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[Arsic]

I played Returnal on release and remember being very happy with the game. My main issue is the rogue like nature of the game and after completing act 2 after 20 hours I didn't do anything else with it.

I never realized it had an act 3 then or that the ascension dlc was added later on.

With the Saros gameplay trailer a few days ago I figured I'd reinstall it to see it on pro, plus I've come to appreciate Hades 2 a lot that a rogue like game can be done well. Same with rogue Prince of Persia or dead cells. Maybe Returnal is as good too?

It's not but Saros does look to be fixing some of my qualms with the game like really no upgrades or permanance.

That however doesn't detract from the stellar gameplay loop, amazing visuals, wonderful sound design, fantastic atmosphere, frantic boss fights, and the deep lore/story.

This may very well be PlayStations best exclusive still to this day this console gen. Yes it's on PC now but between this and demons souls remake it's a close tie for me.

I have to say the dlc in particular I enjoyed because it speeds up the gameplay and adds straight dopamine into a game that's already fast.

Lastly, this story is up there with silent hill 2 remake for me. So many interpretations and no total solid answers for all questions but so much depth to its tale. Love this kind of story telling.

Saros is going to be amazing. If you haven't played this one yet give it a spin. Especially if you're a fan of shmups or bullet hell games.

 

[ByWatterson]

It's an all-timer and my proudest Platinum (before they changed the save system!).

 

[Arsic]

It's an all-timer and my proudest Platinum (before they changed the save system!).

What did they change?

 

[ByWatterson]

What did they change?

It used to have literally no saving during runs. Had to beat each portion of the game at once. It was hardcore.

 

[Traxtech]

What did they change?

You can save scum now, you couldn't before

 

[The artful mincer]

2nd best game of this generation.
Best Boss battles this generation.
Best guns this generation. (Everytime the portal beam fires I ejaculate)

 

[truth411]

2nd best game of this generation.
Best Boss battles this generation.
Best guns this generation. (Everytime the portal beam fires I ejaculate)

Don't know what you have at the #1 spot. IMO Returnal is the Game of the Generation so far. That will probably change when GTA6 comes out lol.

 

[saintjules]

2nd best game of this generation.
Best Boss battles this generation.
Best guns this generation. (Everytime the portal beam fires I ejaculate)

Definitely GOTG. When I got to the 3rd boss I immediately said this. What a ride that was!

 

[The Cockatrice]

Replayed recently on PC. Good game, but it does nothing amazing or super unique, which is why most people didnt buy it, especially on PC. The first time climb towards Hyperion and the orga music was nice though. Shame the rest of the music didnt have that same spectacular moment. Was an 8 out of 10 both times I played it.

 

[ReBurn]

I love a good bullet hell but I burned out on Returnal pretty quickly. I've been meaning to give it another go.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

It's an all-timer and my proudest Platinum (before they changed the save system!).

Same. Literally my only Platinum ever and it's Returnal somehow.

 

[mdkirby]

You can save scum now, you couldn't before

Daaamn, that would change it a lot, tho I do understand it, I tried playing the multiplayer with a mate, and it wasn't really playable as it required him to be uninterrupted sometimes for 2 hours, and he had a 3 or 4 year old. So yeah the brutal save system did make it highly inaccessible for a lot of people on top of being a particularly hard game already.

I would agree tho, it's the best Sony game of the ps5 era.

 

[rsouzadk]

My favorite PS5 game so far — I even got the platinum trophy on PSN.

Ended up buying it again on Steam.

 

[Arsic]

My favorite PS5 game so far — I even got the platinum trophy on PSN.

Ended up buying it again on Steam.

Running theme in the thread- platinum trophy pride for this one.

My favorite plat is probably animal well.

 

[Luipadre]

Still the best PS5 game. I will never forget this bossfight and the lead up to it. Since Saros is basically returnal 2, its my most anticipated game currently

 

[Holammer]

The story is open for interpretation but it drops plenty of hints in the house/hospital visits, ship logs. It's just a matter of getting the subtext.

Story starts in the 1960's when Selene Vassos is born to Theia, a single/divorced mother. On the day of the moon landing when Selene was young her mother drives off a bridge and is left a cripple for the rest of her life. Selene resents her and only sees her as a mental parasite and a burden until she dies.
In the early 90's Selene gets pregnant and the father disappears before her son is born. Couple of years later she drives off the same bridge and she too is left crippled, her son drowns. She was already strained psychologically and I believe she drives off the road deliberately when getting triggered by the news of a local man becoming an astronaut.

