why we have Achievement/Trophy systems. You can beat a game on different difficulties and still show off your skill and/or ability to take multiple hits to the head against a wall.

 

[Iceman]

With this $70 thing I think it should be reserved for the biggest titles while the lower profile titles should be a bit lower to encourage sales.

 

[psylockolussus]

Just from the trailer, I thought the game was already a hard sell. And that 10 dollar increase from ps4 games isn't really going to entice people to buy more games especially at launch. They'd be more picky which game their $70 is going to go.

I'm still waiting for Ghosts of Tsushima and Last of Us to drop to at least $30.

Housemarque Publishes List of Known Returnal Issues

 

[Marvolo]

With this $70 thing I think it should be reserved for the biggest titles while the lower profile titles should be a bit lower to encourage sales.

Jfc, games cost £70 in the UK?! Thats $96 for my fellow Americans. Thats an insane launch price.

 

[Sithborg]

Jfc, games cost £70 in the UK?! Thats $96 for my fellow Americans. Thats an insane launch price.

And I'm pretty certain Australian prices are worse.

 

[Iceman]

Jfc, games cost £70 in the UK?! Thats $96 for my fellow Americans. Thats an insane launch price.

Yes, after the raise for this new gen. Although we don’t pay tax on top of that like in the US. I can’t see how people on minimum wage can afford to be gamers unless they play a small number of titles or just get everything used/old. It’s not supposed to be an exclusive/elite hobby.

 

[Gee]

Yes, after the raise for this new gen. Although we don’t pay tax on top of that like in the US. I can’t see how people on minimum wage can afford to be gamers unless they play a small number of titles or just get everything used/old. It’s not supposed to be an exclusive/elite hobby.

True, but like many other hobbies it's an expensive one (e.g. comics).

Question is, do you have enough disposable income to justify spending on such hobbies nowadays?

 

[Marvolo]

Better question is why do we as a society think the poor shouldn't enjoy life and have fun?

 

[X Knight]

This game seems like one where I'd wait for a good sale in the $40-$50 range, at least. $70 is just a bit too steep.

Plus, having just played Demon's Souls Remake for basically 4-5 months straight, I'm not exactly eager to jump back into a "punishing" game.......haha.

 

[Teelie]

I usually don't like to pile onto things like this but Returnal is looking worse and worse as far as gameplay goes and it's mostly thanks to their ludicrous no save "feature" and apparently their cinematics screwing over players too.

Unlucky Returnal Player Goes For Loot, Dies Immediately

Returnal’s Lack Of A Save Feature Is Ruining Players’ Runs

 

[psylockolussus]

Accessibility features should really be a standard thing in videogames especially games like this one.

 

[Iceman]

I usually don't like to pile onto things like this but Returnal is looking worse and worse as far as gameplay goes and it's mostly thanks to their ludicrous no save "feature" and apparently their cinematics screwing over players too.

Unlucky Returnal Player Goes For Loot, Dies Immediately

Returnal’s Lack Of A Save Feature Is Ruining Players’ Runs

These are the kinds of things that make me move on. I don’t mind high difficulty in games as long as checkpoints are regular.

 

[psylockolussus]

UK Sales Charts: Resident Evil Village Sells Best on PS5, PS4 with 80% Share

Returnal down at 15 in its 2nd week.

 

[X Knight]

These are the kinds of things that make me move on. I don’t mind high difficulty in games as long as checkpoints are regular.

Totally agree. No matter how difficult or challenging you want to make your game, you need to include some kind of save or checkpoint mechanic. At the very least, it's about respecting the player's time.

Right now, for some strange reason, I got sucked back into doing another run through of Demon's Souls Remake. Because of DSR, I am now more open to challenging "death loop" type games like Returnal. HOWEVER, as hard, challenging, and sometimes frustrating Demon's Souls can be, I can only imagine how infuriated I would feel if there were no checkpoint and save mechanics. If, every time I died, I lost not only my soul points (experience and currency) but ALL my weapons, items, etc. AND I hard to start over from the beginning of the world, or even the beginning of the game, each time I died.

If Demon's Souls had been designed like that, I would likely have quit and given up on the game very early on. IMO, that goes beyond challenging and into frustrating territory. So, I'm glad Demon's Souls was difficult and challenging but still had save and checkpoint mechanics built in.

Hearing that Returnal lacks those has turned me off on the game, no matter how interested I was in it. If I really want to subject myself to that kind of torture experience playing a game, I will wait until it goes on sale for a good price like $40. $70 is way too high for that kind of punishing game experience.

 

[psylockolussus]

Housemarque Found Out About Returnal's $70 Price Tag the Same Time As Everyone Else - IGN

Sounds like Sony is really enforcing $70 for their games... this would have a bigger deal to me if only their games don't get price cut later on or if I have like next a dozen of neXt Ps5 games in my waitlist. But still.

 

[Marvolo]

Guess they weren't a fan.

 

[Iceman]

Returnal releases on PC next month

 

[Gee]

Returnal releases on PC next month

This is one exclusive I've been looking forward to. Risk of Rain but with AAA graphics.