Support NeoGAF

[skit_data]

I think a might wait with continuing the game until a couple of more patches. Made it to Biome 4, got a nice little rest now after act 1 is finished. The game is still unstable though, it crashed 10 minutes into Biome 4. I've concluded the games story and gameplay so good that I don't want to ruin my impression as a whole any more by frustrating crashes and random bugs.

I will definitely finish it but I want it to be stable and a little more crash free, as the experience gets dragged down by the crashes and it feels unfair to the game.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Weird. I have 8 hours in without a single crash or issue. I wonder if it could be a system level thing? Mine is 2 months old or so? Crashing would definitely make the game impossible to make progress, but the disparity I experiences is strange.

From what I can gather, the glitches and crashes seems to be very random. Some players haven't experienced none, while others is more affected. It's strange indeed. My problems didn't arose until the latest patch. Since then I've had two crashes and audio glitch, forcing me to close the app. One had happened just as I beat the final boss, which made me miss the ending and post game. That was the hardest pill to swallow and really soured my experience with the game.

I love the Returnal, I really do, so this is extra disheartening for me. It's an amazing experience, but due to the nature of the game, I can't concentrate on the gameplay when I keep being distracted by the thought that my run could end anytime due to a crash or sudden glitch.

I will resume Returnal when Housemarque has made sure the game is stable and there is some form of save state so you don't lose progress when you close the game. Lots of roguelites have solved this issue, but somehow Housemarque has omitted it from the game.

 

[Captain Toad]

I've put a TON of hours and had my first crash today. Perhaps it's the latest patch. Perhaps it's just random luck.

While, the performance has been great for me, I must admit this type of game really suffers when a glitch does occur and your entire run is wiped. I had my character just to the point I was OP in biome 2 as I search for collectibles. It felt wrong to get sent back to scratch for the game having an issue.

 

[GodParticle]

Never had a crash until the newest patch. It hard locked my system. Yeah, think I'm gonna shelve this for a while. One weird thing is that I had those manta rays spawn in biome 3. I had never seen that before.

 

[skit_data]

Weird. I have 8 hours in without a single crash or issue. I wonder if it could be a system level thing? Mine is 2 months old or so? Crashing would definitely make the game impossible to make progress, but the disparity I experiences is strange.

I suspect it might be more frustrating the more time you spend in the game, since spending more time in the game increases the risk of running into a crash at the moment.

I hadn't experienced more than 1 crash 8 hours in. Im at 37 hours now and I've had maybe 3 crashes, 1 audio glitch and 1 time i fell through the floor.

They might not be many but when they hit and your're in one of the Biomes that basically requires you to play through the 2 earlier and scavange every room it really feels gamebreaking.

 

[JTCx]

I'm very quickly falling out with this game over some of its bs, that second boss still remains undefeated and I cannot seem to get a good stroke of RNG to fix it, like take the run I just did after taking a break for RE Village:

1 large Health Kit
1 Small Health Kit
1 artifact that gives me health back when it's low

But I had to grind 400 obliged for that Artifact, no option for astronauts, no decent weapons in either biome and then I get to the boss

I found a pistol with Voidbeam and replaced my level 0 Hollow with Horizontal Blast, this should be fine, slower than Id like sure but still good. Nope! The last part of this fight the boss goes so fucking fast at me I didn't even get a chance to use a health kit and died....

Back to square one I suppose

Don't rely on RNG. Learn the fight for the 2nd boss. I killed it with the freebie pistol the game gives your right outside the boss arena. I finished my playthough with a bunch of crap artifacts/parasites and my gun wasnt anything special.

 

[Mr. PlayStation]

Finally beat the first Biome. I think this game is tremendous and it's completely taken me by surprise. Ive never had such a difficult feeling game also feel totally fair and just loads of fun every time out. I think the metacritic for this one is too low and I wonder how much reviewers really got into it. There is just so much here from the gameplay, the story and how it's all woven together. I would call this game shockingly masterful IMO.

You've echoed my thoughts. This is my first ever rogue like game and glad I checked it out

Man, you were confused as fuck, those blue balls need only one bullet to reveal the main weakpoints. Congrats!

haha yeah I was confused as heck, didn't know should I be shooting at blue or red for weakness

 

[FrankWza]

.

will resume Returnal when Housemarque has made sure the game is stable and there is some form of save state so you don't lose progress when you close the game. Lots of roguelites have solved this issue, but somehow Housemarque has omitted it from the game.

I've put a TON of hours and had my first crash today. Perhaps it's the latest patch. Perhaps it's just random luck.