In the aftermath she starts taking pain medications and disappearing into the world of science fiction, religion and mythology. She eventually suffers a psychotic episode, believes she lives in a repeating/cyclic world and burns down the house.

This is where the game starts, she's about 50 years old and institutionalized. Everything takes place in her heavily medicated brain. She is the unreliable narrator numero uno.
The names used in the story are probably the products of her own addled brain, as they are grabbed straight from Greek Mythology. She imagines herself the Moon goddess on her chariot crashing and her mother Theia a Titan. The ship logs contain interactions with medical personal recontextualized by her as Astra medical doing evaluations. Hell, the ship logs are just full of crazy.
She is the creator/destroyer the aliens ciphers tell of. She's not a an Astra explorer, she lived in a world where people read books, where phones had answering machines and magazines cost 75 cents.

There's more, like the parasites being a metaphor of carrying a child, but I rambled enough already. It's my rough interpretation, I'm not playing it again to take notes. Because of the game's metanarrative there's not a proper ending, the only ending is to collect all the trophies and get a platinum.
I finished the game on PC just the other day.

 

[Beechos]

My vote for best ps5 game. I cant believe no one has tried to copy this gameplay/formula to remake old 2d shoot em ups like contra.

 

[Nonehxc]

Probably the best game of this gen.

Yep, it is art.

A dance of life and death.

 

[Lokaum D+]

 

[Pelao]

Man was this game good.
Literally the only criticism I have is that it was extremely short for the $70 price tag if you were good at it, which I was because I played it right after replaying Doom Eternal. But gameplay-wise, it's one of the best things Sony has released this generation.

 

[Nonehxc]

I love a good bullet hell but I burned out on Returnal pretty quickly. I've been meaning to give it another go.

Don't do it.

Check out your username.

Jk, go for it. I got it on release day but for reasons and backlog I wasn't in the proper state of mind and bounced hard. I felt it was great, I really liked it so I kept trying and failing and I found myself just playing it to like it, so I had to let it go because while it clicked so hard with me with the theme, atmosphere, music, tight controls, gameplay, story, EVERYTHING, I wasn't having fun starting again after some loops.

But it didn't left my mind.

Picked it up a year after and even the loop clicked hard so I got to puny Phrike again, went all in, got to the second boss and then it's when you feel it...

Art. A dance of life and death.

 

[kazuyamishima]

Game of the Generation for me, got the platinum without be suspending cycle update, endless weeks with a lot of stress, anger and sleepless nights paid over.


My favourite Biome is #3.

Good game, but it does nothing amazing or super unique, which is why most people didnt buy it, especially on PC

A lot of people didn't buy it due to the nature of the game and mostly price.

 

[Arsic]

The story is open for interpretation but it drops plenty of hints in the house/hospital visits, ship logs. It's just a matter of getting the subtext.

Story starts in the 1960's when Selene Vassos is born to Theia, a single/divorced mother. On the day of the moon landing when Selene was young her mother drives off a bridge and is left a cripple for the rest of her life. Selene resents her and only sees her as a mental parasite and a burden until she dies.
In the early 90's Selene gets pregnant and the father disappears before her son is born. Couple of years later she drives off the same bridge and she too is left crippled, her son drowns. She was already strained psychologically and I believe she drives off the road deliberately when getting triggered by the news of a local man becoming an astronaut.

In the aftermath she starts taking pain medications and disappearing into the world of science fiction, religion and mythology. She eventually suffers a psychotic episode, believes she lives in a repeating/cyclic world and burns down the house.

This is where the game starts, she's about 50 years old and institutionalized. Everything takes place in her heavily medicated brain. She is the unreliable narrator numero uno.
The names used in the story are probably the products of her own addled brain, as they are grabbed straight from Greek Mythology. She imagines herself the Moon goddess on her chariot crashing and her mother Theia a Titan. The ship logs contain interactions with medical personal recontextualized by her as Astra medical doing evaluations. Hell, the ship logs are just full of crazy.
She is the creator/destroyer the aliens ciphers tell of. She's not a an Astra explorer, she lived in a world where people read books, where phones had answering machines and magazines cost 75 cents.

There's more, like the parasites being a metaphor of carrying a child, but I rambled enough already. It's my rough interpretation, I'm not playing it again to take notes. Because of the game's metanarrative there's not a proper ending, the only ending is to collect all the trophies and get a platinum.
I finished the game on PC just the other day.

The videos I watched explaining the story have totally different interpretations than you lol.

 

[Deerock71]

 

[FoxMcChief]

I tried so many times to like this game. I think their stardust games were more fun. I just couldn't enjoy this one. But maybe because I don't like the genre too much. Hades (and now Hades 2) are the only ones I've enjoyed. Maybe because there always seems to be some kind of progression. Most rogue type games, I feel like my time was wasted.

