When it comes to making a brutal, third person, run and gun, videogame, Housemarque knows how to bring on the pain. Returnal is a lot of different things. An easy game on the PS5? The player only wishes that to be the case. The game is a roguelike. Death will be inevitable, no matter how you slice it.
Returnal on PS5 Story
Selene, our protagonist and space explorer, disobeys orders from her employer as she decides to investigate a strange signal called the White Shadow. Investigating a strange noise is a bad idea in any medium, a lesson she learns when her ship inevitably crashes. She’s stranded. Her transmissions are going unanswered.
As if her circumstances weren’t horrible enough, she discovers a dead body. Specifically, the corpse she stumbles upon is her own, which serves as the plot point of the game. It’s a Groundhog Day scenario, but with aliens and a hailstorm of projectiles thrown into the mix.
Returnal on PS5 Gameplay
The controls are tight and satisfying, designed with a fast pace in mind for the gameplay. Selene has a large arsenal at her disposal. Fast dashes to sidestep projectiles, weapons with their individual skill trees and parasites which give both a buff and debuff. Given this game has a psychological element of horror as a theme, the parasite mechanic is a nice touch on the developer’s part.
These blended systems give the player a variety of options when it comes to approaching each encounter. So Selene might have an awesome weapon on hand. However, you might find another weapon with a useful skill tree that the player can use to improve their subsequent runs after dying. With the large variety of combinations available, the game never gets dull when it comes to having to improv on the fly to conquer the alien world of Apropos.
Selene will travel to multiple biomes where she will uncover big enemies and even larger bosses.
Enemies in the game consist of aliens that would make H.P. Lovecraft shake his fist in envy. They crawl, they fly, look frightening and they are nightmarish with how tough as nails they are. These creatures have no qualms about lighting up the screen with orb projectiles.
The sound of Selene’s screams will become part of the background after a while.
Returnal on PS5 Visuals
The environments are dark ruins on an alien planet. Some of the environments appear foggy, with strange shapes looming in the distance. Spoiler warning, it’s either lush scenery or a creature planning on killing Selene.
Particle effects and ambient lighting create a foreboding atmosphere throughout this attractive, sci-fi setting.
Returnal on PS5 Verdict
If you don’t mind delving into a blend of mystery, horror and challenging difficulty, you won’t go wrong with Returnal on PS5.