While, the performance has been great for me, I must admit this type of game really suffers when a glitch does occur and your entire run is wiped. I had my character just to the point I was OP in biome 2 as I search for collectibles. It felt wrong to get sent back to scratch for the game having an issue.

I suspect it might be more frustrating the more time you spend in the game. I hadn't experienced more than 1 crash 8 hours in. Im at 37 hours now and I've had maybe 3 crashes, 1 audio glitch and 1 time i fell through the floor.

They might not be many but when they hit and your're in one of the Biomes that basically requires you to play through the 2 earlier and scavange every room it really feels gamebreaking.

Never had a crash until the newest patch. It hard locked my system. Yeah, think I'm gonna shelve this for a while. One weird thing is that I had those manta rays spawn in biome 3. I had never seen that before.

By any chance do any of you have an external drive hooked up via usb? I saw someone post that somewhere. They unplugged their drive and no more crashes.

 

[skit_data]

.




By any chance do any of you have an external drive hooked up via usb? I saw someone post that somewhere. They unplugged their drive and no more crashes.

Nope, no external connection except the controller cable. I haven't experienced any crashes in any game except Demon's Souls version 1.0 crashing on release one time. It's definitely Returnal causing it, which happens sometimes. The game will get patched, it's still very early days.

 

[kyoji]

Game of the year so far... still early ofc, but wont be shocked if it wins.

 

[skit_data]

Game of the year so far... still early ofc, but wont be shocked if it wins.

Unless Elden Ring swings in like a wrecking ball, this is definitely my GOTY as well. Unless Horizon FW or GoW Ragnarök turns up this year. Horizon FW needs to improve a lot of aspects to have a chance though and GoW needs to... well release this year first of all xD

But easily the best new franchise and for innovation in gameplay

 

[SCB3]

Don't rely on RNG. Learn the fight for the 2nd boss. I killed it with the freebie pistol the game gives your right outside the boss arena. I finished my playthough with a bunch of crap artifacts/parasites and my gun wasnt anything special.

Thanks, I feel like I am slowly learning the fight, its just unlike a Souls game I can't just run back to the boss and keep getting at it, as I'll be be underprepared item wise and Health Wise

 

[Imtjnotu]

no patch crash at all but half way through the 3rd biome the game updated and set me back to the beginning. fucking shit housemarque

 

[Imtjnotu]

Thanks, I feel like I am slowly learning the fight, its just unlike a Souls game I can't just run back to the boss and keep getting at it, as I'll be be underprepared item wise and Health Wise

best thing i did was remap my R1 button to dash. L1 to Alt fire. Up to Consume

 

[saintjules]

 

[THEAP99]

Just beat Returnal. Took me about 32 hours and in short, it has fun gameplay with some annoying bugs and I would recommend waiting for a sale.

That final boss fight was the easiest one in the game lol I beat it first try!

 

[Great Hair]

 

[Imtjnotu]

3rd biome flying robots have no killed me for the 7th time. im quitting for a month

 

[Bo_Hazem]

WOW!

Game is to casual and easy, confirmed!

Told you I fully took my time exploring everything and enjoying the sceneries, exploring secret places, etc. Now 8-9 hours for one run (~11 total) seems too long.

 

[Entroyp]

Game of the year so far... still early ofc, but wont be shocked if it wins.

It's my GoTY so far. If only I could stop playing it and move on to Resi 8.

 

[GodParticle]

.




By any chance do any of you have an external drive hooked up via usb? I saw someone post that somewhere. They unplugged their drive and no more crashes.

Nah, nothing like that. It just froze and would stay on closing app if you tried to manually close

 

[Rea]

Sad to report that I had a awesome run and spent ether to buy checkpoint and astronaut figure, just to have a crashed on me.
I'm done with this game until new patch is out. Maybe I tried one more time? Damn, I'm so addicted to this game.

 

[Captain Toad]

Yeah, they definitely need to add a temp save. Seems crazy that as much detail and quality went into the game, they'd overlook this one feature. Even small modern indie rougelikes have a temp save file.

 

[Moonjt9]

Nah, nothing like that. It just froze and would stay on closing app if you tried to manually close

This just happened to me as well. First crash since launch. I hope they get a patch out to fix this stuff soon. I need to keep playing!

 

[Bruno_Arrais85]

I beat the game today after 3 days trying. The game just decided to mute itself halfway through the final biome lol. It was hard!! Time to watch the final boss on YouTube (this time with sound)

 

[kyoji]

Adriana chechik live on twitch playing returnal... she has 22 deaths so far lol

 

[Imtjnotu]

Adriana chechik live on twitch playing returnal... she has 22 deaths so far lol

not far behind her then.