 

[SpearHea.:D]

Best playstation title since bloodborne. Returnal is a masterpeice, tower of sysyphus takes it to another height of awesomeness. Nothing like max dreadbound, charging enemies owing them in their face.

So fuckin good that i had to do this.

 

[The artful mincer]

Definitely GOTG. When I got to the 3rd boss I immediately said this. What a ride that was!

3rd boss is the boss of generation!

 

[The artful mincer]

Don't know what you have at the #1 spot. IMO Returnal is the Game of the Generation so far. That will probably change when GTA6 comes out lol.

FFVII Rebirth. A bit unfair on any other game really. OG FFVII is my favourite game and I never expected the overworld or the game in general to be this ambitious. It has problems including the story but I'm not bothered by them.

 

[Griffon]

I'm getting peer pressured by the hyperbole in this thread. Did anyone dislike that game? So that I won't have to find out myself (my backlog is already too large).

 

[Heisenberg007]

Definitely GOTG. When I got to the 3rd boss I immediately said this. What a ride that was!

That "build-up" leading to the 4th boss cemented it for me. What an experience!

 

[Fess]

I'm getting peer pressured by the hyperbole in this thread. Did anyone dislike that game? So that I won't have to find out myself (my backlog is already too large).

I hated it. 6/10. It's masochistic.

That is until I found out I could have 1 permanent save by transferring a cycle up to the cloud to redownload after death. Then it became a 10/10 game. Finished it. Loved it. My favorite Sony game.

But you need PS+ for that cloud save process so today I guess I would hate it again.

On PC it's better, there you can use mods that makes your life less miserable. Can also swap in Samus Aran as the main character and turn it into a 3rd person Metroid game.

 

[The artful mincer]

After experiencing the shitshow that is silksongs boss runbacks. Returnal and roguelikes/lights are how you do boss runbacks.

Returnals runbacks are WAY more punishing but I was never bothered by them because

1. It encourages exploration to get as strong as possible.
2. The levels changes
3. You might discover new story moments.
4. Bosses take alot of hits to kill you allowing you too learn a boss fight in less attempts.
5. Most importantly you level up or get to use different guns on each attempt.

Meanwhile in the land of the cunts that is Silksong.

1. Almost zero reason to explore encouraging skipping enemies. ( You could maybe argue farming silk and shards between each run)
2. More likely to get punished than rewarded fighting regularly enemies on the runback.
3. Everything stays the same.
4. Bosses can kill you in seconds
5. Way less weapons or builds to try on each attempt.
6. Made by 2 dick heads stuck in their own bubble for 7 years.

 

[Fess]

After experiencing the shitshow that is silksongs boss runbacks. Returnal and roguelikes/lights are how you do boss runbacks.

Returnals runbacks are WAY more punishing but I was never bothered by them because

1. It encourages exploration to get as strong as possible.
2. The levels changes
3. You might discover new story moments.
4. Bosses take alot of hits to kill you allowing you too learn a boss fight in less attempts.
5. Most importantly you level up or get to use different guns on each attempt.

Meanwhile in the land of the cunts that is Silksong.

1. Almost zero reason to explore encouraging skipping enemies. ( You could maybe argue farming silk and shards between each run)
2. More likely to get punished than rewarded fighting regularly enemies on the runback.
3. Everything stays the same.
4. Bosses can kill you in seconds
5. Way less weapons or builds to try on each attempt.
6. Made by 2 dick heads stuck in their own bubble for 7 years.

Can't disagree more.

If I recall correctly I spent 5+ hours trying over and over to beat the first boss in Returnal. There was no sense of progression at all. I was just sent back to the ship with the pea shooter. Over and over. And some runs didn't have the house or sword so was just a waste of time. I'm sorry but I don't have infinite amount of free time, I get maybe 1.5-2 hours per day at the absolute max and that's just not enough for a game without saves.

And next brutal noob gate was finishing biome 3 iirc before you got access to the fast travel to biome 4. Fail, do 1-3 all over again, and again. Yeah I know "Git good" and all that, but no it's just plain awful game design.

So nope I literally hated the runbacks. I wanted a refund, a refund for lost time in my life.

But angels suddenly started singing… The save scumming trick appeared!

The save cloud trick changed everything for me. I don't care that it's cheating, one save was all I needed to be able to go through the game. I'm sure I didn't get the true ending or whatever and I don't care but that save cheat turned it up to a 10 for me.


Regarding Silksong. Yeah there are some questionable game designs there as well… But at most I lose maybe 5 minutes after dying. Not 30 minutes or 1.5 hours or more. What I hate the most there are the minions with randomized attack patterns that they've added to boss fights. Makes the boss fights feel less structured. If I can't form a strategy how to safely do a no-hit run of a boss fight by dissecting every boss move and safe spot then it's not a good boss fight, that's how I feel.

 

[mèx]

The only great game from all the Sony PC ports. It feels really good to play.

Luckily it's on the easy side so you don't see the repeated content too often.

 

[The artful mincer]

Can't disagree more.

Cool disagreements are interesting!

If I recall correctly I spent 5+ hours trying over and over to beat the first boss in Returnal. There was no sense of progression at all. I was just sent back to the ship with the pea shooter. Over and over.

This is definitely a problem early game. Less weapons available and the traits are not as powerful

And some runs didn't have the house or sword so was just a waste of time. I'm sorry but I don't have infinite amount of free time, I get maybe 1.5-2 hours per day at the absolute max and that's just not enough for a game without saves.

The sword is a permanent upgrade.

And next brutal noob gate was finishing biome 3 iirc before you got access to the fast travel to biome 4. Fail, do 1-3 all over again, and again. Yeah I now "Git good" and all that, but no it's just plain awful game design.

This is where I started to appreciate the game design. By this point you have unlocked multiple weapons and should have started to level up weapon traits. For me, each failed attempt was just an opportunity to level up or try a new weapon trait.

Returnals not really a game about getting good but about maximising your RNG. If you get the right suit upgrades and a monster weapon you will feel sorry for the bosses. To maximise your chances of this you need to complete all the biomes as throughly as possible. Unfortunately Souls-likes have trained people to get back to the bosses ASAP which is the worst thing you can do in Returnal.

So nope I literally hated the runbacks. I wanted a refund, a refund for lost time in my life.

But angels suddenly started singing… The save scumming trick appeared!

The save cloud trick changed everything for me. I don't care that it's cheating, one save was all I needed to be able to go through the game. I'm sure I didn't get the true ending or whatever and I don't care but that save cheat turned it up to a 10 for me.

Nice! Glad that you could enjoy it your own way. How many hours do you have in it? If you've only completed it once there's likely a whole bunch of monster weapons you haven't seen yet

Regarding Silksong. Yeah there are some questionable game designs there as well… But at most I lose maybe 5 minutes after dying. Not 30 minutes or 1.5 hours or more. What I hate the most there are the minions with randomized attack patterns that they've added to boss fights. Makes the boss fights feel less structured. If I can't form a strategy how to safely do a no-hit run of a boss fight by dissecting every boss move and safe spot then it's not a good boss fight, that's how I feel.

Well I've spent more than 1.5 hours on single sections in silksong! The way I look at it now is would I rather spend 2 hours on 3 attempts with varied gameplay. Or 2 hours with 30 attempts of repetitive gameplay. For me it's the former.

 

[Dalbajobas]

Replayed recently on PC. Good game, but it does nothing amazing or super unique, which is why most people didnt buy it, especially on PC. The first time climb towards Hyperion and the orga music was nice though. Shame the rest of the music didnt have that same spectacular moment. Was an 8 out of 10 both times I played it.

After playing it I would give it 5/10 at best. Not a single aspect of the game could be considered good.

 

[existensmaximum]

I've rarely played a game so stressful and unrewarding for me. Really cool setting and I wanted to like it but too many aspects put me off playing.

(I'm no stranger to hard games like Bloodborne/Dark Souls but this is a whole different thing to me..)

 

[Nintendo's Witch]

Best PS5 exclusive by far. Loved it.

 

[Holammer]

The videos I watched explaining the story have totally different interpretations than you lol.

Of course, it's wide open for interpretation. But I reckon others make the mistake of trying to explain the events in the game as being real. That's squaring the circle as the game lays out a timeline of events. The last hospital visit was in 1993 and you're supposed to be believe Selene would sign up for interstellar exploration after her son drowns?
Her being cray-cray, lost in her own mindscape and suffering from a dissociative disorder. Checks out IMO.

 

[Arsic]

Of course, it's wide open for interpretation. But I reckon others make the mistake of trying to explain the events in the game as being real. That's squaring the circle as the game lays out a timeline of events. The last hospital visit was in 1993 and you're supposed to be believe Selene would sign up for interstellar exploration after her son drowns?
Her being cray-cray, lost in her own mindscape and suffering from a dissociative disorder. Checks out IMO.

Folks also argue the planet is real with supporting evidence of that too.