 

[2AdEPT]

good build and as i am going around to improve more it puts me in a room where there is no going back... and just a gold room and i end up dying... fuck this game sometimes.

time for a break me thinks

Im not gud 'nuff for gold rooms yet avoid them like the plague....they do come with lots of rewards though when you finally are comfortable with the enemies in the area.

Yeah, they definitely need to add a temp save. Seems crazy that as much detail and quality went into the game, they'd overlook this one feature. Even small modern indie rougelikes have a temp save file.

Unfortunately (or fortunately for some) this was 100% intended. You could save scum and finish in one 4 hour run if you saved to the cloud and reloaded befire dangerous areas. They knew this and made sure there was no save scumming....You can see the structure of the game would fall apart with save scumming.

I suck at this game (so if you like shadenfruede, or at least slow methodical cheesing of enemies) you can join me; so far beat the first boss and taking a second run at biome 2.

 

[Dr Bass]

Just got to the boss for Biome 2. Didn't have much power. Beat the first phase without taking a hit but died on phase 2 with a couple of quick hits.

I don't know if it's because I just play less these days but it certainly can feel deflating to die on a good run. I really want to finish this game. I've never played something that felt so disappointing to lose at yet made me want to keep going so much.

 

[bellome]

I completed Act3, the game doesn't have anything to offer now other than completionism.

It blew my mind, a roguelike adventure like no other.

 

[Vindicator]

Hyperion down, 1st try like Nemesis before, such a great game, it's my substitute for the 3D Turrican we never got.

 

[GymWolf]

Kotaku made a list of the best to worst weapons

I really disagree with Rotgland lobber being that bad. I only made it through Biome 3 thanks to it yesterday, and died at Nemesis when i switched because I thought it would be kinda bad against Nemesis

Trash list but hey, it's kotaku...probably the low tier weapons resemble a white straight man somehow...

I melted 2 bosses with the acid granade launcher, bottom of the list my ass lol.

 

[GymWolf]

They need to add a coop mode and an horde mode to keep the game active imo.

Especially an horde mode where you just kill mofos.

 

[saintjules]

Just beat Returnal. Took me about 32 hours and in short, it has fun gameplay with some annoying bugs and I would recommend waiting for a sale.

That final boss fight was the easiest one in the game lol I beat it first try!

I thought you wanted a refund for this?

 

[Dibils2k]

i just saw i am on the final boss, died on 2nd phase 1st try, i was gonna drop it but may aswell stock up and beat it now

 

[Moonjt9]

Trash list but hey, it's kotaku...probably the low tier weapons resemble a white straight man somehow...

I melted 2 bosses with the acid granade launcher, bottom of the list my ass lol.

I feel like I'm the only one who absolutely hates the sidearm. Everything is better than it even when it has good perks. It's slow, low damage, small clip, horrible.

 

[GymWolf]

I feel like I'm the only one who absolutely hates the sidearm. Everything is better than it even when it has good perks. It's slow, low damage, small clip, horrible.

never really used the pistol a lot so i don't know.

 

[Captain Toad]

Unfortunately (or fortunately for some) this was 100% intended. You could save scum and finish in one 4 hour run if you saved to the cloud and reloaded befire dangerous areas. They knew this and made sure there was no save scumming....You can see the structure of the game would fall apart with save scumming.

Can developers not disable cloud saving for games?

An option to allow temp save states, but also disables cloud saves should work. Or just write the software in a way that it just doesn't load temp save file info when reading in cloud save files.

There should be some workaround to do this without allowing cloud save scumming. And, if they can't figure it out, just give in and allow players to save scum if they choose to. In the end, it is a single player game anyway.

 

[McCarth]

I'm absolutely trash at these games, but I beat Phrike last night and seriously felt like the greatest gamer who ever lived! I didn't even need to use my astronaut... and then I proceeded to get smashed in the desert.

Got unlucky in one of those trap door things, the big floating guy used up my astronaut, and then the burrowing guy killed me. What an excellent, excellent game.

Question for those much better than me, how much on my next run should I build up in Biome 1 before going back to Biome 2? A little, none, all the way? If it's all the way won't a run that goes to 3, 4 etc. take like 5 hours?!?

 

[xrnzaaas]

Question for those much better than me, how much on my next run should I build up in Biome 1 before going back to Biome 2? A little, none, all the way? If it's all the way won't a run that goes to 3, 4 etc. take like 5 hours?!?