It's a cool narrative no matter which side you fall on for that part of it.

 

[The artful mincer]

Replayed recently on PC. Good game, but it does nothing amazing or super unique, which is why most people didnt buy it, especially on PC. The first time climb towards Hyperion and the orga music was nice though. Shame the rest of the music didnt have that same spectacular moment. Was an 8 out of 10 both times I played it.

Meh that's more to do with PC gamers having shit taste. Those idiots are happy playing the same maps in a bland ass miltary shooter for a decade.

 

[The artful mincer]

I've rarely played a game so stressful and unrewarding for me. Really cool setting and I wanted to like it but too many aspects put me off playing.

(I'm no stranger to hard games like Bloodborne/Dark Souls but this is a whole different thing to me..)

Returnal is easier than those games but more punishing. I died about 70 times in returnal I can die about 500 to 1000 times in a hard souls game.

The key difference is Returnal will punish skipping content on boss run backs where as Souls encourages it. Once you get your head out of that mindset it all falls into place

 

[yurinka]

It used to have literally no saving during runs. Had to beat each portion of the game at once. It was hardcore.

I got stuck with a boss (not sure if 3rd?), and found that having to repeat a big chunk and collect the stuff again pretty frustrating.

How does the saves work now? Do you revive at the start of the level but keeping all the key loot? Or did they include checkpoints?

 

[existensmaximum]

Returnal is easier than those games but more punishing. I died about 70 times in returnal I can die about 500 to 1000 times in a hard souls game.

The key difference is Returnal will punish skipping content on boss run backs where as Souls encourages it. Once you get your head out of that mindset it all falls into place

Yeah well, I never got there. Played for hours but it never clicked and most of all - it didn't ever feel rewarding. And a lot more repetitive for me personally than any Souls game. I realize it's a great game for lots of people but not for me.

 

[Fess]

Nice! Glad that you could enjoy it your own way. How many hours do you have in it? If you've only completed it once there's likely a whole bunch of monster weapons you haven't seen yet

I don't remember but probably like 50 hours total, I'm sure I ranted about all this in the OT in 2020 or whatever. It was all I played for a month and I've played a lot on PC too. But I didn't play it like you're supposed to play it, basically stopped doing restarts because I hated that, just kept reloading a cloud save when I had a good cycle and retried until I beat it. I did some replays of early areas once I could fast travel to other biomes and got some house sequences etc but I'm sure I've missed a lot.

For me it's gameplay mechanically perfect. The controls are perfect, the gear upgrades are pure Metroid, the shooting is great, the biomes are varied.
It's the roguelike nature that don't work for me. I just don't like replaying.

It becomes better later on when you have new gear and can fast travel to later biomes but the best patch for me would've been a Metroid mode; static maps, static gear locations, save rooms, being able to go back and forth between biomes to unlock areas you couldn't access before.
Under the surface it has all the puzzle pieces of a great Metroid game.

 

[Clear]

Folks also argue the planet is real with supporting evidence of that too.

It's a cool narrative no matter which side you fall on for that part of it.

The planet is definitely real. Selene's backstory is told in the house-related sequences and cinematics, the alien's story is contained in the Prometheus-style silos and collectibles. The DLC expands it out more backstory for selene, and potentially shows us the mechanics of how the purgatorial loop is maintained.

Which elements you want to read as true and which are false is largely left to the player, *but* it has to be understood that the alien backstory is, well ALIEN to the psychological/biographical aspects of the rest. So you can't easily write it off as just a part of her psychosis/death-dream... its too specifically laid out with its own internal logic,

When all's said and done its just a really well crafted story. Shockingly good considering it wasn't a strength Housemarque had shown previously.

As psychological horror goes its up there with SH2 for me... Totally not what you'd expect from a high intensity SF shooter.

 

[Sanepar]

Returnal is amazing but 3rd boss is impossible for me. I have finished every souls, sekiro, Elden ring. All of them much easier than Returnal.

 

[BiohazardX95]

Returnal is amazing but 3rd boss is impossible for me. I have finished every souls, sekiro, Elden ring. All of them much easier than Returnal.

3rd BOSS (Nemesis) is actually the easiest one for me. But You can always try to do a long run to buff your stats or grab more artifacts, you can also play online, You can beat it!.

 

[Sanepar]

3rd BOSS (Nemesis) is actually the easiest one for me. But You can always try to do a long run to buff your stats or grab more artifacts, you can also play online, You can beat it!.

On Steam is impossible to find someone to coop.

 

[Donald mac Ronald]

This game is a games, game.

We need more games like this.