I don't want to spoil too much:
- It's always good to spend some time exploring previous areas to score better gear and stat bonuses, but it's not absolutely mandatory.
- There are shortcuts in the game.
- You won't have to start from biome 1 during your whole playthrough.

 

[Con_Z_ǝdʇ]

I'm absolutely trash at these games, but I beat Phrike last night and seriously felt like the greatest gamer who ever lived! I didn't even need to use my astronaut... and then I proceeded to get smashed in the desert.

Got unlucky in one of those trap door things, the big floating guy used up my astronaut, and then the burrowing guy killed me. What an excellent, excellent game.

Question for those much better than me, how much on my next run should I build up in Biome 1 before going back to Biome 2? A little, none, all the way? If it's all the way won't a run that goes to 3, 4 etc. take like 5 hours?!?

I say do biome 1 completely up until you feel save in the next one. Then you can start to do just half of it etc.
There is a benefit to doing it since you can unlock more and get comfortable with the enemies.

As xrnzaaas said, you won't have to always start from biome 1.
And you unlock shortcuts with which you can skip areas.

 

[Bartski]

 

[drotahorror]

They need to add a coop mode and an horde mode to keep the game active imo.

Especially an horde mode where you just kill mofos.

*This post shouldn't come across me being mad btw, the performance isn't a huge deal but it does suck, lack of content is much worse.

It's a roguelike/lite. There's TONS of stuff they should have done for endgame. There really ain't shit to do except for daily challenge and even that can be only done one time a day, like wtf.

Very disappointed in the content you can play after beating the game. I put a lot of time into this game but it was mainly for trophies because I loved the gameplay so much.

Where's modifiers for making the game more difficult? Why can't I have guns with lvl 3 traits that I earned in earlier biomes and have enemies scale? How about a mode where the game keeps looping and getting harder and harder and you keep all your shit? There's plenty of shit that almost every roguelike/lite does that this one doesn't. It's very barebones.


Also, the performance. When you're being a bitch the performance is fine. When you're being a boss the performance fuckin tanks yo. I've had drops in the 20's easy. 30-40fps regularly when you're up close and personal and trying to shit on the whole room.

Those drops I saw in the trailers leading up to the game and those arguments with those fuckbois on reddit (and how they weren't actually drops and it was my display??lol) were all true. The game can suffer pretty hard performance wise.

Love the game though, hope they add content quick otherwise my PS5 is gonna collect dust again, for a while.

 

[kyoji]

Adriana chechik live on twitch playing returnal... she has 22 deaths so far lol

not far behind her then.

I went to bed got back up, did stuff around the house and she still is streaming 11 hours later. Shes addicted to the game, someone help her or we may miss out on new 'scenes' because shes so time consumed now.

 

[Salmon Snake]

FINALLY killed the second boss and got the

Spoiler:

grappling hook

!!!

What a rush!!!

 

[Con_Z_ǝdʇ]

FINALLY killed the second boss and got the

Spoiler:

grappling hook

!!!

What a rush!!!

This helps a lot when you want to evade enemies!

 

[SLB1904]

Trash list but hey, it's kotaku...probably the low tier weapons resemble a white straight man somehow...

I melted 2 bosses with the acid granade launcher, bottom of the list my ass lol.

Yeah the acid weapon is one of the top tiers for sure. It does damaged overtime. Good to not stick around those flying robots. You can see them melting from distance

 

[Moonjt9]

Just beat the final boss for the first time. Had one hit left until I was dead, sensor warnings blaring, shit flying everywhere, hollowseeker bullets moving to the target for what felt like eternity, and the boss went down.

My heart was racing and my hands were literally shaking. Had to sit for a moment and relax haha. Now onto act 3. This game!

 

[Dr Bass]

I completed Act3, the game doesn't have anything to offer now other than completionism.

It blew my mind, a roguelike adventure like no other.

This reads like a summary of Ghost of Tsushima and then Returnal.

Edit: I see other people talking about "Act 3" so I must have not even hit Act 2 yet, or knew we had started on an Act 1.

 

[GymWolf]

Yeah the acid weapon is one of the top tiers for sure. It does damaged overtime. Good to not stick around those flying robots. You can see them melting from distance

Not only that, if you have enough bonus damage it kills every small enemy with a single hit.

The only problems with all these explosing weapons like granade launcher, acid thingy and rocket launcher is that the aim system is less "automatic" compared to stuff like the carabine or the hollow seeker where really you can aim where you want and still hitting enemies.

That's probably why some people hate these weapoans, they are less user friendly to use and you actually have to aim a little.

Same for the pylon thing.

The only weapons that i still don't understand is the coilspine shredder...